You also get different loans if you walk into a bank wearing a suit vs. a hoodie.
i can certainly attest to this. thanks for the laugh, best comment i've seen in days.
Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
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Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#12Capital One is famous for experimentation and segmentation based on messaging, response rate, demographic factors, and many other variables. It's how they came out of nowhere in the early 1990s (the founders were consultants who had zero banking or credit card experience) to disrupt the industry, most of which operated on one-size-fits all APRs and risk profiles.
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#13About a year ago I got a quote from Geico.com for car insurance. When I got to the purchase screen, I decided to leave and check prices from other companies. Then I went back to Geico the second time because it turned out they had the best price. To my surprise Geico offered a 15% lower rate the second time! I guess they figured they better wow me to get a conversion the second time around. Pretty great.
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#14You also get different loans if you walk into a bank wearing a suit vs. a hoodie.
Unless your name is Mark Zuckerberg, in which case the APR is 0 and the payment plan is in Facebook stock, every single time!
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#15You also get different loans if you walk into a bank wearing a suit vs. a hoodie.
So which browser is the equivalent of a tuxedo? A suit? A hoodie? I'm not so sure browser choice is an accurate signal of a person's worth (In this sense, worth could mean anything).
I'm not sure either, but wouldn't it be interesting to see the data. Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing articles about conversion rates, customer value, etc based on browser. Could be interesting.
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
So which browser is the equivalent of a tuxedo? A suit? A hoodie? I'm not so sure browser choice is an accurate signal of a person's worth (In this sense, worth could mean anything).
Safari is a hoodie
If anything Safari is the only browser that _could_ be _at all_ indicative of one's financial bracket...
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#17Just out of curiosity, is there any proof out there that airline companies discriminate based on browser choice? My thoughts are that since airline companies are the quintessential example of price discrimination they would most likely have such a system in place.
I worked at ITA software for a few years, in the team that wrote the software that searches for airfares.
The prices of seats and their restrictions are published, and the data format predates the web (by a large margin). There's no field for "browser type."
Each seat has about a dozen prices, and the only other way the user sees a price change is by turning a given price on or off. But the protocol that asks whether a given seat is available doesn't have a "browser type" field either.
When you go to an airline's web site, they could presumably use whatever info they want. But if they used the browser while travel agents didn't, they'd either be presenting a lower price than you could get through the agent, or a higher one. It seems unlikely they'd do that, but I suppose it's possible.
Re: Capital One Made Me Different Loan Offers Depending On Which Browser I Used
#18What is the right way to gather this info? Our expectation is that the prices advertised are firm. Is there a way to perform the test without violating expectations?
Using something like an geographic IP lookup would mitigate but not solve.