American Express My Account UX Strategy
How should the American Express My Account page be redesigned? The My Account Page (MYCA) is the page every cardmember sees after logging into their account. It’s the main point of digital interaction with cardmembers. Yet, most cardmembers didn’t engage with the page at all. They logged in, checked their balance, paid their bill and left. Worse they gave the page low marks in surveys and general feedback. The Amex MYCA team wanted, needed, to improve engagement but wasn’t sure how to solve the problem. Can you help us? This was the starting ask.
In 2011, Amex hired Smart Design to bring a fresh perspective and define a strategy for the MYCA redesign. Working with a biz dev lead, I pitched and won the project. I then led a team of 2 to deliver the program.
Approaching the problem
We started by understanding and aligning on the core problem. The MYCA core team was a small group, but they had wide-ranging stakeholders across the business. Every team and initiative trying to engage cardmembers had an interest in the My Account page. And, they all had to be brought along for the ride.
Working with cardmembers
We took a participatory design approach, working with a small group of Amex customers through multiple rounds of research and iterative prototyping. The outcome of our work defined a big shift in the My Account design, and brought an extended group of stakeholders together around a common vision.
We also spent time understanding the company and their cardmember service culture and capabilities. In particular we visited a call center, spending a day listening in on calls and talking with reps about how they think about and deliver service.
“Mine” and “Yours”
This was the key insight that became the foundation of the overall strategy. The “Mine” is cardmembers spending transactions, bill payment responsibility and rewards. The “Yours” is all the benefits, perks and specials American Express has to offer. Both are important but cardmembers need to take care of the “Mine” before engaging the “Yours”. The existing MYCA page was dominated by the “Yours”, creating the sense of a very one-sided relationship and a noisy experience for cardmembers.
Defining relationship care … online
American Express had a well defined approach to engaging cardmembers on the phone. Their call center operations were impressive and regularly won service awards from JD Power and others. Online, by contrast, lacked a corresponding vision and operational practice. Building on the Mine-Yours framework, we defined core principles for relationship care online.
Online Relationship Care Principles:
Give the cardmember their information first.
Reflect the Cardmember in the relationship.
Provide a lead-in to explore more.
Redesigning the MYCA page
We translated the Mine-Yours framework and Online Relationship Care Principles into a new interface design and initial wireframes for the MYCA page. This made the strategy tangible and provided the Amex MYCA team and their digital agency partner with a clear direction for execution and ongoing development over time.
An enduring framework
The first release of the new MYCA page represented a massive change. It prioritized the “Mine” so cardmembers could address their needs right away. It positioned the “Yours” as an easy lead-in for exploration. Subsequent releases have built on this same framework, improving the interface and functionality for the “Mine” while personalizing and improving engagement with the “Yours”.
Thank you’s
Project completed in 2011 while at Smart Design. Design team included Jessi Pervola & Philip Hartley. Thank you Daphne Nash for helping land the project and manage the large and varied client!