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Brand offers at the ATM: an innovative way to engage consumers

March 7, 2013 by Rebecca Hellmann — Marketing and Sales Coordinator, Welch ATM

The ATMIA US 2013 conference offered a plethora of information for ATM owners and operators about EMV, PCI and ways to mitigate dropping interchange fees. However, the most interesting session for a branding-minded marketer was "ATM Marketing Success Story," with TD Bank Group and Phoenix Interactive.

Phoenix Interactive, a provider of self-service software solutions, outlined the different levels at which self-service terminals, such as the ATM, can accommodate the consumer. The company champions the idea of market segmentation, allowing financial institutions and retailers to use customer data to direct individual offers to specific targets.

This method could be as simple as identifying individuals based on their BIN numbers in order to use actual names in ATM messaging. A slightly more complex option would be to for the system to recognize non-customers in order to send messaging encouraging them to join the institution.

Still more specifically segmented and targeted information could tell the self-service terminal to display student loan options to customers approaching college age or home loan and refinancing options to those identified as younger families. Working with the right processors, software and ATM management service providers can assist in making these types of segmentation easier at the terminal.

The marketing session also outlined the efforts of TD Bank Group to expand brand offerings at the ATM using marketing segmentation. TD Bank's goal was to provide service information and offers in a way that would advertise brand offerings and provide measurable ROI, as well. The bank not only changed out ATM screens on a timely and targeted basis, but it also integrated service offers into the ATM channel in order to solicit sign-ups and applications.

In this manner, TD Bank Group has offered a variety of services available for registration at the ATM, including overdraft protection, credit limit increases, day-to-day banking offers and much more. The bank discovered that its Canadian market was especially attuned to exploring these services at the ATM, while U.S. customers are only beginning to war to the idea of additional service availability at remote terminals.

TD Bank customers also indicated that anything with a fee attached to it was too big a risk or decision to make at the ATM. In fact, ATM users were likely to opt-out of a service they had previously signed up for if a fee was involved.

Ultimately, the addition of brand offerings through market segmentation at the ATM has helped to increase consumer brand awareness for TD Bank Group, as well as enrollment in the FI's services.

Alternative branding and advertising options are becoming more prevalent in a technologically savvy, self-service oriented market. With the branch slowly declining as the main channel for consumer interaction, it is becoming essential for institutions to investigate the opportunities that remote locations present for building brand recognition and promoting services that were previously offered only in person.

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