Love cookies? Get an exclusive 30,000 points Amex Gold sign-up bonus if you do

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• Bc8 says:

  22 Apr22 April 05:28

  Definitely clicked on this thinking it was some miraculous baked goods offer. What a terrible start to the day 😂

  • yorkieflyer says:

    22 Apr22 April 09:16

    Hoping for something sweet after my Greggs savoury too

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    22 Apr22 April 10:13

    I thought it was going to be some promotional deal with Doubletree

• aseftel says:

  22 Apr22 April 05:54

  My guess is that they are running an AB test on the sign-up bonus, the AB testing platform only works if you accept cookies and someone in compliance has decided that they need a chunky disclaimer to explain why pricing might change if you check on another device. This will of course undermine any findings from the test since now it’s not just offer a vs offer b.

• ChrisBCN says:

  22 Apr22 April 08:20

  If you accept tracking (3rd party) cookies, Amex will have a whole heap of extra info that they can use (info such as interests, demographics…). They will know if you have interests in fine wine, travel, Gregg’s…

  This allows them to –
  * Have extra info to judge you as a credit risk (deny cards to high risk individuals)
  * Know if you are likely to be a high spending individual (earn them more money)
  * Know if you are a frequent traveler (potentially earn them more FX fees)
  * Target card offers at things that interest you (drives customer engagement and retention)
  * Profile you so that they can talk to you in a way that they think will be more relevant (drives satisfaction)
  * Etc…

  However, if I was them I would have redesigned the cookie accept form to get a higher accept rate first, basic….

  • John says:

    22 Apr22 April 10:11

    Can’t you just delete them after you get the bonus. Or use a separate browser instance for things you want to be tracked

    • ChrisBCN says:

      22 Apr22 April 12:13

      You can delete the cookie after yes, but they still have historical data. You could go incognito though.

• Andy says:

  22 Apr22 April 08:47

  Cookie consent forms that make it harder for people to decline are a ‘dark pattern’ and against the spirit and perhaps letter of the regulation

  Question for anyone who chooses to accept the the cookies in the Amex case is “is your privacy worth more than 30,000 MR? because once they accept that data is lost to hundreds to data brokers

  • Rob says:

    22 Apr22 April 08:57

    So you are the one person who goes through the preferences list on the Barclaycard site? For reasons too complex to explain, Barclaycard is giving us the exact % of HfP readers who did that when they applied for the Barclaycard. Sinead and I are betting on 2-3% given how the Barclaycard form is set up.

    • points_worrier says:

      22 Apr22 April 11:34

      I have an auto-cookie reject add-on on my browser for these pop-ups. And it clears cookies when closing the window for the small number that get through.
      I suspect I am not the only one, so my guess would be in the 5-10% region.

    • Andy says:

      22 Apr22 April 15:21

      If a site doesn’t let me reject cookies easily I tend to move on, or load it using archive.is or such like

      There’s the odd occasion where I might take to long route to reject being tracked but most of the time I just stop it at source

  • VerdantBacon says:

    22 Apr22 April 09:39

    Considering you’re on the internet, your data has been long sold, every detail of your interests, browsing patterns, device usage, browser usage, every scroll and every click of a page has been sold many times over.
    Very likely that this has all been sold without any remuneration to you, at least Amex is willing to give you something for your data (which they already have and sell if you currently hold a card and use their app / website)

• Waddle says:

  22 Apr22 April 09:13

  This is similar to how the US site does bonus offers. Different individuals can have different sign-up bonuses. Some people have used methods like incognito mode to get a particular offer to show up. It’s part of the churning game over there.

• J says:

  22 Apr22 April 10:16

  Not sure if this is universal, but it seems referrals from existing Gold Card Holders currently get 32k points. At least that is what my account is showing. Lasts until 19 July. At least what I have in my account at the moment.

• Cinimo says:

  22 Apr22 April 11:43

  I have a browser add-on that automatically deletes all cookies after closing the tab. That way I can click the big easy “accept” button, but also know its hard to track across sessions.

  Rob will see it as “accept” in his stats from Barclaycard but they will have very little associated info with it.

  • Rob says:

    22 Apr22 April 11:54

    As someone who deals with this stuff day in, day out, I wouldn’t waste a single second of my life on it. For 99% of sites, you’ll have an easier life accepting cookies and stopping all the pop-ups appearing, as well as having key info saved for the next time you visit. Apart from Facebook, no-one gives a monkeys about your browsing data and they certainly aren’t selling it. If a site shows me travel and luxury lifestyle ads instead of washing up liquid and grime concerts then I see that as a benefit, and if I am more likely to click on such ads so a site I’m not paying for gets more ad revenue, that’s also fine.

    What’s amusing is that many people who get fussy about this sort of thing have a public Facebook or LinkedIn profiles where I can find out where you live, what you do, what you earn and the name of your partner, kids and pet from what you’ve posted there …..

    • Jek says:

      22 Apr22 April 12:56

      I can only recommend to watch the “Data Brokers” episode of John Oliver Last Week Tonight, shown 10 April 2022. The reality is very different than “Apart from Facebook, no-one gives a monkeys about your browsing data”!

      • points_worrier says:

        23 Apr23 April 11:37

        Yes, this is a wildly outdated and incorrect view Rob has. But may well be reflective of the majority of the population.
        Just because someone isnt consistent with what they (voluntarily and knowingly) put on a Facebook profile, doesnt mean companies can be nefarious with other information.

• Olivia says:

  22 Apr22 April 11:51

  Just another example of how data is now the most valuable commodity to a business. Working in advertising, the ability to track and target audiences based on 1st and 3rd party data is only going to grow, and it’s a personal preference on how comfortable you are with that. The more data a company like Amex has on you, the more valuable Amex becomes as not only a bank, but an constant stream of data which can be used by brands to target.. maximising profits along the way. Google are planning on removing cookies from their browsers due to privacy concerns, with Apple pretty much following suit, so it makes sense why Amex is doing all it can now before the door shuts. Personally I’d probably just accept cookies anyway in the knowledge we all walk around with a GPS anyway, the bonus makes it even more tasty……… pardon the pun

  • Rob says:

    22 Apr22 April 12:08

    Amex sees your purchase history and can access your credit report which shows them most of your other financial data …. not sure that knowing you occasionally visit The Economist website is going to make a dent in that ….

    • Olivia says:

      22 Apr22 April 16:27

      Amex accessing your credit report via Amex blending its 1st party data with (probably) Experian. Some companies find the 1st party data more valuable to them, others 3rd work better.

      Occasionally visiting The Economist could be useful for some brands you just never know… I worked with 3rd party which let advertisers know which audiences were looking at mortgage rates and potentially moving home.. we had the likes of DFS wanting to directly target these people!

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