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Alexa skills are weird in that Amazon is supposedly selling lots of Echos but our skill has something like 500 active users when our mobile apps are in the 1M+

Alexa skills are weird in that Amazon is supposedly selling lots of Echos but our skill has something like 500 active users when our mobile apps are in the 1M+ active range. We have no idea why skill usage is low. It’s a really good skill. The major complaint seems to be having to use our app name to activate it but we have no control over that.

touristtam 9y ago
The installation of skills doesn't seems as intuitive as installing an 'App' on your mobile phone, therefore there seems to be a technological barrier.
- ipedrazas 9y ago
  Yep, the fact that you cannot install a skill from Alexa is a huge barrier. I'm not saying it's difficult, but users are not aware of how to do it.
  - hbosch 9y ago
    Not sure if this is new but I recently installed a skill via voice on Christmas. I'm not usually one to "test" Alexa but I said "Alexa, when is the next Bainbridge Island ferry?" just to see if she could query it. She said, basically, "The Washington Ferry skill can probably help you answer that. Should I install it?" I replied "Yes" and she took a moment to load the skill and then also automatically answer my original question.
    - mulmen 9y ago
      Wait really? That's... actually really cool. I've dismissed this all as a fad and a voice interface to a search engine but that's actually neat.
  - mulmen 9y ago
    hbosch seems to describe the ability to install skills by voice, if that's not what you had in mind is it possible to install a skill that makes installing skills easier?
  - EADGBE 9y ago
    I believe you can "enable skill X" directly from Alexa. https://venturebeat.com/2016/06/28/alexa-skills-voice/ https://venturebeat.com/2016/06/28/alexa-skills-voice/
Tuna-Fish 9y ago
> The major complaint seems to be having to use our app name A minor sidenote: Picking a good appname is vastly more important for Alexa than it is for typical mobile apps. It needs to be something people are not ashamed to say out loud.
- FLUX-YOU 9y ago
  Sidenote-of-sidenote: skill name squatting and selling is probably already a thing
vidarh 9y ago
What does it do? I use my Alexa's (3 of them around the house so far) many times a day, but the thing is, there are only so many things I want to speak out loud. It's exacerbated by having to go in "blind" - I'm not going to remember the incantations to get a response out of dozens of skills, so they - including the name - need to fall very close to something I'd naturally say. Overall, I mostly rely on the smart home stuff, basic searches, music, and one extra skill for local travel. I can't see myself opting to use skills over my phone, tablet or laptop for all that many other things. The above is enough to make me enjoy having them accessible everywhere in the house, so I'll probably augment my existing ones with a few Dot's. It also doesn't help that there really is a lot of junk skills around. E.g. finding one that reliably provide bus times near me and that has a sufficiently good interface was a pain. There might very well be other skills out there that do a better job, but I simply don't have time to spend going through it. Good curated collections would help a lot.
- mjburgess 9y ago
  Remembering the name of my spotify playlists is currently my bug bear. It's very convenient to be wandering around and control music. It quickly becomes more frustrating if you have to go back to the laptop.
- GVIrish 9y ago
  I think Amazon (or Google) needs to solve the problem of skill discovery. I would love to be able to ask Alexa, "What do you know about X" and it could respond with a list of skills or categories of skills so I could at least know where to look. Even better if I could connect Alexa to a Fire Stick and have it visually display results of a skill search to help me navigate and drill down.
trey-jones 9y ago
I think there are a lot of factors at play. I have had an Amazon Tap for about a year, and 99% of the usage is just to play music. And I work in technology. I have used the Alexa app on my phone probably 3-5 times since first setting it up. At that time, I installed a couple of skills: Pandora Jeopardy (which I played often for a while, but then stopped) Some Bed Time story skill, which is awesome and hilarious and I should know what it is so I can recommend it. Nest, which never worked because I guess you have to use Heat/Cool mode on your thermostat which is dumb. I think probably: 1) I installed more skills than the average user on initial setup (expected median: 0) 2) Most users open the app at a similar frequency to me. 3) The primary use of the device for most users is music. 4) Some people don't use them at all after the first week. As far as development of skills, I know at some point they were offering "Amazon Swag (apparel)" in exchange for uploading your first Skill. Come on people, I've got mouths to feed here!
- justjash 9y ago
  Yep, my usage is about the same. I would say 99% of the time I am just using it to play music and then the other 1% is just asking it simple things like the weather or what time it is. I installed a couple goofy skills but rarely use them. I did set it up with a custom skill to control my Roku by voice, but I don't think I have used it since I got it working.
  - slantyyz 9y ago
    I found it to be a game changer with respect to smart home. Most of my stuff was underutilized, i.e., Nest, Wemo, Harmony Hub. Since I got my Echos, I've accelerated my timeline to put more smart switches throughout the house. My favorite routine with the dark winter mornings is to use a single voice command to turn on my main floor lights and tell me the temperature outside as I groggily take my dogs downstairs to go outside. The temperature announcement lets me know whether my dogs need their coats on. It was especially useful today, as it was -23C this morning.
    - jpablo 9y ago
wonder_bread 9y ago
Overall it seems that time spent using skills/apps on Echo devices is a relatively low proportion of the total time spent using the device (relative to the proportion of time people are using apps on their mobile devices, that is). Time could certainly change this, however

touristtam 9y ago

The installation of skills doesn't seems as intuitive as installing an 'App' on your mobile phone, therefore there seems to be a technological barrier.

ipedrazas 9y ago
Yep, the fact that you cannot install a skill from Alexa is a huge barrier. I'm not saying it's difficult, but users are not aware of how to do it.
- hbosch 9y ago
  Not sure if this is new but I recently installed a skill via voice on Christmas. I'm not usually one to "test" Alexa but I said "Alexa, when is the next Bainbridge Island ferry?" just to see if she could query it. She said, basically, "The Washington Ferry skill can probably help you answer that. Should I install it?" I replied "Yes" and she took a moment to load the skill and then also automatically answer my original question.
  - mulmen 9y ago
    Wait really? That's... actually really cool. I've dismissed this all as a fad and a voice interface to a search engine but that's actually neat.
- mulmen 9y ago
  hbosch seems to describe the ability to install skills by voice, if that's not what you had in mind is it possible to install a skill that makes installing skills easier?
- EADGBE 9y ago
  I believe you can "enable skill X" directly from Alexa. https://venturebeat.com/2016/06/28/alexa-skills-voice/ https://venturebeat.com/2016/06/28/alexa-skills-voice/

Tuna-Fish 9y ago

> The major complaint seems to be having to use our app name A minor sidenote: Picking a good appname is vastly more important for Alexa than it is for typical mobile apps. It needs to be something people are not ashamed to say out loud.

FLUX-YOU 9y ago
Sidenote-of-sidenote: skill name squatting and selling is probably already a thing

vidarh 9y ago

What does it do? I use my Alexa's (3 of them around the house so far) many times a day, but the thing is, there are only so many things I want to speak out loud. It's exacerbated by having to go in "blind" - I'm not going to remember the incantations to get a response out of dozens of skills, so they - including the name - need to fall very close to something I'd naturally say. Overall, I mostly rely on the smart home stuff, basic searches, music, and one extra skill for local travel. I can't see myself opting to use skills over my phone, tablet or laptop for all that many other things. The above is enough to make me enjoy having them accessible everywhere in the house, so I'll probably augment my existing ones with a few Dot's. It also doesn't help that there really is a lot of junk skills around. E.g. finding one that reliably provide bus times near me and that has a sufficiently good interface was a pain. There might very well be other skills out there that do a better job, but I simply don't have time to spend going through it. Good curated collections would help a lot.

mjburgess 9y ago
Remembering the name of my spotify playlists is currently my bug bear. It's very convenient to be wandering around and control music. It quickly becomes more frustrating if you have to go back to the laptop.
GVIrish 9y ago
I think Amazon (or Google) needs to solve the problem of skill discovery. I would love to be able to ask Alexa, "What do you know about X" and it could respond with a list of skills or categories of skills so I could at least know where to look. Even better if I could connect Alexa to a Fire Stick and have it visually display results of a skill search to help me navigate and drill down.

trey-jones 9y ago

I think there are a lot of factors at play. I have had an Amazon Tap for about a year, and 99% of the usage is just to play music. And I work in technology. I have used the Alexa app on my phone probably 3-5 times since first setting it up. At that time, I installed a couple of skills: Pandora Jeopardy (which I played often for a while, but then stopped) Some Bed Time story skill, which is awesome and hilarious and I should know what it is so I can recommend it. Nest, which never worked because I guess you have to use Heat/Cool mode on your thermostat which is dumb. I think probably: 1) I installed more skills than the average user on initial setup (expected median: 0) 2) Most users open the app at a similar frequency to me. 3) The primary use of the device for most users is music. 4) Some people don't use them at all after the first week. As far as development of skills, I know at some point they were offering "Amazon Swag (apparel)" in exchange for uploading your first Skill. Come on people, I've got mouths to feed here!

justjash 9y ago
Yep, my usage is about the same. I would say 99% of the time I am just using it to play music and then the other 1% is just asking it simple things like the weather or what time it is. I installed a couple goofy skills but rarely use them. I did set it up with a custom skill to control my Roku by voice, but I don't think I have used it since I got it working.
- slantyyz 9y ago
  I found it to be a game changer with respect to smart home. Most of my stuff was underutilized, i.e., Nest, Wemo, Harmony Hub. Since I got my Echos, I've accelerated my timeline to put more smart switches throughout the house. My favorite routine with the dark winter mornings is to use a single voice command to turn on my main floor lights and tell me the temperature outside as I groggily take my dogs downstairs to go outside. The temperature announcement lets me know whether my dogs need their coats on. It was especially useful today, as it was -23C this morning.
  - jpablo 9y ago

wonder_bread 9y ago

Overall it seems that time spent using skills/apps on Echo devices is a relatively low proportion of the total time spent using the device (relative to the proportion of time people are using apps on their mobile devices, that is). Time could certainly change this, however