---
title: What is human handover in a chatbot? Meaning & examples
description: Human handover is when an AI chatbot passes a conversation to a
  real person on your team. Learn when it should happen and how to set it up
  without losing sales.
url: https://salemag.net/glossary/human-handover
language: en
published: 2026-10-21
updated: 2026-10-21
author: SaleMag Team
tags:
  - human handover
  - ai chatbot
  - shared inbox
---

# What is human handover in a chatbot? Meaning & examples

> Human handover is the moment an AI chatbot or agent stops answering and passes the conversation to a person on your team because the customer asked for a human, the AI could not answer from its knowledge, or the request needs judgement, such as a complaint or a bulk order.

## What is human handover?

**Human handover** (also called handoff or escalation) is when an automated assistant passes a live conversation to a person. A good handover:

- happens at the right moment, not too early and not too late,
- tells the customer that a teammate will reply,
- assigns the chat to someone and notifies them,
- stops the bot from talking over the human.

Typical triggers are a customer typing "talk to a human", the AI not finding the answer in its knowledge base, or a request that needs judgement: complaints, refunds, wholesale prices, custom orders, or changes to an order already placed.

## Why does it matter for sellers in Bangladesh?

Customers forgive a bot that says "let me get my colleague" far more readily than one that confidently gives a wrong delivery date. Handover lets you automate routine chats, such as price, size and delivery charge, while the tricky ones still reach your best people. Without it, customers get stuck in loops and leave for a competitor's page.

## Example

A customer asks the bot for a price on 50 pieces for a corporate gift. The AI recognises a bulk request, replies "I'll connect you with our team for bulk pricing", and assigns the chat to a person. The sales lead gets a notification, opens the chat in the [shared inbox](https://salemag.net/glossary/shared-inbox) and quotes.

In SaleMag the [AI chatbot](https://salemag.net/features/ai-chatbot) hands over when a customer asks for a person or when it cannot answer from its material, and while taking orders it stays quiet for 15 minutes after a teammate replies in the chat.

## Related terms

Shared inbox, AI agent, retrieval-augmented generation.

## FAQ

### When should a chatbot hand over?

When the customer asks for a person, when the AI cannot find the answer in your content, and for complaints, refunds, bulk orders or changes to an order that was already placed.

### Does the bot keep replying after handover?

It should not. In SaleMag a conversation assigned to a human is skipped by the auto-reply, so the customer hears one voice.

### How does my team know a chat was handed over?

Good tools assign the chat and send a notification. SaleMag notifies the workspace's team when the bot hands a conversation over.