Distribution: Personalized ATMs Sell to Individuals

The challenge is easier said than done: How does an institution get time-starved consumers to buy products that fit their needs and habits? For Cincinnati-based Star Banc Corp., one answer for selling its check card, home equity line of credit and bill payment services is through a new data mart-driven capability built into its ATMs.

Since last fall, the bank has been piloting Precision Delivery, developed by Fujitsu-ICL Systems, at some of its 660 ATMs in the Midwest. The Fujitsu product enables an institution to create a data mart which can be stored on a Pentium chip at the ATM.

Star Bank created profiles of heavy ATM users which have a twofold purpose: They are being used to deliver personalized customer service and pinpoint candidates for specific products offers. The data mart identifies which customers may be likely candidates for one of three products currently slated for cross-sell at the ATM. While a customer uses the ATM, a customized product pitch will be delivered on-screen. The data mart can also be used to price products and services based on individuals. A customer who values a monthly bill pay service, for example, will be charged $10.95, while non-users may be incented for $6.95.

If the customer is interested, he simply indicates so by pressing a prompt and is contacted later by a bank sales agent. The result is a highly targeted sales effort which generates pre-qualified buyers of new products and services. "I'm selling convenience products to people who use convenience channels," says Star Bank's Robin Nenninger, senior vice president of alternative delivery.

Star Bank is also using the technology to foster better customer service. Using transactional data, it created a data mart to identify frequent ATM transactions per customer. The result is that when a customer slides his plastic card into the terminal, a personalized greeting appears on screen to ask if the customer wants his usual $200 from his checking account. To accept, he simply enters his PIN. "The customer will think that the bank really knows them," Nenninger says. "That was important because I really wanted our ATMs to standout from the competition."

The ATMs use high-resolution visuals from the bank's Web site; the cost of upgrading ATMs is roughly $4,000 per unit, Nenninger says.

Fujitsu's Bob Tyler, director of advanced technology, says that development of the data mart and installation process can take up to four months. "It is a customized program for every institution which uses it," he says. "There are lots of options."