Hey Kakao

Overview

AI Voice Assistant Platform

Company

Role

  • Product Manager &
    Lead Product Designer

Deliverables

  • Product Policy

  • UX Design

  • API Architecture

  • Data Report

Project Date

  • Mar 2022 - Aug 2023
    18 months

Hey Kakao is a voice AI assistant platform by Kakao, a leading South Korean tech company.
It operates across multiple channels, including mobile apps, smart speakers, home IoT platforms, and in-car voice systems. Despite over 5 million monthly active users (MAU), challenges included low recognition accuracy, limited bot scenarios, and unmet needs of diverse user groups.

Context & Problem

The response accuracy rate dropped below 85%

The percentage of Fallback responses, where the system fails to provide an appropriate reply to user utterances, rose sharply from around 7% to 15%.
Among these, 30% of the utterances required handling through existing Fallback scenarios like unrecognizable STT (Speech-to-Text) or profane language, while 70% were not covered by current bot scenarios.
To process about 7,000 utterances daily, I categorized them based on keywords. Users encountering Fallbacks often repeated questions 2-3 times before leaving and took three days on average to re-engage, negatively impacting user experience and service activation. Clear goals were set to address these issues.

Hyphothesis : HMW Approach

“How Might We ensure that users don't feel disappointed with the Hey Kakao service and can engage with it more?”

When Hey Kakao users received Fallback Answers, re-engagement took time. To address this, we prioritized reducing Fallback Answers.
Without a fully developed UI, we tested if the bot’s simple responses matched user queries in the live service. By tracking user IDs, we estimated whether users found their answers.
This reversed the rising Fallback Rate and stabilized DAU (Daily Active Users). Following this, we planned user research, an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), and a phased roadmap to deliver a complete service.

User Research

10,000+

Analysis Utterance Data
& Define conversation flow

  • Start conversation utterance

  • Keyword at the point of conversation end

  • How many steps does user interact with our service

  • Parents(7 years old Kids)

  • Stock trading user

  • User has own car and kids

User interview with 3 Segments users

3+

  • Hyundai Motors Designer

  • Kakao Entertainment Music Streaming staff

  • Kakao Enterprise AI lab Engineers

  • Iconix staffs(Kids contents Company)

  • Kakao Mobility UX Staff

Stakeholder interview

5+

  • Personalized experience for kids contents

  • Integrated Stock info, data and economic News

  • Interaction with Kakao Friends Characters

  • Easy Control and Calling while Driving

Define users needs

4 +

Hey Kakao 2.0 Phased Roadmap

We created a three-phase plan,
prioritizing the response to customers' minimum needs first and then uncovering their hidden needs.

Outcomes

Hey Kakao 2.0

We delivered Hey Kakao 2.0, addressing key Fallback issues, especially with children’s utterances.

It introduced a Kids Mode for child-related interactions, a Stock Bot for stock prices and economic news, and a chatbot feature for chatting with Kakao characters while streaming Melon Music. Additionally, a Driving Mode was added to ensure safe driving, providing hands-free access to features while on the road.

New Mode: Kids Mode

We launched a new Kids Mode for parents and young children, offering simpler controls and focusing exclusively on educational content.

User research revealed that users wanted to register and manage content for their children individually. We also found that visualizing achievements, like stamps, motivated re-engagement, so we implemented a reward system with stamps and stickers. Additionally, addressing children by name during story playback increased immersion, so we added interactive feature.
These changes reduced the fallback rate by 40% and resulted in about 8,000 new daily interactions. The new Kids Mode received positive feedback and was later expanded into a physical product with AI-integrated dolls.

New Bot & New Features

We introduced new bots and features to expand the target audience

The Stock Bot was designed not only to provide stock prices via voice but also to offer visual information, including related news and trends of the index associated with specific stocks, through a well-structured information layout. In addition, we implemented the Jordy chatbot to enable interaction with Kakao characters, allowing users to engage in small talk or build an emotional connection with the character. We also added a Voice Note feature, enabling users to record their notes through voice input. Lastly, we introduced a Driving Mode, integrating the voice assistant functionality into Kakao Map and Kakao Navi apps. These updates successfully resulted in an additional 500,000 monthly active users (MAU).

Multi-Channel Scalability of Hey Kakao 2.0

Hey Kakao supports users' lifestyles as an assistant across various multi-channels

I expanded the Hey Kakao Voice Assistant through collaborations with various companies. Notably, We integrated IoT electronics with Hey Kakao Voice Assistant in partnership with Samsung Electronics, enabling voice control of their devices. Additionally, We worked with Hyundai Motor Company to embed Hey Kakao Voice Assistant into their vehicles, creating a seamless lifestyle experience accessible anytime, anywhere.