What is human handover in a chatbot?

Short answer

Human handover is the moment an AI agent passes a conversation to a person on your team, with the whole conversation attached, because the customer needs something the agent shouldn't or can't handle on its own.

Also called: human handoff, live agent handoff, escalation to a human.

By Updated

When an agent should hand over

  • The customer asks for a person.
  • A complaint, a refund or billing dispute, a cancellation, a legal or data-protection request, or a security problem like a hacked account.
  • The customer is upset and the issue isn't solved.
  • The agent couldn't answer twice in a row.
  • One of your own triggers comes up, such as "wholesale" or "invoice".

What makes a handover feel good

The customer is told what happens next instead of being left waiting. Your team is alerted where they already work. Nobody has to ask the customer to repeat themselves, because the person who takes over sees everything said so far. And once a person replies, the bot goes quiet.

Handover in SimplyBoost

  • The agent hands over on the triggers above, plus custom triggers you add in Optimize.
  • Your team is alerted by email, in the dashboard or in a Slack thread, and handover to Zendesk, Freshdesk or Gorgias is supported.
  • In the website chat the customer sees that a person is joining, with your typical response time. On WhatsApp and Instagram they get a short message that your team has it.
  • The agent keeps helping until someone replies. When your team is done, Resume bot hands the conversation back.

Questions people ask

Can I choose what triggers a handover?

Yes. Besides the built-in triggers, you can add your own keywords and topics in SimplyBoost under Optimize, Safety net.

Do my team's replies count toward my AI replies?

No. Only replies written by the AI agent count toward your plan's monthly AI replies. Messages your team sends are not counted.

Can my team reply from Slack?

Yes. A handover opens as a thread in the Slack channel you pick. Reply in the thread and the customer receives it on their own channel.

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