ProCogia developed a custom spell checker

Company Information

In an era where digital content is king, a leading global visual media company sought to enhance its online platform’s user experience by improving search accuracy. Recognizing the potential for advanced technologies to revolutionize its search functionality, the company partnered with ProCogia to develop a custom spell checker. This ambitious project aimed to harness the power of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) to refine search queries, thereby improving the accuracy of search results and enhancing customer satisfaction.

The Challenge

The primary challenge faced by the visual media company was the high rate of misspelled search queries, which led to poor search results and a frustrating user experience. Traditional spell check solutions were inadequate, often providing incorrect corrections that further compounded search inefficiencies. The company required a bespoke solution capable of understanding and correcting a wide range of search query errors specific to its vast and diverse corpus of visual media content.

Procogia’s Approach

We developed natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) solutions that presented customers with better image search results.

We used a client-specific corpus of historical search queries as the basis for a custom spell check dictionary, ensuring our product could effectively handle the types of language search customers were using

We wrote a spell checker in Python implementing NLP concepts and techniques, including Damerau-Levenshtein distance, phonetic encoding, grammatical knowledge, and probabilistic typo identification

We used both manual evaluation and parameter tuning to iteratively optimize the model

To facilitate internationalization beyond English, we ensured our algorithms could be applied to any alphabetic language.

The Results

A/B testing found a 39% higher purchase rate for searches corrected by the spell checker vs. the control group

Our product was 50x less likely to give false corrections than the out-of-the-box model the client was using

ProCogia’s spell checker now handles all searches on the client’s US site and is currently being extended to non-English languages including French and German

The spell check solution has resulted in customers successfully finding their desired images and therefore increased revenue for the client.

Services Used

Data Science

We use open source technology to leverage the full potential of your data. Predictive and prescriptive results are actioned using AI and Machine Learning (ML).

Data Consultancy

We provide data consultancy to organizations to optimize your investment in people, processes, and technology. This is typically through data strategy engagements, roadmaps, transformations, and independent technology advice.

Conclusion

The primary challenge faced by the visual media company was the high rate of misspelled search queries, which led to poor search results and a frustrating user experience. Traditional spell check solutions were inadequate, often providing incorrect corrections that further compounded search inefficiencies. The company required a bespoke solution capable of understanding and correcting a wide range of search query errors specific to its vast and diverse corpus of visual media content.

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