Mukund Bhat - UX Designer

Intro section

Alexa Hunches

Collecting contextual user feedback for proactive actions' feature (Hunches)

OVERVIEW

Redesigned the userflow for the Alexa app to discover Hunch feature and provide contextual feedback.

This was an Amazon-sponsored project under Monica Chan's (UX Researcher at Amazon) mentorship. Timeline - 16 weeks.

ROLE

Product designer

End-to-end experience, research, prototyping and testing

PLATFORM | INDUSTRY

Mobile and Echo show displays | Consumer, Smart home IoT

TEAM

3 Product Designers | 3 UX Researchers

PROTOTYPE

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CONTEXT

Imagine this: You walk up to your front door in the morning only to notice it was unlocked the entire night. You were sure you locked it before going to bed. Confused, you're wondering how did this happen? The real culprit - Proactive actions

So what are proactive actions?

Actions a smart device takes WITHOUT the user's input - by learning from your daily habits and predicting future needs.

In Alexa terms, these are called Hunches

CHALLENGES

Derived from research - 12 interviews, 6 Reddit analysis, 3 diary studies and Co-Design workshop with 4 users

No Hunch awareness: Users are not aware of the actions taken by Alexa on its own leading to confusion

Inefficient Feedback: Current method of a simple 'Yes or No' feedback is insufficient to improve future actions

Security concerns: Safety concerns can raise through such proactive actions (like door being unlocked)

GOAL

Make users aware of Hunches and get contextual feedback from them

But how does it help with all the challenges?

Awareness - To inform users of proactive actions

Feedback - To identify wrong actions and improve in future

But how does it help with all the challenges?

Awareness - To inform users of proactive actions

Feedback - To identify wrong actions and improve in future

SOLUTION

End-to-end userflow from getting notified of the Hunches to providing feedback and retention over time

Problem space 1 of 4

Hunch visibility

In the current model, Hunches activities are buried within the settings, requiring users to navigate four levels deep in the hierarchy. This makes Hunches difficult to locate and the reason for lack of awareness within users.

Solution

A new "Hunches" section now appears on the home screen to alert users of actions initiated by Alexa

A new tag introduced in the device tile will inform users of proactive actions performed on it

Rationale

Visible on the home screen draws users' attention. Used scalable design system for consistency and easy building.

Hunches

3 updates

MUSIC Led Strip Lights

Off | Automatically triggered by Hunches

Hunches

3 updates

MUSIC Led Strip Lights

Off | Automatically triggered by Hunches

Problem space 2 of 4

Turned off by default

Notifications

Currently, Hunch notifications are turned off by default. Turning on applies to all devices causing notification fatique.

Solution

Notification setup (Alexa app): Seamlessly choose alert type. Choose only the devices you want notifications from.

Echo Show notification:
Non-intrusive pulsating notifcation

Rationale

Users prefer notifications to be semi-proactive, except for critical situations (learnt from interviews and Co-design workshop)

Solution

Notification setup (Alexa app): Seamlessly choose alert type. Choose only the devices you want notifications from.

Echo Show notification:
Non-intrusive pulsating notifcation

Rationale

Users prefer notifications to be semi-proactive, except for critical situations (learnt from interviews and Co-design workshop)

Problem space 3 of 4

Contextual feedback

The existing feedback page only collects a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ which isn’t enough to improve future actions.

Solution

Introduced a two-step contextual feedback system (on hitting No) that makes Alexa’s assumptions transparent and asks which one was incorrect.

This helps Alexa become more context-aware and refine future proactive actions.

Rationale

Users prefer agency - so gave them a 'choice' to provide additional feedback. Users also hate to type, so added predefined options by studying how Hunch works.

Problem space 4 of 4

Users

"Giving feedback a couple of times doesn’t sound so bad, but I honestly can’t see myself doing it for weeks or months"

User retention

How can we encourage users to provide feedback for long?

Solution

Added a transparency page that shows how their previous feedback have improved Alexa's actions.

Rationale

Research suggest users were more likely to give feedback when the impact of feedback was transparent.

RECAP

Consistent end-to-end userflow across both devices

IMPACT

Accessing Hunches

Optimized: from 4 unintuitive clicks to 1 tap on the home screen

Interaction with Hunches

From 2 users to 9 users who expressed intuitive interactions with low frustration

User trust

9 out of 10 users showed confidence with Hunches and said they WOULD NOT disable the feature!

DESIGN SYSTEM

Consistent end-to-end userflow across both devices

Variables, tokens and modes

Component library

Responsive

REFLECTIONS

Working in big teams

At first, poor communication in our large, unfamiliar team led to missed meetings and incomplete tasks. Assigning ownership based on individual interests changed that—everyone took charge of their area and engaged others. Within weeks, collaboration improved naturally, and I plan to use this approach in future teams.

Maintaining interest when things change

The project began with a focus on voice design, which excited me, but research proved it unfit, forcing a pivot. Limited app flexibility felt demotivating, but improving small details reignited my drive. It taught me that priorities shift quickly, and adapting to make the most of the scope is key.

MY CONTRIBUTIONS

UI Explorations

Assisted in UI explorations and generated Hi-Fi mockups for user testing

Research

Hosted a Co-Design workshop, uncovering new user pain points and preferences

3/10 user-tests, 3/12 interviews, competitor analysis

TEAM :)

Best things come out of team collaborations

THANK YOU

Hope you liked it ;)

The mobile version of this case study is still WIP. Stay tuned :)

To view the full case study, please visit the web version.