Research Project on The ATM Experience in India

ATM Experience today in India is not very pleasant and that’s why I decided to do a research on it, to know what exactly people are frustrated with.

Problem Statement

Research on bank’s ATM experience by understanding the frustrations of different kinds of users throughout the process and figure out scope of improvements in it.

Assumptions

I started by listing out the quick pain points I could think by, based on my own experiences. Here is the list -

1. Scary experience when machine holds that card inside, throughout the transaction
2. No unified and hence confusing experience across different machines
3. Repetitive steps for every transaction
4. No immediate complaint/help in case of emergency

Time Frame

I dedicated total 20 hours — 4 hr/day for this research. This type of project can go on for long time and hence I had put up a time restriction of 4–5 days including the write up time.

User Research

I had four research channels in front of me —

1. One to one chat/call
2. Social Media
3. Survey Form
4. Google/Quora

1. One to one chat/call
Initially I planned on sending out a form to everyone, but that would have been a longer process. People may not have responded to google forms quickly. So, I started reaching out to people in my network which belong to different age groups.

2. Social Media

I decided to A/B test Facebook posts —

Facebook Post with just short text, so that it appears big in size, in feed

Facebook Post with image because, as the study says the posts with images attract quicker engagement which can be seen above

3. Survey Form

I wasn’t sure how soon and how many responses I would get by circulating forms among the network, but I decided to do it anyway. I believe you should always keep all the channels open to hear from people. Even a single quality response can make a huge impact.

I created this form after I had one-to-one sessions with few users. I wanted to understand what sort of responses people are giving, based on which I could create better single-click options in order to make form less overwhelming, easy, and quick to fill in.

Click here to check the google form that I created it

4. Google/Quora

Out of all the articles I came across, two were very insightful. Here is the link —

What are common problems with ATM machines?

HDFC Bank changed their ATM workflow: A Case in bad redesign.

Research Findings

Considering the response that I got, I would say it was my lucky day! All channels worked out within the time.

Notes from one-to-one session. Next time, I’m going to record a call rather than writing in a way that even I can barely read

Total 17 people participated in the research

Here is the segregation of data based on various factors

1. Age Group

Maximum people were from age group 25–30, followed by 35–40 and 45–55.

2. Channel Response

7 people responded to one-to-one channel, followed by 6 for form and 4 for Facebook. There was more traction on Facebook post however the relevant comments received were 4 only. It was a good decision to open up multiple channels.

3. Banks People Use

People who responded from Facebook did not provide their bank details which are shown as N/A in the graph below

HDFC and SBI ATMs are the highest used, followed by Axis on rank 3.

4. Usage

13 people use ATM for Cash Withdrawal, followed by 3 to View Balance, 1 to Change Pin and 1 to Pay Credit Card Bill

5. Frequency of used

50% of the participants use ATM once a month and 50% use it weekly

6. Technical Problems

Major issue people face with is the Confusing Interface, followed by Speed and Mental Pressure for ATM holding the card in throughout the transaction

There were few other technical challenges that participants told are as below

“Two ATM machines are closely placed. The user besides you can easily eye the transaction details. Thus, ATM machines must have a screen guard to safeguard.”

“Annoying messages like — Would you like to open an account with our bank?”

“Machine doesn’t give out the cash, but the amount gets deducted from account.”

“Machines have very clunky touch and it gets annoying to keep tapping on it.”

“No help or support is offered when something goes wrong. I was traveling a few months ago and was unable to withdraw, the transaction kept failing. I had to make a normal call and it took 20 minutes to resolve the issue.”

This one below, was by a 66 year old

“It has been over six years that I go to ATM just to check my balance and take out cash once a month. I don’t know why I still see all the other options if I’ve never used them!”

7. Flow

There were two types of responses from people when asked about the flow of ATM Cash Withdrawal

1. Who remembered the entire flow
   First (IDBI User)
   Swipe Card > Enter Pin > Choose Service > Choose Account Type > Enter Amount > Confirm Amount > No For Balance Slip > Take Cash > Go
   Second (ICICI User)
   Swipe Card > Choose Language > Enter Pin > Enter Amount > Say No To Need Receipt > Collect Cash > Say No To Want To Open New Account > Go
2. Who remembered only key steps
   First (HDFC User)
   Submit Card > Enter Pin > Enter Amount > Wait For Money > Count > Go

8. Outcome
All the assumption made earlier were validated in the research. Below are the list of things people are expecting to be repaired or optimized further for ATM Machines

Major in demand

1. User Interface
2. Reducing number of steps to speed up the process
3. Avoiding mental pressure by bringing swipe-only machines
4. Maintaining the machines so that they don’t slow down

Secondary

1. Required denominations availability
2. Better and faster support in case if something goes wrong in the process
3. Properly functional touch-screens with well-aligned displays to avoid confusion of the options

Here is the link to my google spreadsheet that has all the research data gathered

ATM Experience in India Survey Result

This research could be further extended and strengthened by doing things below

1. Gathering data based on metro cities and suburbs
2. Handicapped people could be included to understand their problems
3. Shadowing technique can help get qualitative data
4. Each bank’s ATM can be researched separately to fix flaws in them

Thank you for reading this. I would love hear your suggestions on how this search can be improved and also about the ATM issues you’ve faced.

Let me know in comments below or reach out to me over — Email, Twitter or LinkedIn

Lastly, a huge thank you to Alipta Ballav, Abinash Mohanty for their guidance throughout the project and to Tanvi Purohit for helping me sort the survey data received through different channels.

Other recent work

Guerrilla Research in Mumbai