ALEXA GAMES HUB

The Alexa ecosystem lacked a centralized platform for discovering and engaging with games, leading to low category awareness and retention. The Games Hub was designed to fill this gap, providing users with a seamless way to explore, play, and re-engage with games across Alexa-enabled devices.

Key Goals

  • Create an intuitive interface for discovering Alexa games.

  • Improve user engagement and retention through streamlined navigation and relevant recommendations.

  • Enable quick iteration by leveraging the team’s growing expertise with Alexa Presentation Language (APL).

Research

  • Identified user pain points around fragmented discovery methods and limited pathways to explore new games.

  • Analyzed Alexa’s existing content discovery framework to find opportunities for optimization.

  • Explored user behaviors around content re-engagement to shape recommendations.

Ideation

  • Designed developer-ready mocks to expedite implementation, ensuring consistency with Alexa’s home card framework.

  • Conceptualized a Games Hub ingress point, utilizing rotating home cards to highlight top games and encourage deeper exploration.

Iteration

  • Partnered with engineers to refine designs and build the front-end in APL, supporting rapid iteration.

  • Incorporated usability testing post-launch, gathering insights to improve clarity and highlight games optimized for voice and touch interactions.

  • Championed the use of APL as a collaborative tool, aligning design, development, and testing teams.

Business Outcomes

  • Successfully launched the Games Hub, driving consistent category growth over the following 13 months.

  • Generated positive usability feedback, with players citing improved discovery and game engagement.

  • Inspired internal excitement by integrating real-world feedback into immediate updates, creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Key Learnings

  • Rapid prototyping and iterative testing foster quicker alignment between design and engineering.

  • A user-centric approach to recommendations improves re-engagement and retention.

  • Early involvement of engineers in user testing sessions accelerates post-launch improvements.