Amazon Makes It Easier to Add In-Skill Purchasing to Alexa Skills

on January 24, 2019 at 2:41 pm

This week Amazon made a few key updates to the Alexa Developer Console to make it easier for developers to add in-skill purchasing (ISP) to their Alexa skills. Previously, developers add to write their own code in the command-line interface to build a skill with ISP. Now, Amazon has built a monetization tool in the developer console which give users the ability to add in-skill products in just a few steps.

The monetization feature lets developers customize their products, giving them the option to choose which type of product they want to add (one-time purchase for entitlements, subscriptions and consumables) as well building the offer prompts. Developers can also add or remove products with one click. Another update is to the skill reporting metrics which now include Upsell To Conversion which measures the percentage of users who hear a product prompt and agree to hear the offer and Upsell to Purchase Conversion, which measures the number of users who heard the offer and then make a purchase.

Giving Back to the Alexa Skill Developer Community

Amazon launched ISP for all Alexa skills in the US back in May of last year and according to the company’s blog, it has been a success. The creator of the weather Alexa skill Big Sky, Steven Arkonovich, created a subscription for his skill and claims that 50% of his users opt to purchase the premium experience when offered. Gal Shenar, creator of the popular Alexa skill game “Escape the Airplane” has also has success, seeing conversion rates “higher than what’d you expect on mobile” at 34%.

Alexa skill creators take home 70% of the revenue made from ISP and is just one piece of Amazon’s strategy to incentivize developers to keep producing quality skills. One new promotion running until March 31 is a free Echo Sub for any developer who adds an ISP to a new or existing skill which generates at least $100 in the first 30 days. In addition, the developer who earns the most during this promotion period will also receive a free trip to AWS re:Invent.

Amazon knows not to bite the hand that feeds Alexa. Developers are the reason why Alexa has more than 70,000 skills worldwide and are a key reason why Alexa is such a success. Better skills make a better Alexa and a better experience for the user. Amazon exec Paul Cutsinger stressed this message during his keynote at the Alexa Conference in Chattanooga last week, “We care most deeply about making sure that the customers have a phenomenal experience. We think the best way to do that is to make sure that you guys [developers] have the money you need to make those experiences.”

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