March 9, 2012
Amex Cardholders Get Tweet Deals
Don’t visit Twitter without it. A new program from American Express allows members to sync their cards with Twitter and, by sending out tweets using customized hashtags, receive special offers from merchants including Best Buy, Century 21 Department Store, H&M, McDonald’s, Sports Authority, Whole Foods, Zappos and more. When Amex cardholders make a qualified purchase, they’ll receive a credit on their statement in a matter of days.
“American Express is turning Twitter content into commerce by connecting Cardmembers to merchants and delivering real world value to both,” said Ed Gilligan, vice chairman, American Express, in a press release. “With the continued convergence of online and offline commerce, our closed loop continues to enable us to bring seamless, relevant ways to connect our cardmembers and merchants on the most powerful social and digital platforms.”
American Express consumer or business card holders can participate in the program by going to an Amex web page to sync their card with Twitter.
![[Image: Amex Sync with Twitter]](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxIDEiIHdpZHRoPSIxIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEiIGRhdGEtdT0iJTJGcHVibGljJTJGaW1hZ2VzJTJGZGlzY3Vzc2lvbnMlMkYxNTg2OSUyRmFtZXgtdHdpdHRlci12aWRlby1zdGlsbC5qcGciIGRhdGEtdz0iMSIgZGF0YS1oPSIxIiBkYXRhLWJpcD0iIj48L3N2Zz4=)
Offers that are part of program can be found at the favorites tab on the American Express Twitter page. Current offers include $10 off a purchase of $50 at H&M and $10 back on $75 spent on the Zappos site.
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: Do you think retailers participating in the Amex Sync with Twitter program will find it beneficial? What do you think are “best practices” when it comes to retailers’ use of Twitter?
Poll
This all sounds great until people start un-following users who tweet Amex hashtags for their own benefit. What good is a program that ends up decimating its participants’ following?
Another perfect example of a company selfishly attempting to commercialize something that is fundamentally non-commercial.
Let’s face it: daily deals, flash sales, or whatever you want to call them, are rarely good for retailers — particularly those who are more interested in long-term profitability rather than short-term sales.
But they can be very good for the firm that pushes them out and then leverages the data about them. Groupon has been generally inept in this regard, but Amex is a whole different story. I bet they’ll find success in this clever idea (before everyone else catches on, clones it, and then kills it).
This is a win-win. Like Amex’s small business Saturday, this program highlights merchants, while encouraging use of the Amex card. It provides additional exposure for participating retailers, and it presents a novel way to utilize social media. Finally, it’s garnered a lot of media attention for Amex and the retailers. Even if no one participates, it has a positive outcome for Amex and the participating merchants.
Terrific!
This is evidence of the new shopper economy.
What is the shopper economy? It’s where a shopper agrees to perform an action (other than purchasing) in exchange for value from a seller. It’s a transaction that goes beyond buying goods for fiat currency. The value exchanged is shopper labor (advocating a brand, watching an ad, walking into a store) for value, usually scrip of some type.
(For more on this, see my new book The Shopper Economy).
Wait…so the idea here is that an Amex cardholder who sends out a tweet about H&M gets a discount on an H&M transaction? Will the average Amex cardholder — who’s a professional person who travels — do this?
I imagine this program will “work” in driving attention and sales for Amex and participating retailers, at least in the short-term. But, the essence of the program is that it pays consumers to spam their Twitter contacts. I’m sure there are or will be similar programs for Facebook, texting, etc. Most consumers will learn to tune all this stuff out, like they have banner ads on the web, so response rates will be low, but there is probably money to be made on the small percentage who respond.
I don’t think retailers will benefit from this program; customers are already suffering from daily deal fatigue.
The Twitter best practice I refer too is Whole Foods. It is a call to action and provides relevant information to the consumer.
Amex-Twitter looks like one of those very impressive mashups that I suspect will have a brief life cycle in its present form. It does, however, introduce or expand several concepts that may persist:
1) Offers in the cloud. No coupons or scanned phones — just credits applied after purchases. Simple and clean to the shopper — once they accept the enrollment process.
2) Use of social media to distribute offers. This hasn’t yet come close to its potential. The viral re-tweets could prove both brilliant and scary for issuers, if redemptions climb out of control.
3) Value for value. As Liz Crawford addresses in her provocatively-titled new book, mentioned above, this could be an element in the “shopper economy” where individuals demand and obtain compensation in exchange for exposing parts of their personal data or performing other actions.
I’m not so sure retailers will gain a lot from this program, however. Peel back the technical legerdemain and it’s just another discount. Shopper ennui will set in once the novelty factor fades or a newer, cleverer, more automated program is introduced.
Determining the value of a tweet just became more interesting.
Retailers will not only find it beneficial, but will experiment with these types of offers in various ways.
It will be interesting to see how the impact of active tweeting (Amex) compares with passive tweeting (Tasti D Lite).
American Express is leveraging Twitter to build a community for merchants. It’s consistent with the evolution of technology, and seemingly the mindset of consumers.
Consumers are looking for reasons to buy a product. They often buy deals rather than products. This match-making program provides opportunities for retailers, service providers, and customers to find each other.
I’m with Doug on this. Tweeters who litter their tweet streams with self-serving, promotional hashtags are going to be rewarded with a rash of unfollows. This idea is at cross purposes with the chosen medium. It feels Facebook-y to me.
If I get this right, it looks like you will be tweeting out daily deals offered through Amex? Amex is doing something similar through their Foursquare deals. If you check in on Foursquare and there is an Amex deal you can claim it and tweet it. Will consumers use it? Probably. Most are happy to send a tweet if they get something in return. As for retailers, well can they survive always giving stuff away? They just need to be smart about how and when they use this.
The good news is that the average age of consistent twitter users is closer to the average age of Amex cardholders than some other social channels, like Facebook. However, why wouldn’t this typically businessperson-driven company target an even more business-person social channel like LinkedIn?
Is this the one idea CMOs have? We just talked about the T-shirt company doing about the same thing.
This sounds like something GAP or Sears would do. Not in line with Amex’s tony image.
Tongue in cheek I ask, does anyone (besides me) work any more, or do we just tweet where the bargains are?
Two interesting aspects of this come to mind:
1. For consumers, another opportunity for a discounted purchase of something they may have purchased anyway. For the retailer, do they really need another margin damaging discount? I’m all for leveraging social media — but am opposed to the lazy use of discounts as the value hook.
2. This seems like a better match for Visa and MasterCard vs. Amex. I doubt their normal business user is after Groupon-like discounts. This is a risky branding move by Amex. On the one hand, it helps them seem current. On the other hand, associating themselves with discounting does not seem brand-right.
More Discussions
How Timely Is the Planned Lowe’s Website Renovation Focusing on Personalization?
Is Lowe’s being timely with its website reno, and is it right to be placed as…Should Costco Be Opening Members-Only Gas Stations?
Is this the right move for the warehouse club?As Boomers ‘Age Out of Peak Purchasing,’ How Can National Brands Retain Interest With Gen Z?
According to a recent First Insight study titled “Is Gen Z Still Choosing Your Brand,” while…
This all sounds great until people start un-following users who tweet Amex hashtags for their own benefit. What good is a program that ends up decimating its participants’ following?
Another perfect example of a company selfishly attempting to commercialize something that is fundamentally non-commercial.
Let’s face it: daily deals, flash sales, or whatever you want to call them, are rarely good for retailers — particularly those who are more interested in long-term profitability rather than short-term sales.
But they can be very good for the firm that pushes them out and then leverages the data about them. Groupon has been generally inept in this regard, but Amex is a whole different story. I bet they’ll find success in this clever idea (before everyone else catches on, clones it, and then kills it).
This is a win-win. Like Amex’s small business Saturday, this program highlights merchants, while encouraging use of the Amex card. It provides additional exposure for participating retailers, and it presents a novel way to utilize social media. Finally, it’s garnered a lot of media attention for Amex and the retailers. Even if no one participates, it has a positive outcome for Amex and the participating merchants.
Terrific!
This is evidence of the new shopper economy.
What is the shopper economy? It’s where a shopper agrees to perform an action (other than purchasing) in exchange for value from a seller. It’s a transaction that goes beyond buying goods for fiat currency. The value exchanged is shopper labor (advocating a brand, watching an ad, walking into a store) for value, usually scrip of some type.
(For more on this, see my new book The Shopper Economy).
Wait…so the idea here is that an Amex cardholder who sends out a tweet about H&M gets a discount on an H&M transaction? Will the average Amex cardholder — who’s a professional person who travels — do this?
I imagine this program will “work” in driving attention and sales for Amex and participating retailers, at least in the short-term. But, the essence of the program is that it pays consumers to spam their Twitter contacts. I’m sure there are or will be similar programs for Facebook, texting, etc. Most consumers will learn to tune all this stuff out, like they have banner ads on the web, so response rates will be low, but there is probably money to be made on the small percentage who respond.
I don’t think retailers will benefit from this program; customers are already suffering from daily deal fatigue.
The Twitter best practice I refer too is Whole Foods. It is a call to action and provides relevant information to the consumer.
Amex-Twitter looks like one of those very impressive mashups that I suspect will have a brief life cycle in its present form. It does, however, introduce or expand several concepts that may persist:
1) Offers in the cloud. No coupons or scanned phones — just credits applied after purchases. Simple and clean to the shopper — once they accept the enrollment process.
2) Use of social media to distribute offers. This hasn’t yet come close to its potential. The viral re-tweets could prove both brilliant and scary for issuers, if redemptions climb out of control.
3) Value for value. As Liz Crawford addresses in her provocatively-titled new book, mentioned above, this could be an element in the “shopper economy” where individuals demand and obtain compensation in exchange for exposing parts of their personal data or performing other actions.
I’m not so sure retailers will gain a lot from this program, however. Peel back the technical legerdemain and it’s just another discount. Shopper ennui will set in once the novelty factor fades or a newer, cleverer, more automated program is introduced.
Determining the value of a tweet just became more interesting.
Retailers will not only find it beneficial, but will experiment with these types of offers in various ways.
It will be interesting to see how the impact of active tweeting (Amex) compares with passive tweeting (Tasti D Lite).
American Express is leveraging Twitter to build a community for merchants. It’s consistent with the evolution of technology, and seemingly the mindset of consumers.
Consumers are looking for reasons to buy a product. They often buy deals rather than products. This match-making program provides opportunities for retailers, service providers, and customers to find each other.
I’m with Doug on this. Tweeters who litter their tweet streams with self-serving, promotional hashtags are going to be rewarded with a rash of unfollows. This idea is at cross purposes with the chosen medium. It feels Facebook-y to me.
If I get this right, it looks like you will be tweeting out daily deals offered through Amex? Amex is doing something similar through their Foursquare deals. If you check in on Foursquare and there is an Amex deal you can claim it and tweet it. Will consumers use it? Probably. Most are happy to send a tweet if they get something in return. As for retailers, well can they survive always giving stuff away? They just need to be smart about how and when they use this.
The good news is that the average age of consistent twitter users is closer to the average age of Amex cardholders than some other social channels, like Facebook. However, why wouldn’t this typically businessperson-driven company target an even more business-person social channel like LinkedIn?
Is this the one idea CMOs have? We just talked about the T-shirt company doing about the same thing.
This sounds like something GAP or Sears would do. Not in line with Amex’s tony image.
Tongue in cheek I ask, does anyone (besides me) work any more, or do we just tweet where the bargains are?
Two interesting aspects of this come to mind:
1. For consumers, another opportunity for a discounted purchase of something they may have purchased anyway. For the retailer, do they really need another margin damaging discount? I’m all for leveraging social media — but am opposed to the lazy use of discounts as the value hook.
2. This seems like a better match for Visa and MasterCard vs. Amex. I doubt their normal business user is after Groupon-like discounts. This is a risky branding move by Amex. On the one hand, it helps them seem current. On the other hand, associating themselves with discounting does not seem brand-right.