Escalate to Human
Hand a conversation from your agent to your team through live chat or a Helpdesk ticket, when a visitor asks or when your conditions are met.
Escalate to Human connects a visitor with a teammate. It’s how human handoff is set up for an agent. Only team Owners and Admins can configure it.
To add it, go to Build > Actions, select Create action, and choose Escalate to Human.
Escalation method
Choose how a visitor reaches your team:
| Method | What happens |
|---|---|
| Live chat | The AI stops replying and a teammate takes over the conversation. If nobody claims the request in time, it can become a ticket instead. |
| Create ticket | A Helpdesk ticket is created and the AI keeps responding. Your team replies later, and the visitor gets the reply by email. |
Anonymous visitors on the web widget or Public Chat verify their email with a one-time code before a ticket is created, so your team can reach them. Visitors who are already identified with an email skip that step.
Live chat settings
- Show live chat button: lets visitors ask for a teammate at any time.
- Button label: the button text. Default: “Talk to a person”.
- Waiting message: shown until a teammate joins. Default: “A teammate will join this conversation shortly.”
- Allow AI to request live chat: the agent escalates on its own when the conversation matches the condition under When to escalate.
- Create a ticket if nobody claims the request: After 2 minutes, After 5 minutes (default), After 10 minutes, After 15 minutes, or Keep waiting.
When nobody claims a live chat request
If no teammate claims a live chat request within the time you chose, it becomes a ticket:
- The AI takes over again, so the visitor isn’t left waiting.
- The visitor sees “No teammate was available, so this became a support request.” and is told the team will reply by email.
- Anonymous visitors are asked to verify their email first.
- The ticket stays in the Helpdesk for your team.
This applies to the web widget and Public Chat. WhatsApp requests keep waiting, since WhatsApp replies already reach the customer.
Ticket settings
- Confirmation message: shown after a ticket is created. Default: “I’ve sent this conversation to the team for follow-up.”
When to escalate
Describe the situations where the agent should bring in your team. If you leave the default text, it follows the escalation method you chose:
| Method | Default condition |
|---|---|
| Live chat | Escalate when the visitor clearly asks for a human teammate to take over or join the conversation. |
| Create ticket | Create a ticket when the visitor asks for a ticket or support case, reports a problem the agent can’t solve (such as errors, syncing issues, or account problems), or asks the team to follow up. |
Text you write yourself is never changed. For example:
Escalate when the visitor explicitly asks for a human teammate, or when they report a billing problem you can’t solve.
Notifications
- Email the team about new tickets: Owners, Admins, and Editors get an email when a new Helpdesk ticket is opened.
Visitors with an email get their own emails about a ticket. See Emails to visitors.
For Slack alerts, see Slack Notifications.
Channels
Escalate to Human can run on the Web widget, Public Chat, and WhatsApp. It doesn’t run in API conversations, so conversations started through the API can’t be handed to your team. See Where actions run.