Content Design

What’s Included

These are terms and phrases we style a certain way for consistency and readability. Note whether and how each word is capitalized.

We’ve only included branded terms or feature-specific terms that are frequently referenced. Please reach out to a product or feature’s team for their most up-to-date usage guidelines. For more information about branded terms, visit the Brand site.

When we consider how best to style a non-branded word, we consult the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and follow AP Style.

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A to C

account: Specify what type of account when possible. (See “Card account,” “online account”)

account owner: The account holder of a Personal Savings or Rewards Checking account.

Additional Card Member: Someone added to a consumer Basic Card Member’s account. Don’t use “supp” or “supplementary” in customer-facing copy.

American Express: The possessive is formatted “American Express’” not “American Express’s.” When referring to ourselves, say “we/our.”

Amex: The possessive is formatted “Amex’s.” Use the abbreviated version only with space limitations.

Amex App: The enterprise mobile app.

APR: Annual Percentage Rate. Don’t use “A.P.R.”

AutoPay: One word, capital “A,” capital “P.” This is our automatic payment feature.

Basic Card Member: The main account holder for a Card product. Don’t use “primary” in customer-facing copy. (See “Member” and “Membership.“)

benefit: A perk you’re eligible for; some require opting in. A Card Member receives it automatically, at no additional cost, as part of an ongoing program.

business: Use instead of “merchant” in consumer-facing copy, as it’s a more customer-friendly term. Use “merchant” only in merchant-facing content, or with “merchant offer” and “merchant credit.”

Card: Our official product. Specific Card products are proper nouns and may need to be written out fully in certain contexts (American Express Gold Card), but you can say “your Gold Card” or “your Platinum Card” in instructional body copy.

Card account: This is the account associated with the Card, not just the Card itself.

Card Member: Anyone with one of our Card products.

charge: Use “charge” to describe a purchase or a transaction that is neither a merchant credit or payment.

credit: On Card or loans, credits decrease the total balance (you owe Amex less). They can be merchant credits, payments, or adjustments. On banking products, a credit would increase the total balance (you have more funds in your account).

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D to F

debit: On Rewards Checking accounts, customers make debits to their account when they use their Debit Card or withdraw funds. Don’t use for Cards.

driver license: This is what this document is called in 30 states. While both “driver license” and “driver’s license” are valid US usages, use “driver license” for consistency. For all markets, make sure to use the actual name of any document you’re referencing.

email: Use “email” the same way you’d refer to “mail,” both singular and plural. Use “email” for address, but add “address” in confusing situations (“I’ll send email to this email.”).

file formats: PDF, JPG, PNG, etc. Capitalize when used in a sentence, but lowercase in a file extension. Example: “I’ve sent the PDF, labeled “content.pdf.”

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G to L

gift card: Don’t capitalize if it’s not the official Amex product. It can be physical or digital. Our own product is an “American Express Gift Card.”

invoice: This is the monthly statement that Personal Loans customers receive. Don’t capitalize unless it is part of a document name (example: “Your Jul 15,2025 Invoice”).

loan: The general term for a Personal Loan. You can use “loan” in most instances. See also “Personal Loan account.”

login credentials: Your User ID and password. You log in (verb, 2 words) with your login (adjective, 1 word) credentials.

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M to P

Member: Anyone who has a relationship with an Amex product or service.

Membership: A Member’s direct relationship with us. Additional Card Members don’t have a Membership.

Membership Rewards: A rewards program that earns points instead of miles or cash (i.e., a statement credit). Must include the trademark symbol on first mention, and is always followed by “program” or “points.” Don’t abbreviate to “MR.”

Membership Rewards points: Use full phrase with trademark symbol on first reference. Subsequent mentions can use be “points.” Don’t use “your points,” they don’t belong to the Member.

one-time passcode: Used in step-up authentication, sent by text or email.

online account: We use this phrase to refer to the logged-in experience on the websiste or in the mobile app, and not a specific account.

password: Always lowercase (see User ID).

Payment Due date: The day your payment or minimum payment is due. Don’t capitalize “date.”

Pay Over Time: Capitalize only when referring to the branded payment option. Use “pay over time” to refer to the act of paying in installments and avoid using outside of Pay Over Time.

pending: These transactions are temporary holds or charges that aren’t final. This concept confuses users and should be explained when possible.

Personal Loan account: Our consumer loan product. Use “loan” on subsequent mentions. Don’t capitalize “account.”

Personal Savings account: Our consumer savings product. Don’t capitalize “account.”

posted: Any transaction that has completely processed and is final. You can use phrases such as “when this transaction posts” or “all posted transactions.”

processing: Payments and transfers go through a processing stage, which can differ depending on product or circumstances. “Processing” and “pending” are not interchangeable.

purchase: Use as a noun to indicate an item or service a customer paid for (example: “purchases on your Card”).

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S to Z

Social Security number: Don’t capitalize “number.”

spend: Use as a verb only. Use “spending” for nouns and adjectives. Don’t use “spending” when you mean balance or total. This refers to charge amounts and the concept of using a Card to buy things.

states: Use postal abbreviations (CO), not AP Style abbreviations (Colo.). Don’t add periods.

statement: Use when referring to a Card, Rewards Checking, or Personal Savings statement. The electronic version is sometimes called “e-statement.” You may also sometimes see “billing statement.”

transaction: This is the umbrella term for any line item that might appear on an account or statement. You can always use this term when a general word is needed.

US: The United States. Don’t use U.S.

User ID: For log in. Always title case. (see “password”)

ZIP code: Don’t capitalize “code.”

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CTAs & Verbs

Using the same term in the same way helps users know what to expect and gives them confidence to proceed. You can use these in links, buttons, body content, and more.

Verb Usage

Add: The opposite of Delete or Remove.

Cancel: When the user wants to leave a task without saving or to stop using a product or service. Avoid using this word as a CTA if the user action involves “canceling” a product or service, as this will cause confusion. (Use cancel, canceled, cancellation in the US market.)

Connect: When the user wants to link two accounts/things. “Connect” and “link” are often interchangeable in our experiences, and it’s unclear which users prefer. Be consistent within your experience.

Continue: When a user wants to go to the next screen or page.

Delete: When a user wants to permanently delete information.

Download: When a user wants to save a copy of a something to their device.

Enroll: When the user needs to opt in or sign up. Use enroll, enrollment, enrolling, enrolled in the US market.

Edit: When the user wants to change one piece of information. Research shows that this is a well understood term. You can use “update” within a sentence if “edit” is awkward. Use “manage” when the user wants to change more than piece of information.

Enter: When the user wants to input information. (Example: “Enter your mobile number.“)

Explore: When we want to encourage a user to see what a particular experience has to offer, without committing to it. “Explore + phrase” (i.e., Explore Benefits”). Use instead of “Learn More,” which is not accessible due to lack of information scent.

Go to: When the user wants to navigate to a well-understood destination (Example: “Go to Account Home,” “Go to PDF Statements”).

Hide: When the user wants to dismiss/close/collapse a panel, accordion, and other information.

Learn More: Don’t use this. It’s not accessible, has low information scent, and research shows that people associate the phrase with high effort, decreasing the likelihood that they’ll check it out.

Manage: When a user wants to navigate to a destination where they can see multiple entries and can make changes (“Manage Bank Accounts”).

Remove: When a user wants to delete information from a specific instance but not necessarily from everywhere. For example, a user can “remove” a bank account from one Card but keep it on another. Use “delete” for a more permanent action.

Review: When we want to provide a summary before a user commits to something.

Select: Our most robust verb. This is device-agnostic. Use to direct a user to perform a specific task, or when picking from more than one option. Use in place of inaccessible haptic words like “click.” (Examples: “Select ‘Submit’ to continue.” “Select an income level.“)

Set Up: Use to indicate that a journey or feature will have customizable options that you can then use going forward. Note the verb/noun difference: You set up AutoPay, but you can change your AutoPay setup.

Show: When the user wants to see/open/expand a panel, accordion, and other information.

Spend: Use “spend” only as a verb referring to purchasing with a Card. Use “spending” for all adjectives and nouns (Examples: “You spent $50 this month” vs. “Total Spending”).

Submit: When the user is about to complete a task and receive confirmation. They won’t be able to go back and change their entries after submitting.

View: Use to indicate that a user is about to go to another page, where they’ll be able to access more options or content that can’t be modified (“View Your Statement”). Don’t use the inaccessible “see.”

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