Mercator Advisory Group’s Insight Report, Self-Service, ATM, and Other Channel Banking: Expand My Options, from the bi-annual CustomerMonitor Survey Series, reveals that U.S. consumers’ preference for depositing checks by teller continues to decline even for higher-value checks. Although tellers remain the preferred method for a $1,000 check deposit (57% of the respondents in the 2015 survey summarized in the report), this preference has declined steadily from a four-year high of 68% in 2012. Tellers are the only method of check deposit preferred by more consumers for larger check values than for smaller values, suggesting greater trust in in-person deposit.

The survey finds the fastest-growing check deposit method is mobile remote deposit, in which consumers transmit a photo of the check via smartphone, preferred by 21% of respondents for $50 checks and 16% for $1,000 checks, a preference steadily rising from four-year lows of 11% and 9% respectively in 2012. Yet, more young adults prefer to deposit higher-value checks by ATM (25%, up from 22% in 2014) than to use remote deposit capture (23% in 2015 and 24% in 2014), as young adults rely more on self-service channels for any size check deposit. Young adults, however, are more likely to prefer to deposit a $50 check by remote deposit than with a teller or an ATM.

As self-service banking technology advances, becoming easier to use and offering greater functionality, consumers begin to prefer the convenience of self-service channels to conduct basic banking transactions rather than going to the branch to have a teller perform them.

Responses from an expanded sample of 3,000 U.S. adults were collected in the annual online Banking and Channels survey, conducted in November 2015 and are summarized and analyzed in Self-Service, ATM, and Other Channel Banking: Expand My Options in this latest report from Mercator Advisory Group’s Primary Data Service.

The study highlights consumers’ rising use and interest in a wider variety of self-service and ATM channels, especially the young adults and highly mobile consumers. It examines the demographic shift, changing preferences, and use of self-service channels compared to traditional branch banking and identifies trends in consumer methods of communicating with their bank and frequency of contact, methods, and preferences for getting cash and depositing checks; changes in use of cash and checks; use of ATMs by type and location; willingness to pay surcharges for convenience; importance of ATM characteristics in new bank selection; interest in using mobile cash access, self-service kiosks, and videoconferencing for discussions with banking specialists and separately for conducting bank transactions.

“Consumers want greater convenience and any options to enhance convenience and accessibility to their financial institutions are welcome, as fewer consumers visit the branch for simple transactions,” states Karen Augustine, manager of Primary Data Services including the CustomerMonitor Survey Series at Mercator Advisory Group and author of the report.

The report is 64 pages long and contains 27 exhibits.