Reclaim your credit union’s brand visibility at the ATM

Out-of-sight and out-of-mind – these have become issues for many financial institutions when it comes to ATM transactions. Branch offices aren’t the neighborhood fixtures they used to be and even if they were, ATMs long ago left the once exclusive nest of bank lobbies and credit union drive-through lanes. ATMs went out into the world, into the aisles of retailers woven into the fabric of peoples’ daily lives. Convenient and visible – these attributes fit ATMs, but not so much the financial institution brand that’s either nowhere to be found or too hard to find. Now is the time for the FI to reclaim brand visibility at the ATM – but ATM branding is just the beginning.

ATM Branding

With Federal Reserve data debunking any notion of consumers abandoning cash, there’s little room for debating the importance of providing cardholders with convenient ATM cash access in all the right places. In the age of instant gratification, cardholders want ease of ATM access and they want it on their terms – fee-free and conveniently located. Branding a retail ATM can deliver on those desires, but maximizing visibility and brand recognition at these ATMs still requires some wise decision-making by a financial institution.

A prominently branded ATM – a topper and full machine wrapping – is a sensible first step in reclaiming brand visibility at a retail ATM. However, the effectiveness of that mini-billboard for an individual bank or credit union’s brand also depends on the retailer’s location. Analyzing cardholder brick-and-mortar spending patterns, as well as ATM transaction data is the difference between a branded ATM and a well-placed branded ATM. The ability to help a financial institution find that sweet spot between their cardholders’ point-of-sale and ATM usage patterns needs to be a core competency of any ATM branding partner a bank or credit union considers.

And don’t stop at branding the ATM’s exterior. Accomplished ATM branding partners can help financial institutions own the transaction experience by programming a user experience remarkably similar to branch ATMs. Add-in multi-tasking please wait/advertising screens, plus branded receipts and in-store coupons and suddenly real value has been added to a retail ATM experience reclaimed by the branding bank or credit union.

Location Services aka pre-transaction pointing

Collaborating with an ATM branding partner, analyzing card usage data – by conducting that due diligence, a financial institution can be confident it has chosen a location its cardholders will find convenient. Nevertheless, in an app-driven world, why wait to be found? Balance inquiries, account transfers and mobile deposits are table stakes for smartphone banking and so too should be an ATM and branch locator considering the built-in GPS capabilities. Best practices: Display all available locations, on premise and off, and incorporate a birds-eye-view, street map and the ability to launch a mapping service. In short, reclaim brand visibility by pointing cardholders to the branded ATM.

Text Alerts aka post-transaction pointing

Balance reminders, transaction notifications, fraud alerts – these are well-known text alerts sent by financial institutions, but what about ATM fee alerts? Sometimes, the best life lessons are born of mistakes and painful moments. This same philosophy can be applied to instances when a cardholder, for example, is in an unfamiliar neighborhood, forgets to check their ATM locator and instead used a competitor’s ATM, paying a surcharge-fee in the process. If only that cardholder could be pointed to their financial institution’s branded ATM, located in the convenience store just a block away.

They can with text alerts. While the alert can’t prevent a cardholder from using an out-of-network ATM in the moment, it can alter future behavior by reminding them of a nearby branded (and fee-free) ATM while the pain of paying a surcharge-fee is still fresh. Call it disruptive marketing, call it a convenience message in the aftermath of incurring a convenience fee. The bottom line is a financial institution can reclaim brand visibility in this moment with a message of convenience that drives future transactions to an in-network, branded ATM.

In-sight and top-of-mind

Branch networks may shrink and ATMs may increasingly be found off-premise. However, with the availability of retail ATM branding opportunities, custom-fit to cardholders’ established behavior, there simply is no excuse for a financial institution’s brand to be out-of-sight and out-of-mind at the ATM. Brand an ATM in the right store, then use the technology in the palms of cardholders’ hands to maximize that investment by pointing them to your brand at the ATM, when and where they need it.