UMB’s ATM DBM

Here’s the fantasy: The security camera stationed at the automated teller machine you’re using notes that you have a large ketchup stain on your jacket. When the receipt is printed, it is accompanied by a discount coupon to a nearby clothing store.

Here’s the reality: Ketchup, no. Financial services, yes. And the camera has nothing to do with it.

Kansas City, MO-based UMB Financial Corp. has 45,000 ATMs throughout the United States. Using Discovery Suite, a software package from Lenexa, KS-based Digital Archaeology, the firm is able to tailor site-specific offers based on aggregate customer profiles that have been augmented with Experian data. Customers pick up the offers at point-of-purchase displays located near the ATMs.

For example, in one campaign, the bank offered a 14-day certificate of deposit at selected sites for customers who did not want to tie their money up for a significant period of time. This campaign represented a cost savings over normal direct marketing efforts for the same product-UMB had done some spot print and radio advertising.

“We were quite pleased with the results,” says William R. Venable III, UMB’s VP, director of database marketing and strategies. “They were higher than the expected returns from print advertisements, and on a par with those at manned teller distribution points.”

There are some data-use tactics UMB has avoided. Targeting commercials to bank customers via the ATMs themselves is probably a no-no, according to Venable.

“That is the last thing you want if you are in line,” he says.

But analysis of ATM use has led UMB’s marketing department to explore an entirely new revenue source. By cross-indexing which ATMs were not located close to post offices, UMB determined viable markets for postage stamp distribution through its ATMs. ATM users, it turns out, are less likely to use home or work PC-based banking options. “They are paying their bills somehow,” says Venable. “They are probably buying stamps.”

UBM has also used Discovery Suite to reveal profit centers beyond ATMs-for example, lawyers or executors for bankrupt individuals or companies.

When a person or institution goes bankrupt, a bank’s potential for further revenue from that account is limited. However, instead of closing the accounts, UBM has been able to turn bankrupt accounts into loss leaders and pick up fees from legal or financial service firms associated with the accounts. Revenue from this sector has climbed from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands.

“Our officers are now well aware that these are accounts we want to continue to do handholding on,” says Venable.