Straight out of the box, Amazon's Echo smart speakers can perform a wide range of useful tasks. This is thanks to Amazon's voice assistant, Alexa, which can run Google searches, read out news headlines, set reminders, order groceries, tell jokes, and much more besides.

As amazing as its abilities may seem, this is just the surface of what Amazon's voice assistant is capable of. Unfortunately, most of Alexa's abilities—aptly called skills—are tucked away in the Skills Store with very little visibility.

However, that could be about to change, as Amazon is finally tackling the problem of Alexa skills discovery.

Taking on One of Alexa's Biggest Problems

An Amazon Echo besides a camera
Image Credit: Kilta/Unsplash

Although Alexa has undeniably been a big hit, skills discovery continues to be a problem for users of the AI voice assistant.

According to Voicebot, in the last quarter of 2020, there were around 77,000 Alexa skills available in the US, 37,000 in the UK, 34,000 in India, and over 25,000 in Australia and Canada. Amazon itself had long claimed that there are over 100,000 unique Alexa skills globally.

Unfortunately, very few of these skills are getting the visibility they need. As a result, there are a lot of exciting Alexa skills gathering dust in the Skills Store while users continue to use Alexa for only basic tasks.

In an attempt to take on this problem, at Alexa Live 2021, Amazon announced that it would be introducing several new features. Among the features are widgets for skills, featured skills cards, and personalized skill suggestions. The company is also introducing a way for customers to discover new skills when they use discovery-oriented phrases.

Widgets for Skills

Explaining the "widget for skills" feature, Amazon pointed out it will be providing developers with tools to create interactive widgets for their skills. Alexa customers will then be able to add the widgets to their Echo Show or any Alexa-powered device with a screen.

The highlight of the feature is that Alexa users will be able to experience Alexa skills and interact with them even without enabling or invoking them. In other words, one of Amazon's solutions to skills discovery is to help customers get hands-on with published skills.

While this solution will be useful to customers who own an Alexa device with a screen, such as the Amazon Echo Show 10, it doesn't really move the needle for customers with screenless devices.

Amazon Echo show music

After set up, an Echo Show's home screen typically displays things like news headlines, photos, and recipes. According to Amazon, select developers will soon be able to promote their skills in those screen spaces.

Rather than waiting for customers to seek out skills, Amazon wants to bring exciting skills to the fingertips of Alexa users.

With featured skills cards, Alexa users will be able to interact with some select skills right from their home screens. The idea is to give third-party skill developers a way to entice, engage, and acquire customers for their skills without waiting to be discovered organically.

Although featured skill cards are another brilliant attempt at taking on Alexa's skill discovery problem, only Echo Show owners will feel any potential impact.

Personalized Skills Suggestions

Personalized skills suggestions is Amazon's attempt to get Alexa users to keep using the skills they love. Amazon is introducing a way for Alexa skill developers to target customers who have used or shown interest in their skill or a similar skill.

For example, Alexa customers who show interest in skills about the stock market might be suggested skills that offer similar services. Amazon's hope is to boost skills discovery by helping developers offer Alexa customers relevant skills they'd likely love.

If you're playing a lot of games with Alexa, Amazon's assistant might soon be dangling similar games in front of you.

According to Amazon, Alexa customers make millions of discovery-oriented utterances every month. This represents an opportunity for millions of skill suggestions each month.

Soon, customers will get skills suggested to them as part of Alexa's response whenever they use a discovery-oriented phrase. Phrases like "Alexa, I need a workout" or "Alexa, let's play a game" will soon trigger skill suggestions since they are discovery-oriented.

This has the potential to be one of Amazon's most effective skill discovery strategies. Since suggested skills will be very relevant to the customer's request and will be served in real-time, Alexa users can expect a fulfilling discovery experience.

Previous Attempts to Solve the Problem

Amazon Echo on a pile of books
Image Credit: Andres Urena/Unsplash

Skills discovery in voice-only platforms has been historically difficult. In the past, Amazon has tried several other ways of suggesting skills to Alexa customers. However, their impact has been largely negligible. Some efforts even ended up annoying users.

In 2017, Alexa started suggesting third-party skills whenever Alexa couldn't answer a request thrown at it. Before that, Alexa typically responded with, "Hmmm... I don't know that." Amazon started pushing third-party skills to users instead of simply blanking out when Alexa was caught off guard.

While this was helpful to some extent, other features like Alexa's notorious "By the way.." suggestion wasn't well-received by all users. Alexa would intermittently suggest skills—some of which were irrelevant to the context—even after a user had ended a conversation with the voice assistant. Many Alexa users are now seeking ways to disable the feature, effectively defeating its purpose.

What Alexa Users Should Expect

With its smart speaker market share declining in the face of new competition, Amazon has been pushing several new features. Although the Alexa-powered Echo still leads the pack, smart speakers from companies like Google and Apple are rapidly closing the gap.

Amazon is hoping rapid improvements in Alexa will help keep it above its competitors. However, it is still not clear how much of an impact these new features will have on Amazon's push to help you discover new Alexa skills. Nonetheless, they all represent a practical solution to a problem that's been historically hard to solve.

Like most of the features announced at Alexa Live 2021, users of Amazon's smart assistant (and the products it powers) will have to wait a while before they are fully rolled out.