American Express has devised the ultimate anti-loyalty program. They take their best customers and have idiots torture them by phone. In no time, you want to cut up your card and scream “AMEX sucks” into the biggest megaphone you can find. If you doubt me, just trying booking a trip using Membership Rewards.
Note to readers: If you aren’t up for a rant, bail now!
Here’s how I entered AMEX Hell. I’ve been a Platinum Card holder since 2003 and I amassed 200,000 membership rewards points. Over the years I’ve paid bills with the card, flown extra segments and generally hoarded reward points thinking they have extreme value.
So now, humbled by an extreme winter, I fantasized that I could redeem the whole lot and add my wife’s 100,000 Gold Card points for a great, free sunny vacation at an ultra-lux resort. Thus began 6 hours of phone calls over 4 days that resulted in no bookings and 30-45 minute passing relationships with Valerie, Cindy, Amanda, Tamika, Damian, Victoria, Toby, Kareem, Sally and Hovi, who subjected me to endless repeated verifications, put me on hold forcing me endure the world’s worst Musak, disconnected me, told me wrong or contradictory information or seemed entirely... Read more
Archive for February, 2011
The American Express Anti-Loyalty Program
Do Something Crazy
Are you using your social media tools to their highest potential? There are many tools out there. But, for business, LinkedIn is tops.
With that being said… Have you checked your LinkedIn profile today? If not, maybe you should.
In today’s changing business world, it’s important to stay in contact. I was shocked the other day with I was reviewing correspondence from LinkedIn. Last year, a whopping 17% of my connections changed jobs. Then, I started to panic. Did I remember to send each of them a personal note congratulating them on their change?
It’s all about creating good habits and sticking with them. I recently wrote about the power of thank you. The same principles apply here.
Set the tone with your connections right away. Let your connections know that you are an open networker and then be one. I am not just talking about LinkedIn, but any type of networking tool. Determine whom you want to connect with. Keep in mind, the connections you have on LinkedIn may be very different than those on Facebook or those you follow on Twitter. Lucky for you, your updates and ways of reaching out can be connected simultaneously through all three tools.
Now, drive engagement with... Read more
Why Google Blinked
Don’t believe the spin on why Google changed its algorithm. Google isn’t proactively helping users. In the on-going battle between Google and the geeks who game their system; the geeks won a round. Somewhere SEO guys are smirking.
The change, which affects 12 percent of searches in the United States only – that’s 1 out of every 6 – is a tacit admission that SEO masters beat the system; at least for a while. After staring down those relentlessly seeking ways to improve their rankings in this endless cat-and-mouse game, Google blinked. The significant change is both an offensive and defensive play from the Mountain View team.
Amit Singhai’s announcement blog post starts the spin. The obvious objective is stated; “to give most people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible.” This suggests that they are improving the system to serve users better. What it doesn’t acknowledge is that Bing is hot on their heels in head to head comparisons of results relevancy so they are highly motivated to protect their 66% share of US searches. It also conveniently sidesteps the fact that SEO mavens have successfully manipulated their own rules against them in 1 out of every... Read more
