Careful With Your Brand

An interesting piece in TCSDaily today looks at company employees who might have an incentive to alienate customers and clients. One of his examples is one that has bitten me:

My new Amazon card wasn't really with Amazon. Rather it was a Chase Bank "affinity card" sponsored by Amazon. Apparently, Amazon has an arrangement with Chase to offer this card. In return it receives some small percentage of each charge.

The bank has many such affinity cards. The person receiving complaints about charges has incentives to collect all payments, late charges, penalties, etc. He has no interest in customers' feelings toward Amazon or any other company. It is likely his performance is measured by the charges he collects.

In this case, Amazon's CFO no doubt saw an opportunity to add a small percentage to each sale by establishing an affinity card operated by Chase Bank. There is no system to note and correct sorry treatment to customers.

I'm more forgiving of his example of the K-Mart security guard who came down heavy on a woman and child who had an $8 price switch in an $800 order.

I got an Amazon Card as well and set it up as my default for Amazon purchases. I didn't pay an $8.00 bill one month (there's that number again. Eight dollars...clearly Bush caused 9/11) Anyway, the $8 was late, so I got a twenty-something dollar charge, and all my Amazon purchases bounced. That was when I figured out that Amazon does not know or care anything about this card. When that and my good family name were cleared up, that card expired. Amazon didn't know and it was difficult to add the new card.

I didn't swear off Amazon, but it seems a real missed opportunity. Their customers buy things with a credit card, Amazon is in a unique position to integrate its signature card into its process. The firm is so well integrated with Target as a partner, you use your Amazon account to buy from Target.com. Yet no effort was put into facilitating the Amazon Card and the Amazon store.

I have now switched my account to use another card. I'm living happily ever after but Amazon and Chase are missing out.

Posted by jk at October 22, 2007 1:13 PM