Why a new search engine? For fun, obviously!
Humour is contagious and so is the pleasure of finding what you want, as quickly as possible.
This is why, as part of the overhaul of Just for laughs Group’s websites, a new intelligent search engine found itself front-and-center, to provide a completely different user experience for comedy fans.
Shows, galas, artists, funny videos, categories, dates, prices, and cities: finding the desired content in a flash is now a dream come true!
As part of its LAB projects, MultipleMedia’s R & D team has developed a tool as flexible as it is powerful; hence the perfect product for JFL’s needs!
The new engine, whose features are focused around user behaviour, offers an intuitive search that promotes purchases through rapid access to the right information.
Multi-criteria efficiency
To provide a simple and intuitive user experience, it’s important to evaluate all possible scenarios. This step then allows the definition of search criteria.
Between June 1st and July 30th, 2015, 63% of searches were based on the artist, 36% on the show and 1% on other keywords.
Supported by statistical data collected on the website, MultipleMedia optimized search algorithms according to their relevance.
Power to the facets
To answer your question, a facet is a technological terminology used to define criteria. It’s the face of the results you’re looking at, different from an angle or perspective to another. In the case of Just for laughs, we’re talking about document types, show categories, artists, prices or cities.
Based on Elasticsearch, the open-source technology behind Facebook and Netflix, the multilingual engine searches among all extracted pages of the websites, blog posts and product descriptions. The generated result is complete and extensive.
With the stemming feature, the tool generates the same reliable results regardless of the singular, plural, or even verb tense. The configuration of a thesaurus can also specify the results if certain words are often sought.
The results you expect
It is through data indexation in Drupal, the content management system, that the result relevance actually takes shape.
Language, display priority, category, date, price and more; everything has been redesigned based on selected search criteria to maximize the results relevancy.
100% availability. The search bar is omnipresent across the sites, allowing users to quickly enter their query while the auto-complete suggests the most relevant elements.
Next to the search bar, users can easily specify their search with categories and dates. The results page also offers filters to obtain more precise results.
Calendar events integration
In the buying journey, ticket search is a key step.
To encourage the purchase, the calendar of events was also integrated into the search engine. This feature is particularly useful during the Festival, allowing visitors to refine their search with desired dates.
Custom Search Engine in Just for laughs’ image
Developed in parallel with the website’s overhaul, the new search engine is in perfect alignment with the newly developed branding.
Available on the home page and every page as well, it’s accessible at all times!
The Just for Laughs Festival takes place from July 13th to August 1st, 2016. Have you done all your research yet?
