Bot Handoff — Escalating from Bot to Human Agent

A bot handoff is the moment a conversation transitions from your AI bot to a live human agent. Getting this transition right is critical — a clumsy handoff frustrates customers, while a smooth one feels seamless. This guide covers when handoffs happen, how to configure them, and how to make them feel natural.

When Handoffs Happen

Handoffs are triggered in four ways:

1. Visitor request — the visitor explicitly asks to speak to a person ("Can I talk to someone?", "Transfer me", "Human please").
2. Bot decision — the bot determines it cannot resolve the request and routes to a human via the Transfer to Agent workflow step.
3. Condition rule — a workflow condition triggers a handoff (e.g., sentiment drops to negative, visitor has VIP status, high lead score).
4. Timeout — if a visitor has been in a bot conversation for more than a configured time with no resolution, escalate automatically.

Configuring the Handoff Step in Workflows

1. In Workflows, open the workflow where you want to add a handoff.
2. Add a Transfer to Agent step at the point where escalation should occur.
3. Configure:
   • Target team — which team or agent group should receive the transfer.
   • Priority — Normal or High. High priority places the conversation at the front of the queue.
   • Fallback — what happens if no agents are available (e.g., leave a message, queue, or return to bot).
   • Context message — a note sent to the receiving agent summarizing why the transfer occurred (visible only to the agent, not the customer).

Writing a Good Handoff Message

When handing off, the bot should send a brief message to the visitor acknowledging the transfer. Keep it natural:

• Good: "Let me connect you with a member of our team who can help with that. One moment."
• Avoid: "Transferring to AGENT_QUEUE_SALES." — this exposes internal terminology and feels robotic.

Configure the handoff message in the Transfer to Agent step under Message to Visitor.

Passing Context to the Agent

Velaro automatically passes the full conversation transcript to the receiving agent. Additionally, the bot can pass structured data:

• Any Variables collected during the bot conversation (e.g., order number, issue category, account type) appear in the agent's sidebar under Conversation Variables.
• If a CRM record was looked up during the bot conversation, the CRM panel pre-populates for the agent.
• The agent sees the full conversation history so they can read what the bot already collected — they never have to ask the customer to repeat themselves.

Queue Behavior During Handoff

When a handoff triggers and no agent is immediately available:

• The visitor is placed in the team's queue with their position shown ("You're #3 in line").
• The bot can remain in the conversation to keep the visitor engaged while they wait — it can answer simple FAQs and collect additional information.
• When an agent becomes available, they receive the conversation with the full context.

Configure the queue message under Settings → Teams → [Team Name] → Queue Message.

After-Hours Handoffs

If a handoff is triggered outside of business hours:

• Use a workflow Schedule Check step before the Transfer step to detect after-hours conditions.
• Route to a Leave a Message step to collect the visitor's contact info and create a follow-up ticket.
• Or keep the bot active in full AI mode until agents return.

Measuring Handoff Quality

In Reports → Bot & AI → Handoffs, review:

• Handoff rate — what percentage of bot conversations are escalated.
• Time to agent — average wait from handoff request to agent pickup.
• Post-handoff CSAT — do customers rate handoff conversations differently than bot-only or agent-only ones?
• Handoff reasons — which trigger type (visitor request, bot decision, rule, timeout) causes most handoffs — this tells you where to improve the bot.