ImpReSS: Implicit Recommender System for Support Conversations

TL;DR

ImpReSS is an implicit recommender system integrated into customer support chatbots that suggests relevant solutions during conversations without assuming user intent, improving support quality and business outcomes.

Contribution

This work introduces ImpReSS, a novel implicit recommender system for support chats that operates alongside chatbots to suggest relevant solutions without explicit user intent assumptions.

Findings

Achieved an MRR@1 of 0.72 for general problems

Attained an MRR@1 of 0.82 for security support

Demonstrated promising recommendation accuracy in support conversations

Abstract

Following recent advancements in large language models (LLMs), LLM-based chatbots have transformed customer support by automating interactions and providing consistent, scalable service. While LLM-based conversational recommender systems (CRSs) have attracted attention for their ability to enhance the quality of recommendations, limited research has addressed the implicit integration of recommendations within customer support interactions. In this work, we introduce ImpReSS, an implicit recommender system designed for customer support conversations. ImpReSS operates alongside existing support chatbots, where users report issues and chatbots provide solutions. Based on a customer support conversation, ImpReSS identifies opportunities to recommend relevant solution product categories (SPCs) that help resolve the issue or prevent its recurrence -- thereby also supporting business growth. Unlike traditional CRSs, ImpReSS functions entirely implicitly and does not rely on any assumption of a user's purchasing intent. Our empirical evaluation of ImpReSS's ability to recommend relevant SPCs that can help address issues raised in support conversations shows promising results, including an MRR@1 (and recall@3) of 0.72 (0.89) for general problem solving, 0.82 (0.83) for information security support, and 0.85 (0.67) for cybersecurity troubleshooting. To support future research, our data and code will be shared upon request.