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How to Fire a Customer.

February 25th, 2009

Hey, every business has customers they would like to churn out. Sometimes these customers cost too much to maintain. Other times, they just don’t purchase. Either way, you’d prefer it if they just went away. But what do you do about them?

Usually, you have two choices. You can do nothing, in which case the customer will keep bleeding you unless by some miracle he drops off on his own. Or, you can show her the exit, usually by adding some sort of “pain point” that makes it too expensive or too much of a hassle to continue. In either case, you’re not exactly creating a good “story” for the customer to tell later.

American Express, though, is trying something all together different. The company is actually paying some customers to cancel their credit cards. No kidding. The company announced plans to pay some cardholders $300 to leave (these are their least profitable customers). The company could have canceled the cards on its own. Or it could have raised its fees to the point where these customers would scream foul and take off. But execs at American Express figured those options didn’t really jibe with the company’s core values and its Brand Vision.

Paying customers to leave may cost the company money in the short run, but it is creating good will and upholding an image American Express has spent several decades crafting. Coldly firing customers with no thought or consolation was a story American Express didn’t want told about itself.

To me, this is an example of extending a Brand Vision into areas you wouldn’t originally think of. The most optimal use of a Brand Vision is to use it as a “filter” through which to pass not only marketing and communication issues, but operational concerns as well. This ensures you “walk the talk.” And American Express is walking it in style.

Posted by Mickey

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