5. Identifying AMEX's e-CRM and social network channels

5. Identify the company’s e-CRM and social network channels linked with the website and provide recommendations/suggestions for further improvement with clear justification (week 5 topic).

American Express’s vision is to provide the world’s best customer experience every day and the company's value states ‘’ we strive to be essential to customers by delivering exceptional products, services and experiences every day – and promise to have their backs in everything we do.’’ In order to accomplish these values and vision, through the increasing of operational efficiency it is vital for AMEX to have good e-CRM systems in place.

e-CRM can be defined as an information technology system used to coordinate all of a business processes surrounding the firm’s interactions with its customers in sales, marketing, and service (Laudon and Laudon, 2019).

AMEX uses various e-CRM systems to manage their relationships with customers.

In relation to customer service and support AmEx uses Salesforce.

Salesforce allows for real time customer engagement through web chats and seamless cross-channel optimisation whereby all social media channels can be monitored via the Salesforce application. Employees further use the platform for internal communication, and to solve customer problems via email and social media.

To help customers get to the right content in a quick and easy manner American express website has a decision system support in place in the form of a search engine optimisation bar, allowing customers to easily find the information that they are after.

The website also allows for customers to easily give feedback through their feedback tool, this grants for Amex to get direct information on customer satisfaction which will allow for improvement of their services where needed.

With the continuous increase of digitalisation American Express gives customers the option to get a digital receipt with every transaction made. This feature helps customers to have access to their purchase history at all times helping them to easily identify and remember their purchases. This in return allows for a decrease in unnecessary disputes and chargebacks.

It is also possible for customers to opt out of receiving paper bank statements and in return easily access their credit card statements through the website or through their app, thus contributing to the environment. Paperless option also grants for more efficient business operations as it reduces cost and promotes automation

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Although American Express has a good e-CRM system there is always room for improvement. Based on personal experience and the reviews given on feedback websites such as Google reviews and Trustpilot it can be said that customers don't always have a good experience when trying to reach customer service by phone. The complaints about long waiting times and the off putting automation service prior to speaking to an actual human being if lucky and not being disconnected before being referred to take a look at the website are part of the recurring negative feedback . Although automation for customer service by phone can simplify things for employees by not having to take every single call and customers getting to speak to the right person without many transfers, I believe that this needs to be simplified further as the automation system by phone hasn’t caused a shorter waiting time. I would suggest for American Express to allow faster options for customers to speak to real customer service representatives rather than customers being referred back to the website and the line being cut off right after. To conclude, as calls received are often about customers experiencing issues with accessing benefits such as adding supplementary card holders and activating platinum services I would suggest for AMEX to simplify customers' online experience in order for them to have easier access and a more effortless experience in completing their application for these benefits this will reduce the number of income calls received by customer service department and cause for a better e-CRM.