Hand a conversation over to a person
Your agent hands a conversation to a person only when one of its handover rules matches. You add the rules in the agent's Procedures tab. An agent with no rules keeps every conversation.
Before you start
- You need the Owner or Admin role.
Add a handover rule
- Open Agents, then select Manage agent on the agent.
- Open the Procedures tab.
- In the Handover rules card, select Add rule.
- In Name, type a name for the rule.
- Under When all of these are true, set the first condition. Select Add condition to add more.
- In Then, select what happens.
- In To, select Whole team or Chosen people. If you select Chosen people, select each person.
- Close the dialog.
- Select Save draft, then Publish.
Conditions
All the conditions in one rule must be true.
| Condition | True when |
|---|---|
| Customer asks for a person | The customer asks to speak to a person. |
| Message mentions words | The message contains one of the words you enter. |
| Channel | The conversation is on the channel you select. |
| A captured detail | A detail that the agent captured has the value you enter. |
| A goal | A goal is achieved or blocked. |
| Contact | The customer is a known or an unknown contact. |
| Outside business hours | The time is outside your default Business Hours set. |
| Number of replies | The agent sent this number of replies or more. |
| Lead score | The lead score is this number or more. |
Actions
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Hand over | The conversation waits for a person. |
| Collect details, then hand over | The conversation goes to a person. |
| Ask a person for input | The conversation goes to a person. |
| Take a message and end | The conversation waits for a person. A person follows up later. |
| Tell the team and continue | Line emails the team or the chosen people. The agent keeps replying. |
In the Inbox, a handed-over conversation shows Waiting for a person.
While the customer waits for a person
The Handover rules card has the field While the customer waits for a person. It sets what the agent does after a handover, until a person replies.
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Keep answering until a person replies | The default. The agent answers the customer's questions from what it knows. It can search its knowledge, check business hours, send a link and offer a follow-up. It takes no other action. It does not check the handover rules again. |
| Stop answering | The agent does not reply again in that conversation. |
With both options, the agent stops when a person from your team sends the first reply after the handover. It also stops when a person takes over the conversation.
To change the field:
- Open the Procedures tab of the agent.
- In While the customer waits for a person, select an option.
- Select Save draft, then Publish.
The order of the rules
Line checks the rules in order before each reply. The first rule whose conditions all match decides what happens. To change the order, open the menu on a rule and select Move up or Move down.
Take over or give back a Web Chat
On Web Chat, you can take a chat from the agent at any time.
- Open the conversation in the Inbox.
- Select Take over in the banner above the reply box.
To give the chat back to the agent, open the conversation menu and select Return to AI.
Calls
On a call, the agent cannot transfer the caller to a person. A handover rule marks the conversation for your team to follow up.
Common problems
The agent never hands over. Make sure that the agent has at least one rule, and that you published the agent after you added it.
The wrong rule runs. Line uses the first rule that matches. Move the more specific rule up.
The agent stopped replying in a conversation. A handover rule matched earlier, and While the customer waits for a person is Stop answering. Or a person from your team replied after the handover. A person must answer that conversation in the Inbox.