News

Study: Self-service continues to gain ground among US consumers

April 29, 2016

U.S. consumers' preference for depositing checks by teller continues to decline — even for higher-value checks. This is the conclusion of the Mercator Insight Report, "Self-Service, ATM, and Other Channel Banking: Expand My Options."

The study, from the biannual CustomerMonitor Survey Series conducted by Mercator Advisory Group, finds that the preference for teller deposit for a $1,000 check has declined from a high of 68 percent four years ago to 57 percent today.

The study highlights the rising use of and interest in a wider variety of self-service and ATM channels — particularly among young adults and highly mobile consumers.

Mercator examined demographic shifts, changing preferences, and use of self-service channels compared with use of traditional branch banking services. The company also identified trends in consumer methods of communicating with their bank, as well as preferences for getting cash and depositing checks.

The study profiles use of ATMs by type and location; user willingness to pay surcharges for convenience; the importance of ATM characteristics in new bank selection; and customer interest in using mobile cash access, self-service kiosks, and video for conferencing and transactions.

The 2015 survey found that the fastest-growing check deposit method is mobile remote deposit, preferred by 21 percent of respondents for $1,000 checks and by 19 percent for $50 checks. This preference has climbed steadily in four years from 11 percent and 9 percent respectively.

Still, more young adults prefer to deposit higher-value checks by ATM (25 percent) than to use remote deposit capture (23 percent), as young adults rely more on self-service channels for any size check deposit.

Young adults, however, are more likely to prefer to deposit a $50 check by remote deposit than with a teller or an ATM, according to the report.

"Consumers want greater convenience and any options to enhance convenience and accessibility to their financial institutions are welcome, as fewer consumers visit the branch for simple transactions," said Karen Augustine, manager of primary data services at Mercator and author of the report.

Highlights of the 64-page report include:

• trends in U.S. adult consumer use of self-service banking channels and frequency of use by method;
• frequency and degree of use of ATM deposits, envelope vs. envelope-free, cash vs. checks;
• demographic s of user preference in depositing high- and low-value checks;
• shifts in methods of getting cash and depositing checks;
• change in use of cash and checks during the previous year;
• frequency of ATM use and types of ATMs used;
• importance of ATM features and functionality in new bank selection;
• Importance of enhanced functionality such as prepaid card loading, payment services, and coupons and rewards offered at the ATM; and
• trends in use of in-branch videoconferencing and teller-assisted video for transactions.

Mercator collected responses from an expanded sample of 3,000 U.S. adults in its annual online banking and channels survey conducted in November 2015.