When Should a Chatbot Hand Over to a Human? Rules That Actually Work
Which conversations a bot should pass to a person, how to detect them, and what to do outside business hours.
TL;DR: Hand over when the customer asks for a person, is upset, is ready to buy something complex, or asks something the bot can't answer from your content. Detect it with keywords, alert the right person, and handle off-hours honestly.
Why handover matters
A chatbot that never lets go frustrates people. A chatbot that hands over too often is just a slow contact form. Clear rules give you the best of both.
The five handover triggers
- Direct request: "talk to a human", "call me", "agent".
- Frustration: "this is useless", "complaint", "not happy".
- High-value intent: "bulk order", "negotiate", "corporate plan".
- Sensitive topics: refunds, medical results, legal matters.
- Repeated misses: the bot couldn't answer twice in a row.
How InfiBot detects them
You create handover intents, each with a list of keywords. InfiBot matches them in incoming messages and tolerates small typos, so "speacilist" still matches "specialist". Each intent can notify a different email, for example billing issues to accounts.
What happens next
- The team gets an email alert.
- The conversation appears in the Handovers dashboard.
- An agent opens it and replies, on the website or WhatsApp.
- The agent chooses whether the bot keeps helping or pauses for that chat.
Outside business hours
Set your working hours and time zone. If a handover is triggered when nobody is available, the bot says so in its reply and tells the customer when to expect a person. That is better than a silent wait.
Good handover messages
| Situation | Message |
|---|---|
| During hours | "I'm connecting you with Priya from our team. She'll reply here shortly." |
| Off hours | "Our team is offline until 10 am. I've passed on your message and they'll reply first thing." |
| Complaint | "I'm sorry about this. I've flagged it to our support lead." |
Frequently asked questions
Will customers know they are talking to a bot?
They should. Be open that it's an assistant, and make reaching a person easy.
Can more than one agent reply?
Yes. Whoever opens the handover is assigned to it.
Does handover work on WhatsApp?
Yes. Agent replies are sent to the customer's WhatsApp from the dashboard.