Check In, Cash In: Foursquare and American Express team up

Written by: Ellen Stuart

If you’re an American Express customer, soon your Foursquare check-ins could unlock not only points and badges but cold, hard cash deposited straight into your AmEx account.

Some American Express card holders are already getting cash back when they check in at selected locations around New York City, and so far it’s been a success for everyone involved.

The initiative is simple–you just go online, sync your American Express card with your Foursquare account and start getting deals. For example, if you check in at clothing store H&M on Foursquare and spend $75, you earn $10 that goes straight into your American Express account. New duds, cash back and a chance to be Foursquare mayor? Sign us up.

During the program’s beta testing, carried out at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin,  business owners reported that American Express cardholders who checked in on Foursquare spent 20 percent more than those who didn’t. In the initial tests, the partnership with Foursquare brought a “higher response rate than anything else we’re doing,” said AmEx vice chairman Edward P.Gilligan, in an interview with the New York Times.

The partnership is a great example of business leveraging social media to their advantage: Foursquare gets new members, local businesses gain customers, and American Express boosts the amount customers use their cards and maybe even adds some new deal-seeking cardholders.

Based on the success of Portsmouth’s first Foursquare day, we think this is something that could work here in the Port City. What do you think?

Do you use Foursquare? Would you use technology like this if it were brought to your city? And would it influence your decision to either start using Foursquare or get an American Express card? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Not a Foursquare member? Join here. Want to learn about how Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites can help your business? That’s what we’re here for. Contact us at 603.766.1902 or via our website.