#Handing Over to a Person

#What it is

Escalation means the AI passes a conversation to a person on your team. You decide the rules: when it happens, what the AI does afterwards, and who gets told.

Admins set this under Settings → Escalation.

#The problem it solves

No AI can answer everything, and it should not try. The danger is the in-between case, where the AI is unsure but answers anyway, or a customer is upset and keeps getting automatic replies.

Clear hand-over rules solve this:

• Unsure answers do not go out unnoticed. A weak answer is flagged for a person.
• Sensitive topics go straight to a person. Words such as "refund" or "complaint" can always bring in your team.
• An unhappy customer is not stuck in a loop. If they repeat their question, a person takes over.
• Your team finds out at once. They get an email, and optionally a Telegram message.

Every business wants a different level of caution, so each of these is a setting.

#How it works

Each time the AI is about to answer, Threadline checks whether the conversation should go to a person instead. There are five reasons it can.

Reason	What triggers it
The AI does not know	Nothing in the knowledge base answers the question, so the AI gives its "I don't have enough information" reply.
Low confidence	The best match in the knowledge base scores below your threshold.
The customer asks for a person	The customer writes something like "talk to a human" or "speak to an agent".
A hand-over word	The message contains a word or phrase from your list.
The customer asks again	The customer repeats a question they asked a moment ago.

When one of these happens, the conversation is flagged. The reason is saved and shown on the conversation and in the notification email, so your team knows why they were called in.

#1. When to hand over

#Confidence threshold

A number from 0 to 1. Each time the AI searches your knowledge base, the best match gets a confidence score. An answer scoring below your threshold is flagged as low-confidence.

• A higher number means more caution. More conversations go to a person.
• A lower number means the AI handles more on its own, with a higher chance of a weak answer.

Start with the default. If the AI is sending good answers to your team too often, lower it a little. If weak answers are reaching customers, raise it. The Playground shows the confidence for any question, which helps you pick a sensible number.

#Hand-over words

A list of words or phrases, one per line. For example:

refund
complaint
cancel my order

A customer message containing any of them goes to a person, whatever the AI answered. Capital letters do not matter.

Use this for topics you never want the AI to handle alone, such as money, legal matters and complaints. Keep the list short. A common word such as "order" would send almost every conversation to a person.

#When the customer asks the same thing again

When this is on, a customer who repeats a question from their last few messages is handed to a person. The first answer probably did not help.

Threadline compares the words used, so the same question with different punctuation or word order still counts. Very short messages such as "ok thanks" never trigger it.

#2. What happens next

#Automatically switch to human

• On: the AI stops answering the flagged conversation at once. The customer waits for a person.
• Off: the conversation is flagged, but the AI keeps answering until someone takes over.

Turn it on if a person is usually available, so customers do not get more unsure answers. Leave it off if your team is often away, so the customer is never left with silence.

#Automatically assign agents

• Off: a flagged conversation waits under Waiting in the Inbox until someone takes it.
• On: Threadline gives it to a person straight away.

How it chooses:

• With one active agent, it goes to them.
• With two or more, the AI reads the customer's question and each agent's designation (what they are good at) and picks the best match. Its reason is shown on the conversation.
• If there is no clear match, the conversation is left in Waiting for someone to pick up. Threadline does not guess.
• With no active agents, it goes to the Admin with the fewest open conversations.

This only fills in a conversation that nobody has. It never takes a conversation away from someone. See Your Team for how to write designations.

#Message to the customer on hand-over

Optional text sent once, at the moment a conversation is handed over. For example:

I've asked a member of our team to take over. They'll reply here soon.

This tells the customer what is happening, so the pause does not feel like being ignored. Leave it empty to send nothing.

#3. Who gets told

• Email active users. When on, every active Admin and Agent gets an email when a conversation is flagged. The email says why.
• Telegram alert chat ID. Optional. Enter a Telegram chat ID, and a message is also sent there through one of your connected Telegram channels. This is useful for a team group chat. Leave it blank to skip.

#4. What your team sees

In the Inbox, a flagged conversation shows its reason. It appears under Waiting if nobody has it, or Needs human once someone does. The Dashboard lists the most recent ones under Recent escalations.

A lead form, if you have one, is offered to the customer at this moment. See Lead Forms.

#Good to know

• A person can always take over by hand with Take over in the Inbox, whatever these settings are.
• Release to AI gives the conversation back to the AI.
• Each hand-over can also notify your other tools through a webhook, and can start an automation.

#Common questions

Too many conversations are going to my team. Lower the confidence threshold a little, and check your hand-over words for anything too common. Then look at Answer Review: adding the missing content is the lasting fix.

A customer asked for a person but the AI kept answering. Automatically switch to human is off. The conversation was still flagged for your team. Turn the setting on if you want the AI to stop.

Nobody got an email. Check that Email active users is on. If it is, the platform's email may not be set up. Tell the Owner.

A conversation was not assigned to anyone. With two or more agents, the AI only assigns when it finds a clear match. Give your agents clearer designations.