Alexa Gift Finder
As the UX Design Manager for the Gift Finder project at Amazon, I drove the design of a voice and multimodal shopping experience that enhanced gift discovery through Alexa. I led my design team through the full lifecycle of the project and partnered with AI, product, and engineering teams across multiple geographies to define a modular, scalable framework. This initiative not only improved the gifting experience but also set the foundation for similar features in other domains like home decor and electronics.
The Problem Statement
Gift shopping is complex, involving two stakeholders: the giver and the recipient. Customers often encounter challenges like:
Cold start problems: Difficulty knowing where to start.
FOMO: Fear of missing out on trending or popular gifts.
Dead ends: Linear experiences that limit exploration.
Confidence: Lack of trust in gift choices.
Design Challenges:
Creating a modular design system to support multimodal interactions.
Ensuring that Alexa’s suggestions aligned with diverse customer needs.
Addressing the complexities of dual-stakeholder experiences.
Key Outcomes:
Achieved measurable improvements in engagement, including:
Increased follow-on action rates in voice interactions.
Higher purchase rates and reduced friction (e.g., fewer negative utterances like "stop" or "cancel").
Successfully scaled the framework to support additional use cases.
Created a foundation for iterative experimentation, leading to continuous improvements in user satisfaction.
Business Challenges:
Driving alignment across multiple teams and geographies.
Proving scalability and ROI to senior leadership.
Ensuring seamless integration of AI-generated content from various sources.
Design Highlights
Developed a modular and contextual design system for multimodal experiences, including dynamic layouts based on query specificity.
Introduced voice affordances and hints to guide user interactions intuitively.
Collaborated with AI teams to leverage multiple content sources, ensuring relevance and diversity in recommendations.
Leadership Highlights
Defined a scalable modular design system that enabled cross-category reuse and future extensibility.
Led a cross-functional team through a highly iterative design process informed by data and behavioral insights.
Partnered with AI science and engineering teams to ensure seamless content integration and performance optimization.
Navigated complexity across four international markets, adapting UX to support localized gift preferences and cultural nuances.
Evangelized the role of design in shaping trust and inspiration within voice-first experiences, helping set design direction for future Alexa commerce initiatives.