Wrapping Up

Not all interactions with Alexa begin with the user invoking a skill. Employing proactive events and reminders in a skill enables Alexa to chime in and speak up at any time, even when the user isn’t actively using a skill.

Proactive events are designed around eight domain-specific use cases, including sending updates regarding order status, sporting events, weather, and reservations. These events are published to a user’s Alexa devices through the skill by a backend system using a REST endpoint, and are delivered to all of the devices connected to the user’s Amazon account. Proactive events can also be multicast to all users of an event.

Reminders enable a skill to speak up and remind a user about some occasion at a specific time. Unlike proactive events, reminders are freeform, allowing for any message to be sent at the reminder time. Also, reminders are only delivered to the device from which they were created.

Coming up in the next chapter, we’re going to switch gears a little by looking at how to monetize voice applications by enabling in-skill purchasing.