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Human Handoff

Human handoff is how The Closer passes conversations to your team when the AI can’t (or shouldn’t) handle them. Configuring this well means your team only deals with conversations that need a human touch.

How handoff works

Section titled “How handoff works”
  1. A customer sends a message
  2. The AI evaluates it against your handoff rules
  3. If a rule triggers, the conversation is flagged for human pickup
  4. Your team sees it in the shared inbox with a “needs human” badge
  5. The human picks up with full context — every AI message is visible

Handoff triggers

Section titled “Handoff triggers”

Go to AI Settings → Human Handoff in your dashboard.

Keyword triggers

Section titled “Keyword triggers”

Route to human when the customer uses specific words:

speak to manager, human, real person, complaint, refund,
cancel order, wrong item, damaged, broken, scam, lawsuit

Sentiment triggers

Section titled “Sentiment triggers”

Route to human when the AI detects negative sentiment:

Sensitivity Behavior
Low Only route on very negative messages
Medium Route on frustrated or upset messages (default)
High Route on any negative emotion

Threshold triggers

Section titled “Threshold triggers”
Trigger Default Description
Order value $200+ Route high-value orders to human
Message count 10+ If conversation exceeds 10 messages, route to human
AI confidence < 70% If AI isn’t confident in its answer, route to human
Time in queue 5 min If no human picks up in 5 min, AI continues

Custom rules

Section titled “Custom rules”

Add your own rules with conditions:

IF customer mentions "wholesale" THEN route to human
IF customer asks about "custom order" THEN route to human
IF customer is in "VIP" segment THEN route to human
IF message contains attachment THEN route to human

Handoff experience

Section titled “Handoff experience”

For the customer

Section titled “For the customer”

When a conversation is handed off:

  1. The AI sends a message: “Let me connect you with our team. Someone will be with you shortly.”
  2. The customer sees a typing indicator
  3. A human agent picks up with full context

For your team

Section titled “For your team”

In the shared inbox:

  • Conversations needing human pickup show a orange “Needs Human” badge
  • The full AI conversation history is visible
  • A summary of why it was handed off appears at the top
  • One click to take over the conversation

After-hours behavior

Section titled “After-hours behavior”

When no humans are available:

Setting Behavior
AI continues The AI keeps responding, notes that a human will follow up
Collect and queue The AI collects the question and queues it for next business day
Send away message The AI sends a “we’re closed” message with expected response time

Analytics

Section titled “Analytics”

Track handoff performance in Analytics → Handoff:

  • Handoff rate — % of conversations routed to humans
  • Top trigger reasons — why conversations are being handed off
  • Response time — how fast humans pick up after handoff
  • Resolution rate — % of handed-off conversations resolved by humans

Tips

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  • Start with more human routing — tighten AI autonomy as you build confidence
  • Review trigger reasons — patterns tell you what to add to the knowledge base
  • Set response time expectations — tell customers when a human will respond
  • Use after-hours wisely — don’t leave customers hanging overnight

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”