Intelligent Ranking

the easier and faster it is to get relevant help, the more people will access it to make accessing the right help easier, the throughline api has an in built intelligent ranking algorithm that ranks helplines in the most meaningful way for users when first implemented in products using the api, this feature lifted conversions to helplines by 50% we consider several important factors when ranking the helplines returned by the api the following factors influence the results in the following order suitability our api supports topic based filtering any helplines that match the requested topic, or a synonym for the topic, in the helpline name or helpline topics list, will be included in the returned results helplines are ranked based on their level of specialization in addressing the requested topic in the absence of a topic filter, helplines that support suicide, depression, and anxiety are ranked higher availability helplines that are open 24/7 are ranked ahead of those that don't contact method coverage our data shows that people in crisis are 6x more likely to contact messaging based helplines than those available over the phone because of this, helplines that are available over online chat or sms are ranked higher than those only available over the phone popularity when people use our web app or widget, we anonymously track which helplines they contact this metric indicates the desirability of a service and dynamically influences our ranking an example of this may be that a topic specific phone based helpline that is contacted frequently is re ranked higher in the general results, despite not ranking highly on our 'contact method coverage and 'suitability' factors in addition to these factors, where we have intimate knowledge of a helpline's services and its capacity to support a greater number of people we may promote them to the top of the list we aim to ensure that people can find the best helpline that suits their needs and offers the support they deserve by considering these factors, we strive to provide a comprehensive ranking of helplines that mean more people get support