CHARLOTTE, N.C. — According to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by NCR Corp., consumers expect self-service options when they establish a banking relationship with a financial institution.
The survey, "Taste for Tech," found that 40 percent of those who responded believe banking via the ATM is a "most essential" self-service transaction. The survey listed four types of self-service transactions — ATM, supermarket checokout, automated-phone and pay-at-the-pump.
Only seven percent of survey respondents expressed frustration with ATM banking, which could be tied to the 19 percent who said that over the course of the last year, when attempting to use an ATM, they found it to be out of service "often" or "sometimes."
While 81 percent said they "never" or "rarely" found an out-of-service ATM, financial institutions consider the ATM to be a mission critical device, with an industry-uptime requirement of more than 99 percent.
"The good news is, consumers want self-service banking and we continue to make the ATM a highly-reliable method to fulfill that need," said Brian Bailey, NCR's vice president of financial marketing. "In today's competitive banking environment, it is all the more important to ensure you aren't turning valuable customers away or unknowingly raising their frustration levels."
The survey's findings also support the notion that self-service is one piece of a kaleidoscope of banking touchpoints consumers demand.
When a preference for self-service was indicated, respondents were asked in what daily interaction they would prefer using self-service over personal assistance. Forty-eight percent indicated a preference for ATM banking verses a teller.
A separate question asked why that was the preference, with 67 percent citing the ATM's 24-hour availability, 54 percent noting the speed of ATM transactions and 44 percent specifying the convenient location.
Anonymity (10 percent) and security (five percent) rounded out the responses.
