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New Scientific Approach Catches Customers in Action During Bank Mergers

ATLANTA, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Mergers and acquisitions occur often today as corporations seek to acquire larger market share and improve profitability. A key success factor, however, is to make new customers happy after a merger. To achieve this objective, companies such as banks, e-commerce or retail point-of-sale businesses need to learn as much as they can about the characteristics and performance of their acquired customers as they transition to the new company's products and services.

Cognitive psychologist Dr. Regina Colonia-Willner has developed a new scientific approach that delivers this vital information in depth with millisecond precision. Using her IT data-mining methodology, companies with electronic self-delivery systems can now catch customers "in action" to discover how these customers perform in the new environment as they access a variety of products and services.

In a wide-ranging research study on customer usage of automated teller machines (ATMs) during a merger of two large international banks, Colonia- Willner statistically analyzed a random sample of 15,099 ATM users, ages 16- 79, as they performed a total of 60,259 financial transactions during 44,435 visits to 103 ATMs in real environments. She collected data from the merged customers unobtrusively, in real time, over 22 days, and cross-referenced the findings to generate rich demographic information for the bank. The results reveal with millisecond precision who visited the ATMs, when they visited, what business they conducted, what situations they had to handle, what outcomes resulted, and how long each transaction took.

Dr. Colonia-Willner will present her research findings as lead speaker at the American Psychological Association's 108th Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., on Friday, August 4. Her address, "Electronic Self-Delivery Systems Breakthrough: Discovering What Customers Do During a Merger" will open the symposium "Information Technology Breakthroughs: Building Opportunities in the New Millennium."

Colonia-Willner holds a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a winner of the American Psychological Association's prestigious George E. Briggs Award. Her company, Practical Intelligence at Work(R), Inc., specializes in cognitive systems engineering. It helps companies effectively design new products and product development plans that result in increased profits for corporations.

Among the findings from Dr. Colonia-Willner's research:

* Existing customers pay 200% more visits to the ATMs and conduct significantly more transactions per visit than new merged customers.

* New merged customers make significantly more errors during transactions at the ATMs than existing customers.

* Ninety percent of ATM activity occurs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., indicating a large unused potential.

* People of both sexes use ATMs in real environments with about the same accuracy.

* Older customers, although taking on average more time to complete their entries, do not necessarily make more errors than younger ones. A 70-year-old ATM user takes 4 seconds longer to complete entries as compared to a 20-year-old user when both attempt the same number and type of transactions.

* College-educated users, although completing their entries 4.6 seconds faster, do not necessarily make fewer errors than less educated ones.

CONTACT: Regina Colonia-Willner, Ph.D., for Practical Intelligence at Work, Inc., 770-436-1723, or rwillner@ix.netcom.com , or Cristina Herrera or Gustavo Machado, 404-724-2501 or 404-724-2507, or cherrera@jacksonspalding.com or gmachado@jacksonspalding.com , for Regina Colonia-Willner, Ph.D.