• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, April 15, 2016

American Express OPEN, a card designed for small businesses, is using mobile programmatic to help it efficiently reach the right audiences at scale. Rajeev Subramanyam, vice president, global digital acquisition, shared some of his
learnings at the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Programmatic Leadership Forum on Thursday.

Notably, AmEx OPEN has moved 80% of its programmatic inventory to mobile, as it’s finding that by leveraging data at scale, it’s able to bid the right amount for certain audiences.

While Subramanyam is finding success with mobile programmatic, three key challenges remain:

1. Can we reach the right prospect or customer? AmEx has a lot of first-party data and uses it liberally. But quality third-party data is harder to find, which is a limiting factor.

2. Creating engaging and immersive content. “We need to find a way to get our message in front of prospects,” he said.

3. How to make use of data at scale while testing with partners. “Earnings are under pressure and margins are important; we need to demonstrate where mobile programmatic can help.”

Subramanyam cited native communications channels like newsfeeds as efficient ways to to engage with prospects and customers. He dinged Facebook, which, while doing a “great job,” remains a “walled garden.”  Still, Facebook enables AmEx to customize audiences and appear in the newsfeed.

One challenge for AmEx is that completing one of its application forms on a mobile device is “hard and not mobile-friendly,” he said. He called for a seamless application, online and offline, that will be integrated to achieve conversions. Even more important, such a form must enable consumers to pick up where they left off if they get interrupted.

Going forward, he said AmEx will use cross-screen identification, first party data at scale, and native advertising that is measurable and transparent. “Moving toward 2017, these ingredients are critical for us and where we’re going.” Also extremely important: creating immersive experiences while measuring, tracking and attributing audiences across devices, offline and online.

Subramanyam cited some results from mobile programmatic. Using closed-loop data connecting buyers and sellers, the majority of his card volume comes from programmatic media, with less than half of the media spend. It also offers a 60% higher approval rate and achieves 2x to 3x the efficiency over regular media. “High-quality data at scale, plus programmatic, makes us successful,” Subramanyam said.

For a promotional offer with Starwood, AmEx Open developed a proprietary data segment to create qualified audiences. With the creative, data and technology all working together, programmatic helped AmEx achieve a 5x lift in response rate and a 90% higher approval rate and ROI.

“We can tell through our data which card is right for which person. We can show people a newsfeed to qualify them. The point is using data, automation and creative all together, at scale, to help drive positive outcomes,” Subramanyam said.