Making Money with Alexa Skills - A Developer's Guide: API-University Series, #10

Making Money with Alexa Skills

A Developer’s Guides

Matthias Biehl

Making Money with Alexa Skills

Making Money with Alexa Skills

Abstract

1 Background

1.1 The Dream of a Human-Like Machine

1.2 Voice Platforms

1.3 The Alexa Platform and the Alexa Ecosystem

1.3.1 Developers

1.3.2 Hardware Manufacturers

1.3.3 Amazon’s Customers

2 Alexa’s Technical Architecture

2.1 Alexa-Enabled Devices

2.2 Alexa Framework

2.3 Alexa Skills

2.3.1 Alexa Skill Interface

2.3.2 Alexa Skill Service

2.3.3 Intent

2.4 Alexa Behavior

3 Alexa’s Business Architecture

3.1 Alexa Ecosystem

3.2 Freemium Business Model of Alexa Skills

3.3 Stakeholders in the Alexa Ecosystem

3.3.1 End-User

3.3.2 Device Manufacturer

3.3.3 Third-Party App Developers

3.4 Value Proposition of Alexa towards Developers

4 Our First Alexa Skill

4.1 Create A New Skill

4.1.1 Create Skill

4.1.2 Choose Skill Model

4.2 Create Skill Interface

4.2.1 Interaction Model

4.2.2 Endpoint Configuration

4.3 Create Skill Service

4.3.1 Setup Lambda

4.3.2 Link Lambda and Alexa

4.3.3 Upload Code to Lambda

4.4 Test Skill

5 Alexa Skill Interface

5.1 Interaction Model

5.1.1 Intents

5.1.2 Sample Utterances

5.1.3 Slots

5.2 Endpoint Configuration

5.2.1 HTTPS Endpoint

5.2.2 Lambda Function Endpoint

5.3 Interfaces

5.4 Permissions

5.5 Account Linking

6 Alexa Skill Service

6.1 Skill Service Deployment

6.1.1 HTTPS Endpoint

6.1.2 AWS Lambda

6.2 Building Skill Services

6.2.1 Requests

6.2.2 Intents

6.2.3 Handlers for Requests and Intents

6.2.4 Constructing Responses

6.2.5 Directives

6.2.6 Access to Attributes

6.3 Request and Response in Alexa

6.3.1 Request to Skill Service

6.3.2 Response from Skill Service

6.4 Speech Output

6.4.1 Creating Speech Output

6.4.2 Testing Speech Output

6.5 Visual Output

6.5.1 Cards

6.5.2 Types of Cards

6.5.3 Best Practices for Cards

6.6 AudioPlayer Output

6.6.1 Play

6.6.2 Stop Audio

6.6.3 Clear Audio Queue

6.7 Best Practices for Alexa Skills

6.7.1 Guide the User

6.7.2 Split Input Requests

6.7.3 Tell Users Where They are

6.7.4 Use Sound Effects

6.7.5 Reprompt

7 Alexa Developer Tools

7.1 Alexa Developer Console

7.1.1 Build Tab

7.1.2 Test Tab

7.1.3 Distribution Tab

7.1.4 Certification Tab

7.1.5 Analytics Tab

7.2 Testing Tools

7.2.1 Testing with JSON Input

7.2.2 Testing of SSML Commands

7.2.3 Testing on the CLI with Text Input

7.2.4 Testing on the Alexa Simulator Device

7.2.5 Testing of Skill Services on Lambda

7.2.6 Testing on a Real Alexa Device

7.2.7 Beta Testing Program

7.3 Analytics Tools

7.3.1 Optimization of the Interaction Model

7.3.2 Optimization of Features

7.4 Alexa Skill Kit - Software Development Kit

7.5 Alexa Skills Kit - Command Line Interface

7.5.1 One-Time Setup and Initialization

7.5.2 Create an Alexa Skill using CLI

7.5.3 Project Structure

7.5.4 Deploy Skill using CLI

7.5.5 Test Skill using CLI

7.5.6 Overview of CLI Commands

8 Make Money with Alexa Skills

8.1 Freemium Model

8.2 Making Money with the Freemium Model

8.3 Convenience of Voice-Driven Payment

9 Make Money with In-Skill Purchasing (ISP)

9.1 Purchase Flow

9.2 Payment Characteristics

9.3 Configure In-Skill Purchases

9.3.1 Install ASK CLI

9.3.2 Initialize ASK CLI Profile

9.3.3 Setup an Alexa Skill using CLI

9.3.4 Deploy Skill using CLI

9.3.5 Test Skill using CLI

9.3.6 Configure In-Skill Purchases using CLI

9.4 Add In-Skill Purchases to your Skill Service

9.4.1 Get the In-Skill Products List

9.4.2 Add Intent to Purchase

9.4.3 Purchase of Specific Product

9.4.4 Resume Skill Session

9.4.5 Purchase Suggestion

9.4.6 Intent to Refund or Cancel Subscription

9.5 Testing ISP

9.5.1 Testing ISP for Non-US Developers

10 Make Money with Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills

10.1 Amazon Pay - One Time Setup

10.2 Setting up Amazon Pay for Our Skill

10.2.1 Set Amazon Pay Permissions

10.2.2 Link Skill to Amazon Pay

10.2.3 Check Permissions in Skill Service

10.3 Amazon Pay - Charge Now

10.3.1 Setup Skill as Merchant

10.3.2 Skill Code for Charging

10.4 Amazon Pay - Charge Later

11 Make Money with Alexa Developer Rewards

12 Make Money by Linking SaaS Business with Alexa

12.1 SaaS Business Model and Alexa

12.2 Offer SaaS Features via APIs

12.3 Access APIs via Linked Accounts

13 Personalizing Alexa Skills

13.1 Access to Alexa APIs

13.2 Accessing User Identity Provided by Alexa

13.2.1 Permission Configuration

13.2.2 Access to Identity Information via API

13.3 Access User’s Data from Third-Parties

13.3.1 Account Linking via OAuth

13.3.2 Registration with OAuth Provider

13.3.3 Account Linking Configuration on Skill Interface

13.3.4 Skill Service: Get Access Token

13.3.5 Skill Service: Call Protected API

13.4 Multi-Language Skills

13.4.1 Multi-Language Speech Input

13.4.2 Multi-Language Speech Output

13.5 Personalized Speech Output with SSML

14 Marketing Alexa Skills

14.1 Alexa Sales Funnel

14.2 General Preparation

14.3 Outside Marketing

14.4 Marketing in the Alexa Store

14.4.1 Qualified Prospects

14.4.2 Journey on the Alexa Store

14.4.3 Optimize the Skill for Search

14.4.4 Optimize the Skill for Activation and Selection

14.4.5 Publish Marketing Content via the Alexa Developer Console

Alexa Skill Categories

14.5 In-Skill Marketing

15 Going Live with an Alexa Skill

15.1 Alexa Stages

15.2 Certification

15.2.1 Update and Recertification

15.3 Alexa Store

15.4 Engagement Analytics

16 Sales Analytics

17 Appendix

Feedback

About the Author

Other Products by the Author

Book on OAuth 2.0

Book on OpenID Connect

Book on API Architecture

Book on RESTful API Design

Book on Webhooks

Book on GraphQL API Design

Book on REST & GraphQL

Book on Serverless GraphQL APIs with AWS AppSync

Book on Making Money with Alexa Skills - A Developer’s Guide

Online Course on OAuth 2.0

Online Course on RESTful API Design

References

Table of contents

Making Money with Alexa Skills

Making Money with Alexa Skills - A Developer’s Guide

Copyright 2019 by Matthias Biehl

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce

this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Book cover contains elements designed by kjpargeter / Freepik.

Biehl, Matthias

API-University Press

Volume 10 of the API-University Series.

Includes illustrations, bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1795831123

API-University Press

https://www.api-university.com

info@api-university.com

Abstract

This is a book for developers, who not only want to learn how to develop software for Alexa but also want to make money with Alexa.

Voice assistants - such as Alexa - have one of the highest adoption rates in history: more than 30 million devices have been sold. This large and growing number of devices creates a massive demand for a new type of app: the voice app or Skill. Just as in the early days of mobile, when fortunes were made with mobile apps on the app store, it is now the perfect time to catch the opportunities offered by voice apps.

Amazon Alexa, the voice platform with the broadest adoption, helps developers like you and me, to develop, distribute, market and monetize their Alexa Skills on the Amazon Alexa Store.

In this book, you learn step-by-step how to create your first Alexa Skill with the Alexa Developer Console, AWS Lambda, the Alexa CLI, and node.js with the Alexa SDK.

You get a deep-dive into the various ways of making money with Alexa. You learn about the business models for Alexa Skills, marketing and monetizing your Alexa Skill on and off the Alexa Store, opportunities for offering in-skill purchases, and about programming the various purchase and payment flows.

The book covers many advanced features of Alexa in plain English, such as account linking, audio streaming, session management and much more. You learn how to personalize your Skill with the user’s data and linking the Skill to popular cloud apps, such as Spotify, Google and many more. This will help you create unique apps that stand out on the market and improve the lives of many Alexa users.

1 Background

Computers that can talk and understand speech just like humans have been the subject of science fiction books and movies. Modern voice platforms offer the technology that promises to bring aspects of this science fiction theme to every home.

1.1 The Dream of a Human-Like Machine

People have dreamed of machines that can mimic humans for long -- even long before the first computers have existed. We would be able to interact with those machines in the same way as we interact with other humans. However, so far this idea has been science fiction.

The dominant design for interacting with machines are visual human-machine interfaces. Almost all the apps we use on our powerful computers offer only a graphical user interface. When using these apps, we see a graphical user interface on a screen and interact with this user interface via clicking, pointing and typing.

Now, it seems like we have come one step closer to this old dream of human-like machines – machines that we can talk to naturally. Devices of a new class, such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Homepod, have been created. On these devices, it is possible to install voice apps, which allow us to interact primarily with our voice.

1.2 Voice Platforms

Around each of the new voice-enabled devices, manufacturers establish platforms, that connect different types of platform participants, such as device manufacturers, users, and app developers. The platform offers a marketplace that helps users find new voice apps, which are provided by third-party app developers. And third-party app developers, like us, can provide their voice apps on this platform.

Does this sound familiar to the mobile app stores? Right – it is quite similar. The hope is that the opportunities in these new voice platforms are quite similar as they were in the early days of the mobile app stores.

In the consumer market for voice apps, we can observe three big platforms for voice apps by Amazon, Google, and Apple.

Amazon’s Alexa platform is mostly known for its Amazon Echo devices, that use the Alexa platform underneath. Alexa was one of the first platforms of this kind, and currently has most end-users, third-party apps and app developers on their platform. It clearly has a first-mover advantage.

Google’s Home platform is the runner-up, with fewer users and apps.

Apple’s Homepod platform is on the third place.

Let’s have a look at the market share of the smart speakers installed in the U.S.¹:

64.6% Amazon

19.6% Google

4.5% Apple

11.3% Other

When looking at the global smart speaker sales market share by Q2 2018² shipments, a similar ranking appears:

41% Amazon

28% Google

7% Alibaba

6% Apple

2% JD.com

16% Others

A multi-platform approach is necessary to reach all users, in a similar way as it is necessary on mobile platforms. This book focuses on Amazon Alexa which, according to the global and US figures above, is the platform with the broadest adoption. But the concepts we learn in this book can be easily transferred to other voice platforms.

1.3 The Alexa Platform and the Alexa Ecosystem

Alexa is the name of the voice assistant of Amazon. But it is more than a static voice assistant that only allows us to interact with Amazon’s services and products. It is a multi-sided platform, meaning it has multiple types of customers and contributors. The platform consists of the following players:

Amazon: Amazon is the provider of the platform, the voice technology, and the marketplace. Amazon orchestrates and connects the other players.

Developers of Voice Apps or Skills: Developers (also called third-parties) build voice apps (so-called Skills) using the Alexa framework. They can distribute and monetize their Skills in the Alexa Skill Store.

Hardware Manufacturers: Manufacturers build and sell voice-enabled devices that can connect to the Alexa platform.

Customers: Amazon customers buy the voice-enabled devices and use the Skills provided by the third-party developers.

Let’s have a look at each one of the players in more details.

1.3.1 Developers

The developers make up one side of the platform. They build voice apps, which use the same framework, services, libraries and functionalities as Amazon’s voice assistant. By providing these features to developers, an ecosystem of voice apps is created. Developers using the Alexa technology platform do not need to think about any hardware details of the devices their software runs on. Hardware details are abstracted away. Software providers also have the advantage of being able to use the capabilities for voice recognition and natural language understanding of the Amazon platform, instead of having to build these complex capabilities themselves.

1.3.2 Hardware Manufacturers

Another side of