AI-to-human handoff: the AI stops, you step in
An AI-to-human handoff is the moment your chatbot stops answering and a person on your team takes the conversation, history and all. Here it happens two ways: the shopper taps “Talk to a person”, or a condition you wrote in plain language matches before the AI replies. It works on your website widget and in your Shopify store.
Conditions checked before the AI replies
Describe the situation in a sentence, like “the customer sounds angry” or “they want a refund”, and set a threshold from 0 to 1. On every shopper message the AI scores it against each condition first. If one scores at or above its threshold, the AI stays silent and the thread pauses for you.
- Set per channel: Website widget and Shopify store
- Reads the latest message, with the AI’s last reply as context
- 0.7 is the recommended start; lower pauses more
- Copy conditions from one channel to the other
Or the shopper asks for a person
Turn on the “Talk to a person” button and it appears in the chat header after the shopper’s first message. Set your hours and it only shows while you’re open; outside them the button is hidden.
- Off by default, one switch to turn on
- Your hours, in your own timezone
- Optional “Continue with AI” while nobody is online
- Also works on share links
The shopper is never left in silence
When a conversation pauses, the widget shows a holding card instead of an AI reply. It carries your holding message and a badge that reflects what your team is actually doing, based on dashboard activity in the last 60 seconds.
- Live Support: someone has this chat open
- Support Online: someone is on the dashboard
- Currently Away: nobody is, and your hours show
- Human replies carry your agent’s name and photo
Handoff conditions to copy for a Shopify store
Each auto-pause condition is a short name, one plain-language sentence and a threshold. Here are six to start with. Paste them in, then adjust after a week of real conversations. Open Show scores on a paused thread to see what each condition scored on the message that paused it.
“The customer asks to talk to a person, an agent or a real human.”
Typing “I want a human” only hands off if a condition like this exists. Add it first.
“The customer sounds angry or frustrated.”
An upset shopper wants a person, not another policy paragraph.
“The customer asks for a refund, disputes a charge, or says they were charged twice.”
Money decisions need a human, and a wrong answer can turn into a chargeback.
“The customer says their order arrived damaged, broken, incomplete or wrong.”
Someone has to approve a replacement, so the AI can only stall.
“The customer threatens a bad review, a chargeback, or legal action.”
High stakes, so a lower threshold makes it pause sooner.
“The customer asks about wholesale, bulk pricing or a custom order.”
This is a sales lead, not a support ticket. Answer it yourself.
wants_human condition, or do both. Otherwise the AI will keep trying to help.If a condition pauses conversations that didn’t need a person, raise its threshold (0.5 → 0.7 or 0.8) or make the sentence more specific. If nothing ever fires, check the channel card says Protection on. Also check the threshold: 0.9 or 1.0 almost never fires.
What your team gets when a handoff fires
The conversation is tagged Paused and marked unread in Conversations, with the full history above the reply box, so nobody asks the shopper to repeat themselves. At the same moment an alert goes out with the reason: which condition fired, or that the shopper asked for a person.
- Two-way Slack. Each conversation gets a Slack thread. Reply in the thread and it reaches the shopper, then press Resume AI when you’re done.
- Discord or Telegram. Subscribe a notification to Auto-Paused, up to 10 per account.
- Reminders. If nobody answers an auto-pause, you’re re-pinged at 4, 24 and 48 hours. The reminders say whether you have the shopper’s email, and they stop as soon as someone replies or archives the thread.
- Insights worklist. Auto-paused conversations stay on the “still waiting on you” list until they’re answered.
Reminders and the worklist cover a shopper who pressed the “Talk to a person” button too, not only auto-pauses.
After hours: when nobody is online
Most guides skip this part, and it’s where small stores lose customers. A Shopify store with two people can’t staff chat around the clock, so decide what a shopper gets at 3 a.m. on a Sunday:
- Auto-pause still fires. Your hours hide the “Talk to a person” button, but they never stop a condition from pausing an angry or refund conversation.
- The badge tells the truth. With nobody on the dashboard the card reads Currently Away and shows your hours. With two-way Slack connected it reads Support Online during your hours, because your team can answer from Slack.
- You get an email address. “Ask for an email before handing over” is on by default. The shopper leaves an email before they can keep typing, so you can follow up the next morning. It’s skipped when you already know who they are: logged in to Shopify, verified, or an email already on record.
- Write holding messages that hold up at night. The one for “nobody is online” is what an after-hours shopper reads, so say when you’re back. Careful with the optional custom message on a channel’s auto-pause rule: it replaces all three availability messages for every auto-pause on that channel, day or night. Keep it true at any hour, such as “A teammate will reply here or by email as soon as they can.”
- Reminders wait for you. A reminder that falls due outside your business hours is held until you’re open.
Handing the conversation back to the AI
When the issue is handled, switch the conversation’s auto-reply back on, or press Resume AI in Slack, and the assistant picks up from there. If the customer still needs a person, for example while you check a refund, leave it paused. Their new messages get your holding message, not an AI guess. After a rule pause only you can turn the AI back on. A shopper who pressed the button themselves can be offered Continue with AI when nobody is around. Messages during a handoff don’t count toward your plan’s message limit.
Set-up checklist
- Publish the assistant on your website or Shopify store
- Turn on the “Talk to a person” button, and set your hours if you keep them
- Add a wants_human condition plus two or three from the list above
- Copy your conditions from Website widget to Shopify store
- Keep “Ask for an email before handing over” on, and write your three holding messages
- Connect two-way Slack, or a Discord/Telegram alert on Auto-Paused
- Send yourself an angry test message and check where the alert lands
Handoff is included on every plan, including the free one. See pricing, or how it fits a store in Functional AI for Shopify.
Still deciding which questions the AI should answer in the first place? Our guide to Shopify AI customer support goes through it question by question, including order status.
Comparing chat apps? Our roundup of live chat apps for Shopify sets out what each one does when a shopper asks for a person, and what it charges.
Questions about AI-to-human handoff
What is AI-to-human handoff?
It is the moment a chatbot stops answering a customer and a person on your team takes over the same conversation, with the full history in front of them. In Functional AI it happens when the shopper presses the “Talk to a person” button, or when one of your auto-pause conditions matches their message before the AI replies. The AI then stays quiet in that conversation until you turn it back on.
If a customer types “I want to talk to a human”, does the chatbot hand off?
Only if you tell it to. Either turn on the “Talk to a person” button (off by default), or add an auto-pause condition such as “The customer asks to talk to a person” with a threshold around 0.7. Without one of these, the AI keeps answering.
When are handoff rules checked?
On your website widget and Shopify store, on every shopper message, before the AI answers. The AI scores the shopper’s latest message (with the AI’s previous reply as context) against each condition from 0 to 1. If any condition scores at or above its threshold, the AI does not reply and the conversation pauses.
What happens to a handoff at night or on a weekend?
Auto-pause still works at any hour. The shopper sees a holding card with a Currently Away badge and your business hours if you set them. With “Ask for an email before handing over” on (the default) they leave an email so you can follow up. Reminders for unanswered auto-pauses wait until your business hours.
Will the AI keep replying after a human takes over?
No. A paused conversation stays paused until you switch auto-reply back on in the dashboard, or press Resume AI on the conversation’s Slack card. The AI never answers over a person.
How do I get told when a conversation is handed off?
Connect two-way Slack, or add a Discord or Telegram notification subscribed to Auto-Paused (up to 10 per account). The alert includes the reason, for example which condition fired. Paused conversations are also tagged and marked unread in Conversations.
Is human handoff on every plan, and do handed-off messages count?
Handoff is included on every plan, including the free plan (100 messages, once) and Medium ($24.99/month) and Pro ($99.99/month). Messages during a human handoff do not count toward your message limit.
Included on every plan
The right conversations reach a person, with the reason attached.
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