American Express Australia (Amex) recently refreshed its website. For your reading pleasure we review it so you can learn a few do’s and don’ts from a major brand’s efforts to improve its online experience.
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Website: americanexpress.com.au
Overall Rating (out of 10*): 5
- Look & Feel: 7.5
- Usability: 5
- SEO 0.5
* Where 1 is Poor and 10 is Fantastic
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Amex Web’s Look & Feel
As with any top brand in the financial services sector, you’d expect American Express Australia’s website to ooze credibility, substance and style – to look every bit the fortune 500 company it is. After all, if you’re going to entrust your money to a credit card issuer, you’ll want to be sure you’re dealing with a secure, professional organisation.
It’s about selling credit cards
The good news – Amex’s new site delivers ‘credibility’ in spades. It’s slick, it’s flash (it really is Flash… of the Macromedia kind), it boasts a clear semantic layout, and it’s straight to the point. The good Amex people want you to sign up to their latest credit card offering and they want to make sure you do by placing an offer front and centre on the home page. Mission accomplished – if you’re looking for a new credit card (or charge card), American Express’ website will deliver.
Driving traffic online away from call centres
Cardmembers returning to the site to check up on their card balance will note the account login is now easier to find as it now sits prominently in the left hand column and in the upper right hand corner. (The account login was likely hiding under the ‘already registered?’ link inn the website’s previous version.) It’s a small change, but it should help American Express drive more users online and relieve some of the pressure from its much taxed call centres.
Look & Feel Rating (out of 10): 7.5
The User’s Experience
Reading vs pixel perfection
True to form Amex Australia’s website follows global style guidelines found on its other sites in the US and the UK – which means the font size is extremely small. Vision impaired users and those with less than perfect eyesight will struggle with the microscopic text in the cramped left hand column. This flaw might be forgivable if the pixel size was not fixed across the whole site – preventing users with larger browser font settings from re-adjusting the page to their specifications. Clearly we’re dealing with a fixation on pixel perfection to the detriment of usability.
Finding the credit card that’s right for you
So what if I wanted to get a Platinum Credit Card or a prestigious Platinum Charge Card or a Small Business Card? How easy is it to find the right card?
It’s relatively simple. Using a Flash presentation, Amex successfully showcases its card offerings and leads prospects to the appropriate card by highlighting each product’s most important benefits.
Where the process bogs down is on the main card page (for example on the Platinum Charge Card’s page) where contrast issues make reading difficult and where additional clicks need to be made to truly understand the card’s value. It takes a few clicks to read up on each benefit and the back and forth journey between product benefits gets tiresome.
Listing a series of attractive benefits in bullet form right then and there would likely produce a better, faster experience and lead to more sales. Unfortunately that’s not happening at present – but it can be fixed.
Usability Rating (out of 10): 5
Will Anyone Find the Site on Google?
In Australia, Google is the 800-hundred pound gorilla of search engine advertising. By its own estimates, Google accounts for 85-87% of searches online in Oz. In Australia, if you’re not Google’s front page… you’re not going to be found. Period.
SEO or SEM?
Will Amex be a player? Will it show up naturally on Google through good search engine optimisation (SEO) or will it simply rely on paid advertising (SEM or Search Engine Marketing) to show up on Google’s front page?
With a site grounded in Flash and JavaScript and not featuring the keyword credit card even once on its home page in a manner that’s readable for search engines, it’s a safe bet the marketers at Amex or the agency acting on their behalf have decided to buy their way onto Google’s front page via paid advertising.
It’s not the end of the world. Amex will still be visible in paid searches – but it will cost them and they’ll be sacrificing all organic traffic (approximately 40-60% of clicks on search engines) and relying solely on SEM to deliver sales.
So what’s so bad about Flash or JavaScript?
Used in moderation, JavaScript and Flash do not hinder SEO. However, when they replace all meaningful content a search engine could latch onto to learn what the site is about – as is the case with American Express Australia’s site – you end up with a site with very little content/meaning attached to it.
And if a search engine cannot decipher what your site is about via content, it won’t list your site. In that sense, American Express’ site is all but invisible to search engines in its present form.
Redirect at your own peril
What’s worse, the site is not based in Australia. http://www.americanexpress.com.au/ redirects you to the Australian section of Amex’s US server: http://www.americanexpress.com/australia/. And when the user is not registered or logged in (and that would usually be the case), he/she is redirected once again to an intermediate page, http://www.americanexpress.com/australia/homepage/personal_notreg.shtml., which ultimately redirects you to the homepage, https://home.americanexpress.com/home/au/home_p.shtml, also located in the US.
Confused? We are. Why so many redirects? No idea. Why a secure https homepage? No clue! A secure homepage is not needed as no one has logged into a secure area yet. Go figure…
I’m not Australian… Ignore me!
From an SEO perspective, redirecting traffic outside of Australia sends a clear message to the search engines, namely: ‘this is a US based site… Not an Australian one!’ It’s one more nail in the coffin in what is essentially a non-optimised site.
SEO Rating (out of 10): 0.5
Final Analysis: Does it sell Credit Cards?
So… does American Express Australia’s’ site do the job of selling credit cards? It’s straight forward and professional looking. It takes you to its product simply and quickly, but it’s somewhat slow at laying out product benefits and taking you to the sale – and there’s no offer to sign up or any meaningful call to action.
With regards to driving traffic to the site via search engines like Google, American Express Australia will need to rely heavily on Search Engine Marketing. In its present form the site will likely remain invisible for important keywords like ‘credit card’, although its powerful brand name, significant SEM spend and other marketing efforts will still bring in sales.
Overall Rating (out of 10): 5
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I just checked this site, you seem to be confusing flash with dHTML in the showcasing section.
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the feedback!
No… That be Flash on the American Express Australia Homepage (https://home.americanexpress.com/home/au/home_p.shtml).
And you’ll also find plenty of Flash elsewhere. For instance on the ‘Help Me Pick a Card’ page (https://www124.americanexpress.com/cards/au/loyalty.do?page=au.helpmechoose.prospect).
It could be that your browser settings are activating the site’s low bandwith version which is in HTML… and that you’re seeing dHTML where Flash is used in the high bandwith version.
In any event, even in the HTML version, the site is still poorly optimised from a keyword perspective.
It is the worst website I have ever
tried to use I cannot access my acount at all. I have been with Amex 31 years BUT AFTER SPENDING 2 HOURS TRYING TO GET INTO MY ACCOUNT I just can’t waste that much time. I will be cancelling my account after I pay my account this month.
Patricia Knight.
Dear Patricia,
2 hours! That’s insane! As I didn’t have a login, I couldn’t review the usability from that perspective. Given your feedback, it’s easy to see the American Express website usability rating would have taken a greater hit had I experienced something like that…
I’ll pass on your comments to Amex’s agency and web marketers. Hopefully they will get it straightened out.
Hello,
I feel the same as Patricia Knight, I have been trying to access my account with out much joy. Why do companies insist on fixing things when they are NOT BROKEN!!!!!! URGH
The sight I have now accessed but it will not let me go to rewards to move my points. I am going to cancel both cards to-morrow afte 31 years. Good bye Amex!! Patricia.
I have been with Amex since 1993. Then it was user fiendly. Lately I have been away on a contract. Needed to pay the account so went to a bank to pay.No they don’t offer a service for Amex. Tried to find out how to pay online only to find all amex`websites about selling thier products and not customer service. So I gave up using amex`and used my mastercard.
Well that sums it up doesn’t it?
It’s a challenge to refresh websites and when you don’t do the job for your existing clients, you’re really asking for trouble.
I’ve gone back in and looked at American Express Australia’s strategy to see why it is not optimising its site and what it is doing instead to acquire new card members. I’ll be following with a new post on that shortly and comparing those efforts with what the big banks are doing.
That won’t address the frustration experienced by Rodney, Marie and Patrica, but we might learn something new about the wonderful world of online marketing in the process. ’til then…
Marc
PS: I’ve passed on the comments to American Express. Let’s hope they respond promptly.
Marc, You are doing a great job bringing this website to peoples attention Amex is only interested in selling more product not looking after their longtime clients and try and cancell I have been trying since I last wrote to you but they took all my flight rewards and in order for them to be returned I have to stay on until March. Patricia!
I have been trying to also get my statements off the web. I am going back to statements, this is rediculous! I have spent about 2 hours all up, then I tried phoning and the line just cut out.
This may not be relevant but any advice would be appreciated. I joined Amex in Australia many years ago. About 6 years ago I moved to Europe, but kept the cards; in November 2007 whilst in Sydney I phoned Amex to cancel all my cards as I didn’t use them. No problem they said, and sent me a small refund. Six months later I received a bill for $25 annual membership for a card I no longer have and have since destroyed. I have wasted about 2 hours trying to make sense of the Amex site, but I’ve got precisely nowhere! The site is useless, totally confusing and the links do not work ! I tear my hair out….and yes, I am fed up talking to Indians with accents which make plain English almost impossible to understand ! They are great cricketers, but not so hot at customer relations ! In short……how the f— do you cancel an Amex card?
Dave Barry
Hi Dave,
Funny you should mention this particular problem. I’ve been told this happens sometimes – cards are cut up and yet you remain as an active user on the system.
I’ll forward this on to the good folks at Amex Australia and see if they can cancel your card; ‘virtually’ and ‘physically’.
As for why the site is less than helpful… Well you got me there! You would think it would be in American Express’ interest to keep you online instead of reverting you back to their costly cost centres. Maybe no one’s done the math on this one!
You are pathetic organisation. I have been a member in the USA and Australia for over 25 years. I have been on hold forever just to let you know I may want to use your lousy card while on my next overseas trip. I can tell you after waiting on hold forever and only being able to be sold crap I do not want by going onto your website, I will not be using your card in the states and will cancel it when I return. Plenty of other people would like my money. If you charge a premium price how about supplying a premium service. Or in fact any service would be helpful.
i have spent an hour trying to just see my Amex account
I cannot see anywhere how to do that
Their site seems to be all about selling new cards
It’s great to hear from others who have/daving problems with Amex. Just received a new Laptop and thought I was doing something wrong. I’m cancelling my card as well. Had enough.
I have the same problem login to my account as well. And I will cancel my card as soon as I find out how. The funny thing is if you search on the site with the word “cancel” or “cancellation”, you find nothing. I read somewhere long time ago, which mentions you need to cut the card in half and send it to Amex. But which address?
when in thailand i needed an operation after being o/s for five months,then the issues began,left oz on 19/12/07 call amex on 13/03/2008 after being taken to hospital in an ambulance,back to hospital many times finally told them need operation on 10/04/2008,operation arranged for 10/05/08 on the 07/05/08 axa range my hotel and got me to agree to pay the hospital bill and claim when i returned to oz(how many people do they do this to) when i left the hospital after seeing the surgon on the 08/05/08 axa called me on my thai mobil(i never gave amex/axa my hotel/thai number they obtained it from the bangkok/pattaya hospital) on the 10/05/08 while recovering after a three hours operation i recieved three phone calls from axa harrassing me asking me the name and street address of my deaceased doctor,say the operation was very suspicous that the claim would be referred to a higher level and i would not know till late 13/05/08 if they would excepy the claim,the claim has still not been paid as of 08/12/08(app $8k oz)The card was a black centurion.i joined amex in 05/82.Now for the real issues on the 09/10/08 i called amex and told them to cancel my black amex they said no a director will call you it is policy,after more than a dozen calls telling them to cancel my office received a november 08 account rang amex again they told me i have to personally call and write to all direct debet,they will keep excepting these charges till this is done,as of now i am stuck in thailand(08/12/08)rang amex again abd asked for their email address of centralised customer relation manager after being on hold for half and hour line went dead,so faxed a letter to them on +61292718588 so the reason i am on this site as i have tried for four days to find amex oz email address to no avail
Stuff Amex,,,been a member for god knows how long,try to ring them up for something, on hold 55 minutes (and still).IF i can get thru im going to cancel everythink.By by lazy one.
Hello, Are you going to be making a follow up piece? My hubby and me have put in some time checking over your web-site and surprisingly enough you highlighted one thing we were talking about just the other day with our dentist. We often notice ourselves arguing on the smallest of issues, isn’t it childish?
Hi Brook.
We probably should. The review of the American Express Australia site is actually quite old (3 years and counting) and Amex have since overhauled what we reviewed quite thoroughly. At the time it was a shining beacon of ‘what not to do’ from a website optimisation perspective. That may not be the case now and probably warrants a follow up review.
This is a great review very powerful stuff! I would love for you to do a review of my website. Would this be something you would entertain?
Hi there,
This review is quite old. It was something we did back in the day when SEO wasn’t getting much recognition. We thought we’d make an example of Amex Australia as they were neglecting a valuable marketing channel. Ironically, the review gained some serious traction and for a while outranked ‘American Express Australia’ for that very keyword… That further added to our point. Just to be nice, we made sure the links in our post were followed…
Nowadays, SEO is something most competent marketers understand. So we don’t feel we need to review sites unless there’s the need to highlight new developments. That said, if we have a spare moment, we’ll take a look at your site and give you our two cents worth. Good on you for asking for it – getting your site reviewed is a great way to valuable link – and as SEO practioners, we can appreciate that:-)
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