“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” — Hans Hofmann
UX Dailies №1
Every time I go to an ATM booth in banks or malls, I am always pissed by the clutter and the irresponsibility of human beings who can’t even put a small piece of paper on the trash bin. This can’t be right!
I started this habit when I see these clutter of receipts around the ATM trash bin, I would pick it all up (put it on the trash bin) in front of the people lining up to show them how to do the right thing and stop being lazy about it.
As a user experience designer, I would ask myself everyday how can I fix this type of mess on products. Lately, I’ve been observing people on ATM booths trying to understand why do they actually print their receipt from the machine after using it.
I did an online poll too in one of our group chats at work and ask them for their individual reason. I gave them four choices: “To Check the Balance”, “To Keep a Reference”, “Just Want to Make Use of It”, and “It’s Just a Habit”.
Oh boy, my assumptions were right based on my observations and based on the poll. Almost all of the them would print the receipt for the reason of “checking the balance” after withdrawing while some of them keep it for reference and no one answered for the two remaining choices.
If you observe the people withdrawing from an ATM, there’s a simple pattern: they opt to print the receipt, they look at it in a hurry, then throw it into the trash bin while hurriedly leaving the booth. That’s why you see all the clutter of these receipts around the trash bin because they hardly care about it.
So how do we fix this mess?
By looking at the behavior of the ATM users, one way you can change their mind “not to print the receipt” is by adding an additional screen display after they withdraw or transact — show the remaining balance! And probably change the copy of the question before the transaction ends — “Would you still want to print your receipt?”, instead of the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ Print option.
Would this be an easy fix? I guess ‘No’, for now. It needs consultation, testing, and validation. And you have to have the banks be on board to this change. Well, it will save them some money on those receipt papers and we are saving some trees, right? So they have have something to gain and we as user have nothing to lose here.
I think one underlying reason users print their receipt after using the ATM is they have “trust issue” with an automated machine. “Users need assurance”. Would it be costly for banks to add an additional SMS notification to users after they withdraw from their account as an online receipt of their transaction? It would cost our environment if they don’t adapt a better design to this technology soon.
We need to go paperless. We are now on what they say is in the “mid-phase” of digital age where most people have (smart) phones and access to internet.
As designers, it will be a good thing for us to design better products that can also contribute to sustainability and make things easier for everyone to adapt without them second guessing the process.
By the way, if you are using the mobile app of your bank, you may want to consider putting an end to the habit of printing the receipt after withdrawing from the ATM. You can always check your balance on your app, right? I started it months ago. It just feels right.
