Am Ex is Wasting Their Marketing Budget (Again)
I recently received “The Open Guide” from American Express. It’s a twelve-page 5 1/2 x8 1/2 color stapled booklet. Even in bulk, this was not cheap to produce and mail. Well, maybe by Am Ex’s standards, it was cheap but wasting money is wasting money. And wasting customers’ time is wasting their time.
Why do I say Am Ex wasted their money? Here’s a sample of the info in the booklet:
Section Header: What You Can Do to Maintain Your Annual Percentage Rate
Always Pay Your Bill On Time. Pay at least the minimum balance that is due every month and allow enough time for the mailing and processing of your payment.
Stay Within Your Credit Limit. If you need an increase, you can call us to request one. (MS Note: No phone number or other contact for questions or requests is given anywhere in the guide. They do provide an email address specific to the guide so you can tell them if they found it helpful.)
Monitor Your Bank Balance. Make sure there is enough money in your account to cover your payment.
And so it goes throughout the guide in which Raymond Jobar, Sr. VP, tells me “So that you don’t overlook anything, we’ve done our best to outline your account in clear, concise language.”
Mr. Jobar - there’s a huge difference between “clear and concise” and insulting your cardholders’ intelligence.
This guide could have been done in a single 4×6 postcard and would make sense to send to first-time cardholders. I’ve been an Am Ex customer for decades. If I don’t know by now that I need to do things like pay my bill on time and monitor my bank balance, I shouldn’t be allowed out of the house on my own, much less have a credit card. Am Ex should be sending me a postcard with (truly) special offers and such. Otherwise, don’t send me things just to be sending me things.
P.S. Do credit card companies ever scrub and merge their customer lists? I have two Am Ex cards and they still send me solicitations for both of them…and sometimes also to “Mary Smith” at the same company and address….And then there’s Capital One who sends me (and Ms. Smith as well) padded brown mailers that includes: a. a piece of cardboard; b. a small piece of bubble wrap; c. a letter pitching their card. (I’ve had a Cap One card for years.)
Related Posts:
Three Ways to Waste Your Marketing Budget
Direct Mail Snafus
Making A List And Checking It Twice
Tags: American Express, direct mail, marketing troubleshooting
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March 20th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I’m the treasurer of a non-profit networking group here in Houston, and so I pick up the mail from our PO box. We are organized as a 501(6)c, so we’re a legal entity - but it’s strictly collecting dues, throwing some monthly events, all volunteer, etc.
And twice a week we get something from Amex offering us a card of some kind. I understand how we GOT on the list, but you know, I’ve thrown out at least 100 of these things in the last few years. It’s nuts.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I’m sure they think it’s cheaper (and easier) to just dump a bunch of junk in the mail on a regular basis…but is it really? I’d bet if anybody ever actually looked at ROI, they’d be surprised.
(Also as a tree hugger, it makes me nuts to get all this paper that I immediately dump in the recycling bin.)
March 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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