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5 things that make your ATM invisible

June 7, 2013 by Corey King — Sales, American Bank Equipment

I lived in the small town of Newburgh, Ind., for almost 10 years before I found out there was a farmers market downtown every Saturday morning that was full of fresh produce, unique crafts and local vendors eager to share their life's passions with every potential customer. The main reason for this 10-year delay was that, until a couple of years ago, there were no signs, no marketing, no visible identifiers — nothing to bring attention to something special in our community.

Many ATMs are just like this, with nothing to make them stand out, or in locations that are hidden or obscured from customers who are eager to use them and primed for more services!

1) Ho-hum features 

If you have an older, blah ATM with no marketing features or services, you are missing out on a great opportunity to capture new customers who may have just stopped by to get cash.

How about existing customers who are loyal to your bank already? If your FI offers lower interest rates on home loans, car loans or other consumer items and your ATM does nothing to promote this, you are missing the boat!

ATMs are like tellers — they can either be an informative asset to customers or an invisible, blah transaction enabler that brings nothing to your business.

2) Visually "plain"

I have worked with ATMs for 20 years and can tell you quickly whether you are looking at an NCR SelfServ 38 or Opteva 740 or Triton FT5000.

Do you think customers can tell the difference between your ATM and someone else's, or do they just see a tan, grey or "kinda blue"-looking unit? If you don't use eyecatching colors, bright lights or other unique, branded identifiers, your ATM is going to be invisible to many potential customers.

Why aren't you customizing your ATM with bank colors and logos? Why aren't you drawing attention to your location and ATM? These are important questions to answer if you don't want an invisible ATM.

3) Intelligent deposit?

This warranted a Top 5 listing all its own. Pre-ADA, intelligent deposit was a luxury item only viable in some far-off land of Oz — not something that customers locally would ever have an interest in.

Look at my previous blogs, look around your neighborhood; if you aren't offering intelligent deposit (i.e., you're using the old envelope method), you potentially have an ATM that's invisible to customers who want more!

4) Is it up and running?

Is there anything more irritating to a customer than driving or walking up to an ATM and finding it "OUT OF SERVICE"? When an ATM is down for 2 to 3 days on a semi-regular basis, it's essentially invisible to customers who otherwise would want to use it.

If this is happening because the ATM is old and should be replaced, something needs to be done! If it's because you need higher-level techs, something needs to be done! If an ATM is out of service too often, it's invisible. Nuff said.

5) Signage

This goes back to my farmers market story earlier. If you don't use signage to alert consumers that an ATM is there and ready, how will anyone know it's there? Whether it's at an FI or retail location, you need signage or some other indicator to draw attention to the service — or else you're invisible.

Invisible ATMs don't draw customer traffic. Invisible ATMs lose money for their owners. If you own or use ATMs in your business, invisibility should not be an option!

About Corey King

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Corey King works with American Bank Equipment "supporting companies that have boots on the ground." He has extensive experience working with and for ATM sales and service organizations and writes from a parts, machine, compliance and upgrade perspective.

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