Until this week, an agent that could not help had one move left: point the visitor somewhere else. The conversation landed in the Inbox and someone could follow up later by email. That works for a lead. It does not work for a customer who is on your site right now with a question the agent cannot answer.
Now a person from your team can step into the conversation, answer in the same chat and hand it back. Here is what that looks like and how to turn it on.
How a hand-over works
The visitor asks, or the agent gets stuck
Visitors can press "Talk to a person" in the chat or the widget, or simply ask. The agent also hands over by itself when it cannot help.
The right person hears about it
The conversation goes to the least busy teammate who is online. They get an email, a badge on the Inbox and, if they want, a desktop notification.
Your team replies, the agent waits
The reply reaches the visitor where they are talking, signed with the teammate's first name. While a person holds the conversation, the agent does not answer.
Resolve it, or let the agent carry on
Mark it resolved when it is done. If nobody replies within the window you set, the agent comes back and keeps helping, so no one is left waiting.
Everything a support team needs, in the Inbox
The Inbox already had statuses, assignment, priority, tags and internal notes. This release adds the parts that make it work for live support:
- A reply box on every conversation, with emoji and saved replies: type / and a shortcut, and {{name}} fills in the visitor's first name.
- An Available / Away switch, and a dot next to every teammate who is online.
- A list that refreshes itself, so waiting conversations appear without a reload.
- An Agent role for support staff: the Inbox only, with no access to agent building, billing or settings.
- Webhooks for hand-over requests, assignments, team replies and resolutions, for teams that run on their own tools.
On WhatsApp and Telegram too
A reply from the Inbox is delivered in the same WhatsApp or Telegram chat the customer started, not in a new thread. One Meta rule applies: free-form WhatsApp replies are only allowed within 24 hours of the customer's last message, and the reply box tells you when that window has closed.
When the visitor has left
People do not wait on a web page. A visitor who asks for a person on the web is asked for an email address, and if they have closed the tab by the time your reply arrives, the reply is also emailed to them with a link back to the conversation.
Outside business hours
Set your hours per agent, in your time zone. Outside them you choose whether the agent keeps helping on its own or the conversation waits in the queue for the team. Either way the visitor is told what to expect.
Turn it on
Open the Support tab
In the agent editor, turn on human support, choose when the agent hands over and set your hours.
Invite your team
Add teammates under Settings → Team. Give support staff the Agent role; the number of seats depends on your plan.
Add a few saved replies
Greetings, opening hours, the refund policy: the answers your team types every day, under Settings → Saved replies.
Everything here is also in the API and the platform MCP tools: replies, hand-over settings, assignment, tags, notes and saved replies. The changelog has the details of each part.