When the AI can't handle a conversation, it transfers seamlessly to your team in the shared inbox.

The best AI chatbots know when to step aside. Grivo's handoff system transfers conversations from the AI to your human team seamlessly - the visitor stays in the same chat thread, no context is lost, and your agent sees the full conversation history. Most teams find that the AI handles about 80% of conversations automatically, with only 20% requiring human intervention.

How handoff works

Not every conversation should be handled by AI. When the chatbot encounters a question it can't answer confidently, or when a visitor explicitly asks for a human, the conversation transfers to your team's shared inbox. The visitor stays in the same chat thread - no context lost, no "please repeat your question."

The handoff is instant. From the visitor's perspective, they are talking in the same chat window. From your agent's perspective, a new conversation appears in the inbox with the full AI + visitor message history, visitor metadata, and the reason the handoff was triggered.

Enable handoff

Handoff is enabled by default on all Grivo chatbots. To configure it:

Go to Chatbots → [Your Chatbot] → Settings
Scroll to Human Handoff
Configure your preferred triggers and notification settings
Set your team's business hours (optional but recommended)

💡 Tip: Set business hours in your chatbot settings. Outside business hours, the chatbot lets visitors know when your team will be available and offers to collect their email for follow-up.

Handoff triggers

A conversation is handed off to a human when any of these conditions are met:

Visitor requests a human - Messages like "Can I talk to a person?", "I need human help", or "Let me speak to someone" trigger handoff automatically. The AI recognizes dozens of natural language variations.
AI confidence is low - When the chatbot can't find a confident answer in your training data, it offers to connect the visitor with your team instead of guessing.
Specific topics - You can configure keywords or topics that always route to a human (e.g., "billing", "cancel", "refund", "legal"). This ensures sensitive topics always get human attention.
Repeated questions - If a visitor asks the same question multiple times (indicating the AI's answer wasn't helpful), handoff is suggested.
Negative sentiment - When the AI detects frustration or dissatisfaction in the visitor's messages, it proactively offers human help.

The shared inbox

Handed-off conversations appear in your Conversations inbox. Your team sees:

The full chat history (both AI and visitor messages)
Visitor info (name from lead capture, email if provided)
Visitor metadata (browser, approximate location, page they were on when they started chatting)
The handoff reason (why the conversation was transferred)
AI-suggested replies based on the conversation context

Your team responds directly in the inbox. The visitor sees the response in the same chat widget on your website - real-time, no page refresh needed. Once the human agent resolves the conversation, they can close the thread or hand it back to the AI.

Best practices

Set clear business hours - Visitors prefer knowing when a human will respond rather than waiting indefinitely. Set hours in chatbot settings and the AI will manage expectations.
Train on common handoff topics - If the same types of questions keep getting handed off, add that content to your training data. This reduces unnecessary handoffs over time.
Use the "resolved" button - Mark conversations as resolved when done. This keeps your inbox clean and tracks your team's resolution metrics.
Review handoff analytics monthly - The analytics dashboard shows which topics trigger the most handoffs. Use this data to improve your chatbot's training.
Configure Slack notifications - For small teams, Slack notifications ensure someone sees the handoff quickly. Configure in Settings → Integrations → Slack.

Notifications

Get notified when a conversation needs human attention:

In-app notification - Badge count in your Grivo dashboard updates in real time
Email notification - Receive an email when a conversation is handed off (configurable per team member)
Browser notification - Desktop push notification when the dashboard is open (if enabled)
Slack notification - Real-time message in your team's Slack channel with conversation details and a direct link

Common issues

Too many handoffs - If more than 30% of conversations are being handed off, your chatbot likely needs more training data. Check the handoff topic analytics and add text sources for the most common handoff reasons.
Visitor doesn't know they were transferred - The AI sends a message like "I'm connecting you with a team member who can help." This message is customizable in chatbot settings.
No one responds after handoff - Enable notifications for your team and set up an auto-response that tells the visitor their expected wait time. Consider enabling the email follow-up option so visitors can leave and get a response later.
Agent can't see full context - Make sure the conversation didn't start in an incognito tab, which can limit metadata collection. Full chat history is always preserved regardless.

Handoff to human