Kids Edition Echo
The Goal
I spearheaded the design of Alexa's voice-forward experience tailored for children, assembling a versatile team dedicated to continual improvements and new feature development. My focus was crafting a kid-friendly voice interface with Alexa that is engaging, simple for children to use, and trustworthy for parents. This initiative aimed to boost content interaction and increase Amazon Kids+ subscriptions.
Key Outcomes
The Kids Edition Echo is a 4.8-star product with positive customer sentiment, hundreds of positive reviews, and parents sharing how much their kids love engaging with their Echo Dot. The extension of the Amazon Kids product family has grown the addressable market by increasing the number of active kids in the 8+ age range. Kids and parents love the easy setup, expanding feature set, and the kid directed design of the device.
“Great for kids & anyone!! Love this Panda Echo Dot for Kids. Super easy to use. The kids version is nice because if they tell it to play a song that is really not appropriate for them..then Alexa will tell them ‘Sorry, I can’t play you this song because it contains explicit material.’ This also is educational. They can ask any math problems, solar system questions, history, literally anything you would Google. …”
Background
The Echo Dot Kids Edition introduced an entirely new way for kids to have fun and learn with Alexa. Designed with kids for kids, we launched multiple features optimized for families.
For Kids: Educational Q&A, age-appropriate activity suggestions, household and kid-to-kid Calling.
For Parents: Easy device set-up, activity time limits, parental controls, and ability to block songs with explicit lyrics.
Roles & Responsibilities
As the Senior Manager, I led the design of the Kids Echo Dot, establishing a diverse team of UX Designers, Voice Experience (VX) Designers, Researchers, and Beta Program Managers. In supporting the team, I developed the child setup feature and Verified Parental Consent flow, enabling Amazon to obtain parental permission for child voice data collection.
Following the 2017 launch of our inaugural Kids Edition Echo, I oversaw the customer experience strategy, focusing on continuous enhancements and new feature development. My responsibilities included
resource allocation
guiding and reviewing the design process
fostering feature ideation
implementing design review protocols
coordinating executive presentations within the Devices division
I also directed the research strategy, employing ethnographic, qualitative, and usability studies to understand parent and child needs. These insights were crucial in shaping the product design of Amazon Kids on Echo devices.
After successfully launching the first Kids Edition Echo, we gathered customer inputs from product reviews and drove customer experience improvements and new features, including improved designs for content discovery. I spearheaded the initiative to staff and build a Beta team to support CX validation and launch readiness.
