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When a new technology arrives it may be normal to ask yourself “Will it be too soon to jump to exploit it?”. In this case, let’s talk about the voice technology brought by Amazon and the skills for Alexa.

Let’s say the answer you give is, “No, it’s not soon, I want to develop my skills and anticipate my Competitors” .

Very well.

Every business can develop its skill for Alexa and employ it in so many ways, so now the question becomes “What kind of skill can I develop that is effective and valuable?”.

In this article we see 14 great realities who acted immediately to get their skills, how they are using it and for what purpose.

14 skill for Alexa from big companies: what is their strategy?

Purina

Let’s start with a dog skill.

This well-known brand of dog food, developed his skill: Ask purine.

What is this skill for?

To recommend the best croquette for your dog? No.

It serves to give information about breeds to those who are thinking of taking a dog.

Do you want a dog, maybe you have never had one and then you are not expert.

No problem, they help them find the breed that suits you. So maybe you avoid taking a great great dane if you live in the apartment!

For example, you can discover the breeds most suitable to live with small children, or the breeds most suitable to live in the apartment. Also, the breeds most accustomed to living in the countryside with large terrain. developed with the aim of intercepting a specific need and satisfying it, instead of competing with hundreds of other brands to conquer those who have a dog, they anticipate and conquer future owners of a dog.

With such help, as soon as these people choose the dog, who will remember to buy the croquets as the first brand?

Marriotts hotel

The Marriotts hotel line has equipped its rooms with Amazon Echo devices. They provide the ability to answer frequently asked questions and handle simple customer requests.

Meals, order room service, ask for dinner tips, check out time or how the laundry service works.

They have automated to always answer the same questions. At the same time managing to offer better service.

The customer receives an immediate response without having to call at the reception or having to go in person and can ask the same thing 100 times if not manages to remember it.

Not a skill to acquire new customers or make themselves known by potential customers, but to raise the bar of the service offered (useful element to build customer loyalty).

Domino’s pizza

Domino’s has created his skill for Alexa to make orders easier.

It allows you to order your favorite pizza, get it delivered to the usual address and pay with the usual paper. a lot of time and makes ordering really easy.

At an attack of hunger, combined with the laziness of not wanting to cook, a customer can answer simply by invoking the help of Alexa.

Giving in to temptation of the pizza, give a command like “Alexa, order the usual pizza by 8” and Domino’s received another order. This skill they wanted to develop even though they already had their convenient and super used app. for orders.

Right choice?

Domino’s marketing director talked about the results of the launch of their skill.

Well, 1 out of 5 customers already ordered pizza with Alexa despite using the app.

And this in just 2 months!

Facilitating the purchasing process to the fullest is certainly a profitable strategy Domino’s has created his skill to make orders easier.

Just Eat

When you don’t want to cook or go out, Just eat is ready to save you and we know that now. In this case, like in Domino’s, the skill of Just eat allows you to order easily and quickly.

“Alexa, ask Just Eat to tidy up my latest sushi” and here without repeating the order and all the data, your meal is towards your home.

You can also use the skill to ask for updates on the status of delivery of your order.

So much usefulness and simplification to the maximum for hungry customers.

Shopify

Even the king of e-commerce Shopify has developed his skill for Alexa.

Just to make the idea, Shopify is a platform with more than 500,000 active e-commerce (including Tesla motors and Budweiser, to name 2).

This skill allows e-commerce owners to keep track of store data and be easily updated on order status, performance, inventory, statistics and more. skill aims to offer their users new possibilities and more convenience in controlling their virtual store.

Zyrtec

If you do not know it, Zyrtec is a fairly large brand of antihistamines. For their skill they had an extremely useful and original idea.

The skill offers in fact information about allergens and pollen in relationship to the weather and the place where you are.

Based on this advises you when it is better to take an antihistamine before going out.

Information that will be useful to so many allergic people to avoid getting spoiled the output.In addition to this, it also gives general advice on how to handle allergies.

All this even if you are not yet their client. They give value to anyone who has that problem, gaining his confidence and bringing it to the choice of their antihistamines.

Toyota

He couldn’t find the world’s largest car manufacturer unprepared, could he?

Toyota’s skill for Amazon Alexa allows a new way to interact with your car. Activate the skill, connect it to your Toyota account and start the fun. Put or remove the safety at the doors and ask for the fuel level.

The great thing is that you can do everything from any device that supports Alexa. Amazon Echo device, you could ask Alexa to tell you how much fuel you have, so that you know if you need to get out early in order to stop at the gas station. And we could finally all solve the doubt. “ closed the car?”

For now the supported vehicles are the Camry equipped since 2018 and the Avalon and Corolla Hatchback since 2019. A skill that innovates a bit of management and relationship with your car, making things easier.

Patron tequila

Patron is a Tequila brand that has decided to develop a skill that accompanies people in alcoholic moments.

You can ask this skill to suggest tequila cocktail recipes based on Follow his voice instructions and here you have your perfect cocktail.

You can also learn more about tequila and get advice from bartending. Professionals on how to make cocktails.A skill certainly very useful and with so much potentiality.

Imagine also give the opportunity to buy tequila or equipment for making cocktails after you offered free help, how much could it yield?

Johnnie Walker

This is from the famous whiskey brand Johnnie Walker and has a substantial difference from that of Patron.

With this skill for Alexa, you can learn more about whiskey, make a taste of the whiskey, make yourself recommend a type of whiskey based on your preferences and especially buy a bottle directly with your voice.

A great example of content relevant to potential customers, with which can interact by getting familiar with the brand. It is a skill that aims to improve the (mental) image of the brand, but also the turnover.

Fitbit

After all this alcohol we move on to something healthy.

Fitbit is a now very popular brand for smart watches to monitor your physical activity, sleep, steps, calories burned and so on.

By syncing the skill to the watch, you can ask for updates on your stats whenever you want. This makes it easier, faster and accessible for their customers to know how well they are doing. example of skill not built primarily for gain, but to offer better service to its customers and a “reward” .

Hear a voice that tells you that compliments you for achieving your goals The number of physical activity of the day can be quite rewarding (even to make those who are with you feel).

American Heart Association

70% of heart attacks occur outside hospitals.

Immediate intervention can make a difference in saving a life. So the American Heart Association decided to develop its skills to be able to guide people in doing a heart massage waiting for the ambulance or to give directions on the symptoms of a heart attack or a heart attack.

An informative and educational background skill that can give a decisive contribution in delicate situations and that will be highly appreciated.

American Express

With the Amex skill you can make payments, but not only.

For example, you can check your bank account (maybe if it’s not very full at the moment it’s better to do it when you’re alone), receive American Express, check recent and expiring movements.

After home banking, another step to simplify the management of their finances.

Ted Talks

Ted talks is an organization that aims to spread ideas and does so through some of the most inspirational and innovative speeches, ranging between an immense range of topics.

Psychology, science, sports, marketing, among the Ted talks you will find everything. In the perspective of their mission to spread ideas, a skill with Alexa could not be missing and in fact it is not too late to arrive.

With their skill you can reproduce the latest speeches, play them randomly or search for them by topic. You may choose to be accompanied by a motivational speech while you have breakfast or a topic that inspires you while you cook. skills that aims to spread brand content more and more and more people.

BBC

You can tell Alexa to activate the BBC skill and choose from the possibilities it offers. You can hear the latest news from the world, listen to the your favorite radio station or podcast.

For those like the BBC produces so much content, it is essential to be able to make it available to as many people as possible, giving you the possibility to access it in the easiest way that there is.

This topic we deal best in the next article, where I’ll tell you about influential characters who have already developed their skills for Alexa. Developed them to do personal branding and better distribute their content.

In conclusion

As you saw, large companies did not wait for some of their competitors to first succeed with skills for Alexa, they did not waste time. Each skill with different features, but all with the same goal: put customers and potential customers to be close to him.

Launching your skill for Alexa will make it easier for new customers to approach and know your business. With just a voice command they can buy from your business, dialogue with your business, and strengthen their relation with it.