What is an escalation trigger?
An escalation trigger is a condition that makes an AI agent or chatbot pass a conversation to a person, such as the customer asking for someone, a complaint, a refund request or a question the bot can't answer.
Also called: handover trigger, escalation rule, handoff trigger.
By Santhul Joseph, AI EngineerUpdated
Common escalation triggers
- The customer asks for a person, in whatever words they use.
- Money and contracts: a refund, a billing dispute or a cancellation.
- Legal and privacy: a legal question, a data-protection request or a security problem like a hacked account.
- Mood: the customer is clearly upset and the problem is still open.
- Failure: the agent couldn't answer, more than once.
Choosing good triggers
Too few triggers and customers end up arguing with a bot. Too many and your team gets alerted for questions the agent could have answered. A good rule of thumb: escalate anything where a wrong answer costs money, trust or legal trouble, and let the agent handle the rest.
Words specific to your business matter too. A furniture webshop might escalate "damaged", a B2B supplier "wholesale" or "invoice".
Escalation triggers in SimplyBoost
Every agent comes with the triggers above built in: a request for a person, complaints, refund or billing disputes, cancellations, legal or data-protection requests, security problems, an upset customer with an unsolved issue, and two unanswered questions in a row. You add your own triggers on top.
When a trigger fires, your team is alerted by email, in the dashboard or in a Slack thread, and handover to Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias is supported. Handover and Slack alerts are on every plan, Starter included.
Questions people ask
Can I add my own escalation triggers?
Yes. In SimplyBoost you add your own keywords and topics under Optimize, Safety net, on top of the built-in triggers.
What does the customer see when a trigger fires?
In the SimplyBoost website chat they see that a person is joining, with your typical response time. On WhatsApp and Instagram they get a short message that your team has it, and the agent keeps helping until someone replies.
What is the difference between an escalation trigger and a handover?
The trigger is the condition, the handover is what happens next. A trigger like "the customer asked for a refund" starts the handover, which passes the conversation and its history to your team.