I paid my American Express bill late recently and incurred a $29 late fee. I called and innocently inquired about it hoping that it would be forgiven. The nice customer service rep that explained to me what day my payment had been due and what day mine actually arrived didn’t hesitate to help me out. She said that I had been a member for a long time and she would certainly remove the charge. Of course, I thought to myself. I’ve been a member since 1989.

I feel that I get better customer service from American Express. Do I actually? I don’t know, but it seems that way to me and that makes a difference. In fact I didn’t just say that that I had an American Express card, or that I used one. I called myself a member. Think about the power of that. How many other products elicit feelings of membership by their users?