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Human Handoff

Sometimes visitors need to speak with a real person. Human handoff lets you step into a conversation and respond directly, giving your visitors the human support they need while keeping the chatbot available for routine questions.

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How It Works

When human handoff is enabled for an agent, visitors can request to speak with a person, or the chatbot may detect that a human response would be more appropriate. When this happens:
  1. The conversation is flagged for human attention
  2. You receive a notification in your Inbox
  3. You can read the conversation history to understand the context
  4. You respond directly as a human agent

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Enabling Human Handoff

1

Open agent Settings

Go to your agent’s dashboard and click the Settings tab.
2

Enable Human Handoff

Find the Allow Human Handoff toggle and turn it on.
3

Save

Click Save to apply the change.

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Responding to Handoff Requests

When a conversation needs human attention:
1

Check your Inbox

Go to the Inbox tab. Conversations waiting for human response will be highlighted.
2

Review the conversation

Click on the conversation to read the full message history. Understand what the visitor has already asked and what the chatbot has said.
3

Send a message

Type your response in the message input. Your message will appear to the visitor as coming from a human agent.
4

Close the conversation

When the issue is resolved, you can close the conversation. The chatbot will resume handling future messages from that visitor.

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Handoff Status

Each handoff request has a status:
StatusMeaning
PendingA handoff has been requested but no human has responded yet
AcknowledgedA team member has seen the request and is responding
ResolvedThe issue has been addressed and the conversation is closed
CancelledThe handoff request was cancelled

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When to Use Human Handoff

Human handoff is valuable for:
  • Complex issues — Problems that require nuanced understanding or special handling
  • Sensitive situations — Complaints, billing disputes, or emotional conversations
  • High-value interactions — Sales opportunities or VIP customers
  • Limitations — When the chatbot doesn’t have the information to help
Human handoff works best as a safety net, not a replacement for good training data. If you find yourself frequently handling similar questions manually, consider adding that information to your knowledge base so the chatbot can handle them automatically.

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Real-Time Communication

When you’re in a handoff conversation, messages update in real time. Both you and the visitor see new messages instantly, creating a smooth chat experience.