Operator takeover
When a chat needs a human, an operator takes over from the bot, replies with assistance from Smart Assist and templates, and either resolves the conversation or returns it to the AI.
When a chat reaches you#
A conversation lands in the Inbox for a human in two ways: the bot escalates it because a handoff rule matched, or an operator opens it to step in proactively. Either way, you pick it up from the Inbox queue.
Set the rules first
What triggers an automatic handoff is defined per bot. See Instructions & handoff to tune when the AI escalates.Taking over#
Assign it to yourself
Use Assign to me to claim the conversation so teammates know it's handled. The bot pauses on this chat while you're in control.Read the context
Check the timeline and the user-journey sidebar before replying.Reply
Type your message and send. The customer hears from you on whichever channel they wrote in.
Replying faster#
The chat window has tools to speed up quality replies:
- Smart Assist — AI-suggested responses you can send as-is or edit.
- Templates — type / to insert a saved reply.
- Suggested knowledge — relevant articles surfaced beside the chat.
Resolving or returning to AI#
When you're done, close the loop one of two ways:
- Resolve — mark the conversation handled. It counts toward your team's resolution metrics.
- Return to AI — hand control back to the bot so it keeps answering follow-ups automatically.
Return when it's routine again
If a chat only needed a human for one tricky question, return it to the AI afterward so the bot handles the rest and your queue stays light.