Managing IoT User Expectations
Developers must recognize and accept that consumer expectations are unrealistic
As a developer who also runs two consumer-oriented tech blogs, I’m constantly exposed to consumer opinions and assumptions about tech. My Love My Echo blog is dedicated to Amazon’s family of Alexa devices. What that blog’s readers have taught me is that when it comes to IoT, managing consumer expectations is crucial because by default, those expectations are extremely unrealistic.
When the average consumer thinks about voice and gesture activated tech, they think about the Star Trek computer. When you tell them you’ve created a piece of voice or gesture activated tech, they expect the Star Trek computer. They don’t know or care how challenging it is to identify and overcome the obstacles inherent in replacing a GUI with a voice or motion interface. All they know is that voice and gesture activated tech is here, and in their minds that tech = Star Trek computer.
This is why they complain that Amazon’s Alexa doesn’t integrate with every email, messaging and social media platform, even though they wouldn’t think to demand the same of some other cloud-connective piece of hardware, like a fitness tracker, for example. This is why they think it’s ridiculous that Alexa can’t offer a universal, complete set of voice commands that work across all Alexa skills (what Amazon calls apps for Alexa, all of which are written by different, mostly independent developers) and cover every possible skill function, even though they understand intuitively that it wouldn’t make sense to expect this when it comes to mobile apps.
This is how developers end up releasing perfectly functional, elegant and genuinely useful skills that nevertheless end up with a consensus of negative reviews. Frustratingly for the developer, the negative reviews often acknowledge that the skill does exactly what the description says it does, but then go on to complain about all the additional things the user thinks it ought to do. More frustrating still, many consumers don’t bother to read the skill description at all because they’re that certain they know what the skill should be and do based on its title alone.
The challenge faced by skill developers is threefold.
First, developers must recognize, and accept the existence of, consumers’ unrealistic expectations. It does no good to rail against how unfair those expectations are, or assume they can safely be ignored because they are so unrealistic.
Second, developers must approach skill development from an angle not just of what they, personally, think may be interesting, entertaining or useful, but of what the consumer will think lives up to what they perceive as the promise of the platform. Most skills don’t, and can’t, clear that astronomically high bar. No matter how great or even groundbreaking the skill may be from the developer’s standpoint, if the consumer’s initial reaction is likely to be, “Well, it does what the description says I guess, but I thought it would do this other thing too and if it were any good it would do that other thing,” the skill has failed in the consumer’s eyes.
Finally, developers must try to approach skill development by conceptualizing applications that are truly best served by a voice interface. A smart marriage of interface to function can prevent many of the usual criticisms by solving a single problem for the user in a way that makes sense for the platform. A voice activated timer is a great fit for the platform because consumers often have a need to set a timer without using their hands. A voice activated split lap timer only makes sense if there’s a backend gathering the data for later analysis and presentation on a screen.
These same challenges can be extrapolated for application all across the Internet of Things. Begin by assuming the consumer is expecting the Star Trek computer. Then, engage.
April Hamilton is a tech blogger, app developer, and author who was part of a select group of independent developers invited by Amazon to create Alexa skills when Alexa first launched. Her Crystal Ball and Bingo skills are among the first four skills from independent developers to be released by Amazon for Echo. She holds the rank of Alexa Guru on Amazon’s developer forums.
In addition to being founder and editor in chief of Love My Echo, she’s also founder and editor in chief of Digital Media Mom. April’s tech knowledge and skills were honed during her many years working as a software engineer, web developer, and database administrator in the aerospace field.
