Community @Amex: A Resource for Both Customers and Brand
American Express recently launched “Community @Amex,” a discussion forum for customers and potential customers. The online community – which the financial services company promotes via Facebook and Twitter – shows a high volume of activity. Already, it’s amassed hundreds of contributions from members on topics ranging from card benefits to financial tools, from mobile apps to airport lounge etiquette.
As stated in its “terms of service,” the forum’s official purpose is for customers to discuss “topics related to American Express products and services.” But the community etiquette section explains it much less dryly with an emphasis on benefits: “a forum where you can share with other [members], learn from one another and connect to help you get the most out of your experience with American Express.”
Get the most out of your Amex experience via connecting with other cardmembers? Yes. It’s a great example of crowdsourcing, and Amex has a proven track record of bringing together its customers as resources for one another. Remember a little thing called American Express Open Forum?
To that end, Community @Amex works a lot like a social network. Users create profiles, join conversations and create content. They can @mention and follow other users, rate and tag content and keep up with interests via activity feeds. Community @Amex also works like many other online communities. Reminding us that these communities were granting clout before Klout was, members earn badges for participation, and a “reputation center” compares members based on status.
For the most part, community members drive all the discussions, and American Express has a limited presence. On some topics, there is no voice from the company at all. However, representatives carefully monitor the entire site, joining conversations as it makes sense.
With any branded community (or message board/discussion forum for that matter), some of the content from participants can be negative. Using his/her first name along with the American Express logo, a rep jumps into these areas, apologizing for the bad experience and offering assistance… taking customer service issues offline not only to maintain privacy of sensitive personal information but also to keep the forums focused on topics that are useful for the broader community.
Other conversations are extremely positive, and Amex reps are there sometimes, as well. For instance, in the discussion “My best Amex customer service experience… share yours, too,” cardmembers detail how the company has helped them to secure concert tickets or hard-to-get dinner reservations or to resolve banking snafus while traveling internationally. “Rachel@Amex” posted, “We love to hear stories like the ones posted above.”
There’s no doubt American Express is paying attention to the discussions for other reasons, as well. Not only does the community benefit from information posted by members, but Amex itself can learn a lot about card use habits, how customers perceive rewards, what interests them and what frustrations they experience. As Amex notices trends – positive or negative – in particular areas, it will be able to use that intel to make strategic changes in products and services.
