How to Set Up Chatbot to Human Handoff
Why Handoff Matters
AI chatbots handle the majority of routine questions well, but some situations need a human touch. Billing disputes, complex technical issues, and emotionally sensitive conversations are better handled by a real person. Without a smooth handoff process, frustrated visitors leave your site. With it, the chatbot filters easy questions and only escalates the ones that truly need human attention, saving your team time while keeping customers happy.
The platform supports two handoff modes. Automatic escalation happens when the chatbot detects the visitor is repeatedly asking for a human or expressing frustration. Always-on monitoring sends every new conversation to your Live Operator inbox so a human can jump in at any point, even if the chatbot is handling things fine.
Before You Start
You need a working chatbot in the AI Chatbot app and the Live Operator app installed on your account. The chatbot handles the AI side, and Live Operator provides the inbox where human agents see and respond to escalated conversations.
Step-by-Step Setup
Go to your admin panel and install the Live Operator app if you have not already. This app provides the real-time inbox where your team monitors and responds to conversations that need human attention.
Open your chatbot settings in the AI Chatbot app. Find the Live Operator toggle and enable it. When this is on, every new chatbot conversation creates a pointer in the Live Operator inbox. Your team can see all active conversations and jump in whenever they choose.
The chatbot's built-in escalation logic detects when a visitor repeatedly asks to speak with a human. When triggered, the chatbot stops generating AI responses and flags the conversation for human attention. The visitor sees a message that a human agent will be with them shortly.
In the Live Operator settings, configure how your team gets notified of new escalations. The inbox shows conversations with status labels (open, waiting, active, resolved) so agents can prioritize effectively. Unread message counts update in real time.
Open your chatbot as a visitor and type something like "I need to speak to a real person" two or three times. The chatbot should escalate the conversation. Then log into your admin panel, open Live Operator, and verify the conversation appears in your inbox. Send a reply as the operator and confirm it shows up in the visitor's chat window.
How Conversation Status Works
Live Operator tracks four conversation states: open (new, unassigned), waiting (visitor is waiting for a response), active (an operator is engaged), and resolved (issue complete). Agents update the status as they work through conversations, and resolved conversations are timestamped and archived. This gives you a clear picture of response times and workload.
Operator Tools
- Canned responses: Save common reply templates with variable placeholders like visitor name, email, and phone number
- Typing indicators: Both sides see when the other person is typing, so the conversation feels real-time
- Conversation history: Operators see the full chatbot conversation from the beginning, including the AI responses, so they have complete context
- Message polling: The inbox checks for new messages every few seconds, keeping the interface responsive
Email Handoff
Handoff also works for email conversations. If you have email monitoring set up, the chatbot can auto-reply to incoming emails and escalate to Live Operator when needed. Operators see email conversations in the same inbox alongside chat conversations, creating one unified place to manage all customer communication.
Give your chatbot a safety net. Set up human handoff so no customer question goes unanswered.
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