AWS Startups Blog

How Bark and Co. uses Amazon Comprehend for Both the User and Pet Experience

If someone says that their dog “destroyed” all their toys, is that a good thing or a bad thing? While some pet owners are genuinely upset if their bulldogs tear their plushies to bits, others are delighted that their pets so enjoyed their toys, they tore them apart. At Bark & Co, which produces BarkBox, a monthly pet subscription box, and BarkShop, an ecommerce site for dog treats and products, this question, VP of Engineering Becky Segal wanted to ensure her colleagues were correctly understanding the sentiment of their customers’ comments and feedback. To do this, the company started using AWS Comprehend to analyze the custom, text-written responses they were receiving and were consequently able to better gauge what their pet-loving base was trying to say.

Michelle Kung

Michelle Kung

Michelle Kung currently works in startup content at AWS and was previously the head of content at Index Ventures. Prior to joining the corporate world, Michelle was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, the founding Business Editor at the Huffington Post, a correspondent for The Boston Globe, a columnist for Publisher’s Weekly and a writer at Entertainment Weekly.