How to reduce the stress of kiosk deployment

The line, "if you build it, they will come," makes for a great movie trailer about a half-crazed baseball fan, but when you are contemplating a kiosk deployment, you probably need more to go on.

When Financial Service Centers Cooperative, Inc. (FSCC) decided to link its financial services network to 7-Eleven's 2,100 advanced function kiosks — V-coms — we did not have the luxury of direct research or past experience to go on. Putting complex financial transactions on a kiosk in a convenience store was such a leap, I'm still thinking, "How on earth did we do that?!"

One of our biggest challenges was that putting financial transactions on a kiosk looked a lot like building an ATM network. Would our client credit unions understand the difference, or worse, would consumers be confused? Our strategy was to acknowledge the perceived similarities, but then follow up with the differences — repeatedly. Fortunately, consumers were not confused — they loved the consistent convenience, but it was a tough go for persons within our industry whose only frame of reference was ATMs.

Despite our communication strategy, there were some particularly difficult moments. One trade writer just couldn't grasp that there was something better than a deposit-taking ATM. Finally I told him, "David, I'm not articulate enough to describe the differences. Please go use one of the units and see for yourself." He called back three times to tell me how the units were going to positively change his relationship with his credit union and how he'd never had that kind of convenience before in his life. Sometimes expectations can only be managed by experience.

I was not aware of the Self-Service and Kiosk Association (SSKA) when we began our project. If we had been a member then, I could have saved myself significant time, resources and stress by using their vast store of research. Just as important, I would have had access to kiosk professionals in other industries who could have helped me understand the technology, equipment, and potential problems we faced.

We knew our biggest users would likely be Gen X and Y and focused our marketing on those groups. Although we are still gathering data, we are finding that older consumers are repeatedly using the kiosks as well. SSKA's report onConsumer Attitudes Toward Self-Serviceis helping to explain this trend by pointing toward control, consistency and convenience as drivers. Everybody loves convenience.