This activity revealed that users saw a Google search as an expansive, logical, and intuitive experience, while they saw an interaction with an Amazon Alexa as a limiting, confusing, and frustrating experience.
All of these factors ultimately affected a user's:
- conception of speed. Participants saw Alexa as faster initially, primarily because of voice, but slower over time.
- perceived effort. Participants saw an experience with Google as instinctual and intuitive, while an experience with Alexa as labored.
- sense of progress. Participants knew when they were getting closer to the answers they wanted with Google, but had no sense of success with an Alexa.
- sense of control/patience. Participants did not recognize when Alexa had completed a speaking turn, which eventually lead to a loss of patience.
- testing of boundaries. Participants felt the need to test the boundaries of an Alexa, but not Google.
Two insights from this study stood out:
- Participants saw Google as having many strong connections. They also saw it as a source that could easily link them to other sources. For instance, one Google web search could link that participant to thousands of other informational sources, all clearly credited. In contrast, Alexa had a few weak connections and seen as a single entity. Participants were unaware of the information's origin and assumed that Alexa did not have the links to the informational sources that Google has.
Participants saw Google as having many strong connections and Alexa as having a few weak connections.
- Web searches allowed participants to create their own context, whether through the use of tabs (note: It would be interesting to understand more about why some users use tabs and others do not) or Google searches specific to a certain site. In contrast, Alexa, had no such mechanisms in place.
A number of participants use tabs to build context for their searches
Both of these factors played a significant role in the models participants created of the two systems. While using Google, a participant's search remained focused over time. The opposite occurred when interacting with an Amazon Alexa, where searches expanded over time. This insight makes a consideration of both the connections and the mechanisms implied through an artificial agent that much more significant. Such a consideration would enable a designer to ensure the models users create of an interface align with the goals of that interface.
With Google, a participant's search focused over time. While with an Alexa, a participant's search expanded over time.