Live Human Handover

Last checked against the product on 22 October 2026

All plans

Normally, when a visitor asks to talk to a person, your Aijent takes their details and your team gets back to them later. Live Human Handover lets someone from your team join the conversation there and then, in the same chat window, but only when the visitor asks for a person. Until then your Aijent handles the chat on its own.

It works on Aijent and on Aijent Relay. On Aijent it applies to a sales Aijent and to a support Aijent.

Turning it on

Live Human Handover is set for each Aijent, so you can use it on one and not another.

1. Open your Aijent and go to the Escalation tab.
2. Under When a visitor asks for a person, choose Live Human Handover: someone from your team joins this chat.
3. In How long to ring your team, enter a number of seconds, from 10 to 120. It starts at 20.
4. Under Before a person joins, ask the visitor for, choose Email or Email and mobile number.
5. Save your changes.

It takes effect straight away, without refreshing. Live chats then appears in your dashboard menu.

If nobody answers

The same tab shows If nobody answers, with your callback settings (an escalation on a support Aijent or on Relay). That is what the visitor is offered when nobody is there to join, so it is worth setting even with Live Human Handover on:

• Phone number: Required, Optional or Not asked. On Relay it is Required or Not asked.
• Must be a mobile number, when a phone number is asked for.

With no phone number asked for, email is required instead, and your team replies by email.

Choosing a ring time

The ring time is how long your team has to accept before the visitor is offered a callback. Too short and people miss it while finishing a sentence. Too long and the visitor sits waiting for a person who is not coming. The default of 20 seconds suits a team that is at their desks.

What the visitor sees

1. They ask for a person. Your Aijent replies with exactly this line: "Of course - I'll see if someone from the team can join this chat now." If the visitor writes in another language, they get the same line in theirs, unless your Aijent is set to always reply in English.
2. A form appears titled Talk to a team member. It asks for their name and email, plus a mobile number if you chose Email and mobile number.
3. Once they send it, your Aijent thanks them and says it has let the team know they would like to talk, with "Finding someone for you" underneath while your team is rung.
4. When someone accepts, they see that person's name and "has joined the chat". From then on they are talking to that person, and your Aijent stays out of it.
5. They see when the person is typing, and the person sees when they are typing.

When nobody is there

If nobody accepts in time, or nobody on your team has Aijency open when they send the form, the visitor is told nobody is available right now and is offered a callback:

• If they have not given a number and your callback settings ask for one, a short form asks only for their phone number, so someone can call them back.
• If they already gave a number, they are told someone will call them on it.
• If your callback settings do not ask for a phone number, they are told someone will get back to them by email.

Alerts still go out

Every time a visitor sends the form, your team is alerted in the usual way, by email and Slack if you have set them up on the same tab, and on Aijent your CRM gets its usual task and note. That happens whether or not somebody then joins the chat, so expect alerts and CRM tasks for chats your team answered live.

A copy of the chat

The visitor is emailed one copy of their chat: when the chat with your team ends, or straight away when it becomes a callback. If they reply to it, the reply goes to the person who handled the chat, or otherwise to the email address set for your alerts. This is not only for Live Human Handover: on every plan, a visitor who asks for a person and gives an email address gets a copy.

Before you rely on it

Someone has to have Aijency open. The ring only reaches people with Aijency open in a browser tab. If nobody does, every request becomes a callback, which is no worse than having Live Human Handover off.

Try it yourself. Ask your own Aijent for a person from your website, with Aijency open in another tab, and accept the ring. Five minutes of testing shows your team exactly what a visitor sees.

To answer chats, see answering live chats. To give someone access to live chats and nothing else, see limited access for your team.