Bot-to-human handoff occurs when an automated bot—whether rule-based or AI-powered—determines it cannot resolve a customer's issue and escalates the conversation to a live agent. A clean handoff passes the full conversation transcript, any collected data (account number, issue type, sentiment), and relevant ticket context so the customer does not have to repeat themselves.
Poor handoffs are a leading source of customer frustration: a 2023 Salesforce survey found that 64% of customers find having to re-explain their problem very frustrating. Well-designed handoffs set clear escalation triggers, such as:
- Explicit customer request for a human
- Confidence score falling below a defined threshold
- Detection of high-emotion language or a sensitive topic
- Failure after a set number of bot turns
Handoff quality is measured by post-handoff Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores and handle time compared with direct-to-agent contacts.