Case Study: How #1 Novelty & Humor Alexa Skill Attracts New Users

Are you familiar with Doctor Who?

If yes, then you probably remember the Tardis. For those of you who don’t know what TARDIS is, here’s a short reference from Wikipedia:

The TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) is a fictional time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction TV programme Doctor Who and its various spin-offs.

One of Storyline users, Drew Blanke, has made an Alexa skill that gives you an ability to operate your very own Tardis right from your Echo device. With this Alexa skill enabled, you can listen to a variety of TARDIS sounds, like the sound of landing or taking off.

The skill quickly became popular and currently is #1 in Novelty & Humor category by average reviews.

Screenshot of Doctor Who — Tardis Sound FX skill in the Amazon App Store.

With Amazon, there’s a direct correlation between a number & average rating of user reviews and number of users that you acquire on a daily basis.

The more 5 star reviews you get — the bigger the chance more people will discover your Alexa skill in “Recommended” category.

Growth Hack #1 — Write a Compelling Description

Here’s a copy of Doctor Who — Tardis Sound FX skill description:

With this handy skill the Tardis is never far away. You can now fully operate you very own Tardis right from your Alexa device.

You can say:

“Alexa, ask The Tardis Box to land”
“Alexa, ask The Tardis Box to take off”
“Alexa, ask The Tardis Box to make an emergency landing”
“Alexa, ask The Tardis Box to open door”
“Alexa, ask The Tardis Box to close door”

and more, simply open the skill by saying: “Alexa, open the Tardis box” and make your selection from there. It’s bigger on the inside!

Key takeaways:

1. Keep it short and sweet. Don’t write a few pages explaining every possible use case for your skill. Nobody will read that.
2. Provide users with a few commands. Explain the basics to help them understand the skill.
3. Include call-to-action in the last line. Don’t be intrusive here. Just say what people can do and try to motivate them to check out the skill. Drew did a great job here: “simply open the skill by saying: “Alexa, open the Tardis box” and make your selection from there. It’s bigger on the inside!”

Growth Hack #2 — Choose a Great App Icon

Here’s an icon from Doctor Who — Tardis Sound FX skill:

Key takeaways:

1. Visual is important. When selecting an icon for your Alexa skill, always think like a user: “Does this image make any sense describing this skill?”
   In Drew’s example, the icon perfectly describes the context of the skill — if you’ve seen Doctor Who before you going to recognize it instantly.
2. Use high contrast colors. This Alexa watermark symbol surrounds Alexa Skill icon and if you choose white/light gray/any other light color people will not be able to see it clearly.

Growth Hack #3 — Incentivize Users to Leave 5-Star Reviews Using Skill Updates

Best developers regularly update their skills with new content, and users love those updates.

Here’s an example of how Doctor Who — Tardis Sound FX skill motivates users to leave 5-star reviews for skill updates:

HOW AND WHY IS THIS SKILL IS UPDATED? Let’s try something new, shall we? For every FIVE, 5 Star reviews this skill gets in the Alexa app, the developer promises to update the skill with new sounds / features. So, by leaving a 5 star review you tell the developer it’s worth putting more time into development. Costs you nothing, and inspires further development.. easy right?

Example: The skill currently (as of writing this) has thirty two 5 star reviews in the Alexa app, when it gets THREE more 5 star review, the skill will then get an upgrade. Simple, done.

That way you can easily do your part to help improve, and continue development of this skill.. cool, right?

Updates Performed:

5 STAR UPDATE (11/17/17): Full menu system implemented. Malfunctioning Tardis, Activate Overhead Projector, Activate Scanner and Use Sonic Screwdriver sounds added.

10 STAR UPDATE (11/27/17): Two new sounds have been added to the skill, you can now Open / Close the Tardis door!

15 STAR UPDATE: (11/29/17): Two new sounds were added to the skill. You can now activate the gyroscopic stabilizer and cooling system.

20 STAR UPDATE: (11/30/17): You can now ask The Tardis Box to perform a random function from the growing list of commands now possible with this skill.

25 STAR UPDATE (12/05/17):You are now able to activate the cloister bell and emergency alarm.

30 STAR UPDATE (12/11/17) You will soon be able to (awaiting Amazon approval) activate the outer circular and low fuel warning alarm.

35 STAR UPDATE (??/??/??) Only THREE more 5 STAR reviews needed to activate the next update. Leave a 5 star review now, and help make this skill bigger on the inside.

Your positive feedback = more development of this skill. Thanks in advance!

Users leave 5-star reviews and invite other users to leave reviews to hit the current milestone and get skill updates.

When reviews number hit the milestone, the developer updates the skill with new content and sets the bar a little bit higher.

Again, there’s a call-to-action in the current update stage so users can correctly understand what they need to do and how much reviews left before the new update happens.

This is probably the best way of getting 5-star reviews I’ve seen so far.

Thanks for reading! 🙌 I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Let’s keep the conversation going, you can connect with me on Facebook or join our community for Alexa skills developers.