Guide for businesses and clinics
When should an AI hand a conversation to a human?
An AI assistant can answer most of the messages a business gets. The ones it shouldn't try to answer are the ones that matter most: a complaint, a refund, a safety problem, someone who just wants a person. A good handover gets those to your team quickly, without the customer having to ask twice.
This guide covers which messages should go to a person, what a good handover looks like from the customer's side, and how to test it before you rely on it.
What goes wrong without a clear handover
- The assistant keeps going. It offers the opening hours to someone asking for a refund, or tries to fix a problem it can't fix.
- The customer has to fight to reach a person. They repeat themselves, get the same answer, and get angrier each time.
- Nobody on the team knows. The conversation sits in an inbox until someone happens to look.
- Two replies at once. A person steps in, and the assistant answers over them.
All four come from the same thing: nobody decided in advance which messages are the team's, and what happens when one arrives.
Which messages should go to a person
| The customer… | For example | Why a person |
|---|---|---|
| Asks for a person | “Can I speak to someone?”, “Is the manager there?” | They've told you what they want. Keeping them with the assistant only frustrates them. |
| Wants something only staff can do | A refund, changing or cancelling an order, their account details | These need someone with the authority, and the access, to do them. |
| Reports a safety problem, an injury or damage | “The part you fitted came loose on the motorway” | Someone may need help now, and what's said next matters. |
| Mentions legal action or compensation | A solicitor, Trading Standards, a regulator, a claim | The reply needs to come from someone who can stand behind it. |
| Is upset, and it isn't passing | “Still waiting”, “this is the third time I've asked”, over several messages | An apology from a person lands. More answers from the assistant won't. |
| Asks something only a professional can judge | “Is this treatment safe for me?”, “What would you recommend for my situation?” | It depends on the person, and needs someone qualified to answer it. |
For aesthetics clinics, the last row covers a lot: suitability, medication, pregnancy and anything after a treatment. Our guide on where the line is for AI replies in clinics goes through it.
…and which don't
Handing over too much is a problem too: your team ends up answering the questions the assistant was there to take off them. These usually don't need a person:
- One mildly annoyed message. “I've been waiting ages for a reply” is often fixed by a good answer.
- “Am I talking to a bot?” That's a question, not a request for a person. Answer it honestly, and offer a person if they'd prefer one.
- A question the assistant can't answer yet. It can say it'll check with the team, and the question goes on someone's list. That's a follow-up, not a takeover.
- Choosing, confirming or booking something. The ordinary next step of a conversation that's going well.
What a good handover looks like
- Tell the customer, honestly. Say a member of the team will pick it up. Don't promise a time you can't keep.
- Don't try to fix it. Once a message is the team's, the assistant's job is to acknowledge it, not to resolve it.
- Alert the right person, with the context. A short summary means they don't have to scroll back through the whole conversation to understand it.
- Go quiet. The assistant stops replying to that conversation, so the customer only hears from your team.
- Hand back on purpose. When the issue is sorted, someone decides to switch the assistant back on. It doesn't come back by itself in the middle of a difficult conversation.
Customer The jacket I ordered has a broken zip. I want a refund.
Sorry to hear that! Have you tried gently working the zip back and forth? You can also find our returns policy on our website.
I'm really sorry about the zip. I've passed this to the team, and someone will be in touch here to sort out your refund.
Decide who picks it up, and how they hear
- Name a person for each kind of message. Complaints, refunds and safety problems may not belong to the same person.
- Match the alert to how urgent it is. An email is fine for a refund. A safety problem needs a text or a phone notification to someone who'll see it.
- Cover the hours you're closed. Decide what happens to a complaint that arrives on a Saturday night. Our guide to out-of-hours enquiries covers this.
- Reply in time. On Instagram and Messenger, a business can normally only reply within 24 hours of the customer's last message. A handover that sits until Monday may not be answerable at all.
Test it before you rely on it
Send your assistant messages like these and check that each one reaches a person, and that the ordinary ones don't:
- “Can I speak to an actual person please?”
- “I'd like a refund for my order.”
- “This is the third time I've messaged. Still no reply about my delivery.”
- “My solicitor will be in touch.”
- “Am I talking to a bot?” (should be answered, not handed over)
- “What time do you close on Saturday?” (should be answered)
Then keep reading the conversations that were handed over, and the ones that weren't. That's where you find the wording your customers really use.
How Aira handles this
Aira replies on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. It hands a conversation to your team when a message contains one of your alert words, or when it judges a person is needed: someone asks for a person, wants a refund or a change to an order, reports a safety problem or damage, mentions legal action or compensation, or is clearly upset across several messages. Aira tells the customer a member of the team will follow up, without trying to fix the issue itself. It alerts you, by email, text or app notification depending on which you've switched on, with a summary of the conversation.
From then on Aira stays quiet in that conversation. New messages still appear in your inbox, and you can reply from there. If you reply from the Instagram or Messenger app instead, Aira steps aside the same way. When it's sorted, you choose “Resume AI” in the inbox. If Aira can't answer a question, it tells the customer it'll check with the team and adds it to your list to follow up, without handing the conversation over. If someone asks whether they're talking to a bot, Aira says it's a virtual assistant for the team.