Self‐service Technologies in Retail Banking: Current and Expected Adoption Patterns

Three key self‐service technologies exist in banking in New Zealand: ATMs (automatic telling machines), EFTPoS (electronic funds transfer at the point of sale), and telephone banking. All three are at differing stages of the adoption process. Of interest is exactly the stage where they are and towards which they are heading. Information of this nature would assist banks in developing marketing strategies. In order to identify at what stages of adoption these technologies are, and heading towards, 302 telephone surveys were carried out with randomly selected respondents. The results indicated that ATMs are at the late majority stage of the diffusion process, and heading for the laggard group. The question thus needs to be asked, “Should banks be spending any resources at all in trying to encourage new users?” The laggards are the least likely of all customers to adopt, and the banks′ resources could well be better spent elsewhere. EFTPoS is at the late stages of the early majority, and heading for the late majority. Strategies used by the banks to encourage new users need to recognize that the late majority are typically sceptical about new ideas. Also the banks need to stress the mobility value of EFTPoS, since members of the late majority tend to be less mobile. Telephone banking is at the early stages of the early majority. Banks need to recognize that at this stage it is word‐of‐mouth which will determine the success or failure of a product or service. Telephone banking systems should be available to the market only when the system has been found to be faultless, and customer service levels are at an optimum.