Slides presented at Atlanta Marketing Innovation group by Elizabeth Simpson, Steve Youngblood, and Caroline Dunn on August 22, 2019 Agenda: - Is Voice the Next Frontier? - Dunn - Best Alexa Skills - Youngblood - Best Practices for Designing - Simpson

2. AGENDA
•Introductions
•Is Voice the Next Frontier? – Dunn
•Best Alexa Skills – Youngblood
•Best Practices for Designing – Simpson

3. LIZ SIMPSON
• Co-Chair Women Driving
Innovation
• TAG Emeritus Council
member
• ADG CTO-Geek who loves
to create and innovate!
Alexa, Play National
Anthems.
“Give me a Hint”
Hobbies: Darwin the Sheltie and
Painting

4. Steve Youngblood
● 30 Years in Software Product
Management, Sales and CxO
● Defined, built and launched
products that led an IPO
● Started Alexa Skill building in
early 2016
● Currently CTO building a new
B2B/B2C marketplace
● BSBA from the University of
Florida
● MBA from the University of
North Carolina - Charlotte

5. CAROLINE DUNN
• Only Female and only
Atlanta Amazon Alexa Top
10 Finalist 2019
• 2018 New York City
Marathon Finisher
• AWS Certification

6. IS VOICE THE NEXT FRONTIER?

8. Over 100
Million
Alexa-
enabled
devices
Reported by:
• TechCrunch
• The Verge
• PC Mag
• Engadget

9. COMMON QUESTIONS
•How can I change
Alexa’s answers to
promote my business?
•How can I use Alexa to
collect user’s contact
info?
•Amazon decides
Alexa’s answers
• User opt-ins are
required for sharing
contact info

10. HOW CAN I AUGMENT MY MARKETING
STRATEGY WITH ALEXA?
Answer: Deploy an Alexa Skill
for your company.
•”Control” the narrative
•Call your company “Innovative”
•Stay a step ahead of your
competitors

11. WHAT IS AN ALEXA SKILL?
• Similar to an app on your
smartphone
• Brands can publish content to
Alexa
• Free and Freemium models
• News, games, entertainment,
information
• User must “open” or “launch”
selected skill

12. ALEXA SKILLS = THE NEXT APP STORE

13. WHAT ABOUT GOOGLE
HOME?

14. STEVE YOUNGBLOOD
• 30 Years in Software Product
Management, Sales and CxO
• Defined, built and launched
products that led an IPO
• Started Alexa Skill building in
early 2016
• Currently CTO building a new
B2B/B2C marketplace
• BSBA from the University of
Florida
• MBA from the University of

15. Great Alexa Skills and Why

16. BMW Connected “Alexa, open BMW”
“Alexa, ask BMW to unlock my
doors”
“Alexa, ask BMW to turn on
ventilation”

17. BMW Connected Account Linking
Uses a “PIN” to secure access via
Alexa for Door Locking and
Unlocking.
“What’s my fuel range”
“Are my windows up”

18. BMW Connected
Why is it great?
Just like home automation (lights
for example. Only extended to
your home on wheels.

19. Pandora Radio
“Alexa, play John Mayer
Channel on Pandora
“Alexa, Next”
“Alexa, thumbs up”

20. Pandora Radio
Links to your Pandora account.
Supports your existing channels.
Supports “discovery” creating
new stations as you request
hearing a new artist.
Supports tuning via thumbs up
and down.

21. Pandora Radio
Amazon devices such as the Echo
can, via Alexa skills, be our Radio,
music player, all in one.

22. Geography Trivia
“Alexa, Open Geography
Trivia
“Which city was built in 1908 as the
capital of its country as a compromise to
the country's two largest cities vying for
the honour?”

23. Geography Trivia
Simple usage. Just request the
skill
Only 5 questions
Flash card style

24. Geography Trivia
Quiz and Trivia skills are fun,
teaching and simple. Reference
for both young and old.

25. What Types of
Skills are
Great?
● Ones that involve interaction between the
skill and the user
● Multi-player games
● Instant gratification such as turning on
and off electrical items
● Ones that can deliver status, such as the
Nest skill
● Ones that provide feedback-based on
input, like Running Clothes

26. Where Do Skills
Have Greater
Meaning?
● When they touch APIs to deliver account
specific information
● When they tie into other modes of
interaction (SMS, Web)
● Multi-player/user

27. Liz Simpson
● Co-Chair Women Driving Innovation
● TAG Emeritus Council member
● ADG CTO-Geek who loves to create
and innovate!
Alexa, Play National
Anthems.
“Give me a Hint”
Hobbies: Darwin the Sheltie and
Painting

28. Voice Design Best Practices
Liz Simpson, CTO Alexa Dev Group

29. Brand Recognition
• Invocation Name
• No confusion with Alexa features (weather, play,
pause)
• Represent skill’s functionality or relevance to your
brand
• Avoid numbers
• Two + words (exception if your brand is single
word i.e. Spanx)
• Logo
• BRAND Recognition
• Cards
• QUALITY images, simple fonts

30. USER EXPERIENCE
Speak
Process
RespondListen
Suggest
•Clear PATHS
•Guided NAVIGATION
•ASSISTANCE
•NATURAL Language

31. SMART Objectives
(Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Tested)
• Friendly, Helpful, Conversational
• Purpose driven
• Avoid misunderstandings, USE AI
• One breath speech, ELEVATOR PITCH
• Plan for the UNEXPECTED
• uh, umm, IDK
• Background noise
• No response, Variances
• BE FORGIVING!
Hmm, I’m not sure. Can you
repeat that?

32. SMART Objectives
(Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Tested)
• Set the Destination
• Plan for the Unexpected
• uh, umm, IDK
• Background noise
• No response, Variances
• BE FORGIVING!
Hmm, I’m not sure. Can you
repeat that?

33. Measurable Results
• Custom skills
• Unique customers (overall and intents)
• Interaction Paths taken
• Retention Rate
• Session metrics (incl failures and no response)
• In skill purchasing
• Purchases (by product, product type, total)
• Repeat purchases
• Upsell conversions
• Offer impressions
• Subscriptions
• Total subscribers, Ended or Expired subscriptions

34. Privacy
• Is Big Brother listening?
• Records only on wake word
• Certification by Amazon (they check privacy)
• Account Linking
• Permission for skill to collect user information
• Pulled from Amazon account
• Location, Name, address
• Purchasing privileges
• Delete History
• Alexa app
• Similar to browser history
NOTE: Recordings are stored so that your device service can learn and become ‘smarter’.

35. User Journey
Voice Design Best Practices Implementation

36. www.alexadevgroup.com @alexadevgroup

37. FRONT PAGE ALEXA SKILL STORE

38. FRONT PAGE ALEXA SKILL STORE