Infinite Innovation

courtenaybird:

AmEx aims to be the connective tissue between merchants and consumers on social media that will provide a mix of offers, data, and branding to its members.

As with Foursquare, the process of syncing your AmEx account to your Twitter account is a quick, one-time process. Once linked, U.S. cardholders have the opportunity to earn rewards by tweeting special offers from hashtags.

…The benefit of the service is as much about the deal for the consumer as it is the data for the merchant. “We can go to Whole Foods or any merchant we work with and give them information and analytics,” says AmEx vice chairman Ed Gilligan. “How many people used the offer? What was the size of the shopping cart when they checked out? Did that customer come a week later or a month later?”

In other words, AmEx has finally developed a way to demonstrate a tweet’s ROI.

AmEx was a pioneer with the Foursquare check in discount — which full disclosure, this blogger tried out and used to great effect at last year’s SXSW — and now this.  Really impressive how they are spearheading innovation in major credit cards — a product which has not changed much since the magnetic stripe was introduced.

(via emergentfutures)