AI agents for customer support · Part 9 of 14
The hand-over: when the agent passes a customer to a person
Six reasons to hand over, the difference between an approval and a takeover, who gets each one, and what to tell the customer, after hours too.
The short version
Hand over for a reason you can name, and know which kind of hand-over it is: an approval, after which the agent carries on, or a takeover, after which a person does. Send each one to whoever decides it, and tell the customer who will answer, and when. Four steps:
Step 1Name the reasons to hand over
Write the reasons down, so every hand-over says which one it was. These six are a good place to start.
1 The customer asks
For a person, in any words.
2 No answer written
The search finds nothing that fits (part 5).
3 A rule says so
The check’s answer names who decides (part 8).
4 A fact it can’t get
The customer can’t give it, and no system has it.
5 Going in circles
Turns without progress, or the same question again.
6 Upset or vulnerable
Anger, distress, or a complaint about a person.
Gorgias builds in the first and the last: its agent always hands over when someone asks for a human, or when it detects anger, frustration or a sensitive topic, such as a threat of legal action. You can add topics of your own. Loops and missing answers are covered in part 2 and part 5.
Step 2Tell an approval from a takeover
Some hand-overs need only one decision from a person. In an approval, a person answers one question and the agent carries on with the customer. In a takeover, the person carries on.
An approval
The agent asks the team lead: “Offer 20% off?” → the team lead approves, or not → the agent carries on, and makes the offer
A takeover
The agent passes the conversation → a person reads the note and replies → the person carries on to the end
Intercom’s approvals for Fin work like the first row: “Fin waits and does not continue the procedure until a teammate acts or a timeout is reached.”
Intercom, “Human in the Loop approvals for Fin Procedures”Decide what a timeout means before you need it. An approval nobody gave should never count as a yes.
Step 3Send it to the person who decides
Route each hand-over by its reason. When a rule names a person, that person gets it.
A rule names a person (part 8)
→ that person, such as the team lead
No rule covers the case
→ the policy’s owner, who adds a rule
Asks for a person, no answer, loops
→ the team for that topic
Upset, vulnerable, or a complaint
→ your most senior people
Outside working hours
→ a ticket, answered in the morning
Intercom keeps the two decisions apart in the same way: its escalation rules decide when Fin hands over, and its workflows decide where the conversation goes next. Send the person the note from part 1, step 6, and add one more line to it: what the agent has already told or promised the customer.
Step 4Tell the customer what happens next
The customer should hear who will answer, roughly when, and that they won’t have to explain it all again. Never the outcome: nobody has decided it yet.
Promises the outcome
“I’ll get your refund approved right away!”
Promises what a person hasn’t decided.
Says what happens next
“I’ve passed this to our team lead, who decides refunds over €30. You’ll hear back today by 4 pm, and you won’t need to explain it again.”
Who decides, when, and nothing to repeat.
After hours
“We’re closed now. A person will reply by 10 am tomorrow, by email to the address on your order.”
When, and how they’ll hear back.
In a survey of 3,000 consumers in the US, the UK and Germany, run in April 2026, “83% of consumers say they still have to repeat themselves at least sometimes after being transferred”.
Five9, announcing its 2026 Business Leaders Customer Experience Report, with Hanover ResearchOutside working hours, take an email address and say when a person will reply. Zendesk’s AI agents can collect the customer’s details and pass the request on as an email ticket, and Gorgias’s agent asks for an email address whenever it hands over while chat is offline.
Next in this series
Part 10: testing an AI support agent on real tickets. See all 14 parts.
Where Himmel fits
When a rule says a person decides, Himmel’s answer names that person and the clause, so the hand-over goes to the right desk with its reason attached.
Sources
- Gorgias, “Customize how AI Agent hands over to your team”, read on 20 October 2026.
- Intercom, “Human in the Loop approvals for Fin Procedures” and “Manage Fin AI Agent’s escalation guidance and rules”, read on 20 October 2026.
- Zendesk help, “Workflow recipe: Using an AI agent to collect customer info and immediately escalate to a human agent”, read on 20 October 2026.
- Five9, “New Five9 Research: AI Adoption in CX Hits 92%, But Consumer Trust Still Depends on Human Support”, 24 June 2026, read on 20 October 2026.