How to optimize your Alexa skill for power users (Hint, accessibility is usability)

By Tara Kimura, Niki Ramesh and Larry Chong

To mark National AccessAbility Week in Canada (May 29 to June 4, 2022), we’re highlighting some of the people and processes within our department that have a positive impact on our desire to reflect all Canadians in what we build and how we do it.

This is the first story from this series. Please read other stories from this series here:
• How CBC is approaching digital accessibility and what that means to me
• Want a more inclusive workplace? Start by welcoming every new hire 1:1

Your Alexa power user has very specific needs. They want to zip around the skill, trigger content with their own self-selected cues, and set routines with as little effort as possible.

They also very likely have a speech, vision, hearing or mobility impairment because your power user and your user with accessibility needs are one and the same.

We learned this truth through user interviews and usability tests for our custom CBC skill, which allows Alexa users to listen to our radio streams, play podcasts, programs and music streams. This testing has been a key that has unlocked deep learnings — showing us where people meet dead ends, what frustrates them, and what keeps them coming back.

While we’ve done interviews and testing with a general cross-section of our audience, this usability round brought the core fundamentals into focus: The sweetest path is the shortest; clarity is key; and accessibility truly is usability.

How to test set up an accessibility voice test

Developer Larry Chong built an Alexa simulator so we could run various dialogue flows with our users, in what’s commonly known as Wizard of Oz testing. We ran a few rehearsals to ensure that the flow would feel natural in a video call, with Larry running the prompts from his computer.

Populate as many key flows into your simulator as possible so you’re able to get a full view of where your users might like to travel.

For our participants with a hearing impairment, we replicated our screen experience using a deck that we screenshared during the testing.

Our accessibility partner, Fable, connected us with users who have visual, speech and/or mobility challenges. We also recruited participants with hearing loss from our internal accessibility employee resource group.

How to tailor your questions for accessibility testing:

-Ask questions that gauge how much information users were able to retain from the messages. Often participants can speak generally about the messaging but it’s helpful to know which parts of the messaging stood out so you can develop repeatable patterns around them.

-Ask which voice menus participants have encountered that have been particularly helpful. Seek out the menus after testing so you can see what makes them a cut above.

-After completing a task, allow participants to revisit it again and ask, “How else might you have asked for that?”

Flexibility, efficiency and customization

Across the board, participants said they use their Alexa device because it offers them a convenient, hands-free way to access content or control their smart home. But customization, flexibility and efficiency are key accessibility levers in a voice platform, as they provide essential paths of navigation.

For example, a participant with a speech impairment said he would like the ability to have more time to respond. Alexa frequently cut him off, mid-response, forcing him to start from the beginning or abandon the task. He also noted that in an ideal and kind experience, Alexa would say, “Take your time.”

While we may imagine having conversations with our voice platforms, in practice many people use it as just another speaker. Shorter triggers would help people with speech and cognitive impairments play content quickly and efficiently. There’s no need to prolong a conversation that isn’t working.

Meanwhile, a user with a vision impairment said they would like to adjust the speed of Alexa’s messaging just as they do with their screen reader. In a prior round of general testing, a power user suggested this functionality would also be helpful. We can now see that the application has the potential to be much broader and critical to our accessibility experience.

Small changes, big rewards

We are continuing to apply these findings and potential design features in the work we do. Of course, there are technical limitations to what we can do, however, we are trying to make our paths as efficient as possible. We’re also introducing some onboarding features that automate some of our experiences.

Layer by layer, we’re trying to produce a skill that is inclusive and accessible.

Jeffrey, a participant who uses a switch device, told us that small changes can yield big rewards.

“Sometimes lifting even one of those small barriers makes a big difference — like being able to turn a light on or off by yourself.”

“It’s one of those things that somebody who is not physically disabled does all the time without thinking. They just turn the light on. That level of fluidity is awesome, and I want to achieve as much of that in my own life as I can.”

If you have an accessibility need and would like to help us make our CBC custom skill better, we’d love to speak with you. Please email us at accessibility@cbc.ca to let us know if you’d be interested in participating in an interview or usability test.

Tara Kimura is a content and conversation designer, Larry Chong is a developer for voice products and Niki Ramesh is an accessibility expert.