Hand off to a teammate

A good agent knows when a person should take over. When a customer asks for someone on your team, or a request needs a teammate, the agent hands the conversation off, tells the customer, and alerts your team. A teammate accepts it, replies, and hands it back when they're done.

• The customer asks for a person. The agent requests a teammate right away, without first asking the customer to verify who they are.
• The issue needs your team. The agent first checks what it can, then hands off with a short note of what it found.
• Your instructions say so. Spell out cases in the agent's instructions, for example "Bring in the team for any complaint about a repeat problem."

The request reaches your team even when nobody is online. The agent tells the customer that help was requested and that later messages stay visible to the team. It never promises that someone is online or will reply by a set time. Once your workspace has enough history, it may say your team usually replies within about a certain time, based on your team's actual first replies during business hours over the last 90 days. Outside business hours, it can say when the team is next available. Set your hours in Settings > Business hours and availability.

• Inbox: the conversation moves to the Handoff Queue with a Handoff pending badge and how long it has waited.
• Push: everyone in the workspace with Finn gets "Handoff requested". Turn the Handoffs switch off in Finn's notification settings if you don't want them.
• Email and text: in Settings > Handoff alerts, choose who also gets an email or a text when a customer asks for a person, including outside business hours. The email has the reason, the customer's recent messages and an Open the conversation link. Texts need a phone number on the teammate's profile and an SMS number on your admin agent.

To take ownership of a conversation that wasn't handed off, click Claim ("Assign this conversation to yourself"). Claiming assigns it to you; the agent pauses once you reply. A conversation shows either Accept handoff or Claim, never both, and neither once someone owns it.

While your team owns a conversation, the agent doesn't answer it. If no teammate does anything in the conversation for 30 minutes, the agent can take the customer's next message, and the conversation says so ("The Agent can take the next customer message"). To hand back sooner, use Return to Agent.

After your team handles a handed-off conversation, the agents suggest what they learned: the answer your team gave, how the team resolves this kind of request, or what the team needs from the customer. Nothing about the specific customer is kept. Review suggestions in Memory.

On a call the agent is handling, a teammate can listen in and join from the Finn apps, and transfer the call to another teammate from Finn with a note. See Join and transfer calls.

"This handoff is no longer waiting."

A teammate already accepted it or replied. Refresh the conversation to see its current owner.

The agent replied after I took over

Check for 30 minutes without team activity; after that the agent can take the next message. Reply or accept the conversation again to pause it.

Teammates aren't getting texts

In Settings > Handoff alerts, the text option is turned off for teammates without a phone number. They can add one in their general settings.

Can the agent finish a return without my team?

An agent can open the return for the customer; a teammate approves the refund.

Will a waiting handoff be closed automatically?

No. Automatic closing, if you turn it on, never closes a conversation that's waiting for a teammate.

Guides

• Join and transfer calls
• Memory and learning
• Finn iPhone app
• Approvals

On the product page

• Human handoff
• Works in your team inbox

Learn more

• What is a human handoff?
• What is human in the loop?