Not every conversation can be resolved by an AI agent. Some situations need a human. Escalation is how the agent recognizes this and transfers the conversation to your support team.
How escalation works
When the agent detects that a conversation needs human attention, it stops responding and makes the conversation available to your team. Your agents will see it in their queue like any other conversation.
There are two ways escalation can happen:
Automatic escalation
The agent uses its own judgment to decide when it cannot help. For example, if a customer is clearly frustrated and the agent has no useful answer, it may escalate on its own.
Trigger-based escalation
You define specific scenarios where the agent should always escalate. These are configured in the agent's settings under Escalation.
Setting up escalation triggers
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Go to Agent Studio in the sidebar.
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Select Agents and click Edit on the agent you want to configure.
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Scroll down to the Escalation section.
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Click Add Trigger.
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Write a plain-language description of when the agent should escalate.
Each trigger is a sentence describing a scenario. Examples:
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"Escalate when the customer mentions a complaint or refund"
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"Escalate if the customer asks to speak to a manager"
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"Escalate for any billing disputes"
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"Escalate when the customer provides a legal threat"
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"Escalate if the customer has asked the same question more than twice"
You can add as many triggers as you need. Remove any trigger using the trash icon next to it.
Tip: Write triggers the way you would explain them to a new team member. The agent interprets them as instructions, so clear and specific descriptions work best.
Silent vs. visible escalation
When the agent escalates, it can either tell the customer or stay quiet about it.
Always Silent Escalation (toggle)
When this is turned on, the agent hands off the conversation without saying anything to the customer. The customer does not see a message like "Let me transfer you to a team
member." The conversation simply appears in your team's queue and a human can pick it up.
When this is turned off, the agent may send a short message to the customer letting them know a human will be taking over.
To configure this:
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Go to Agent Studio, select Agents, and click Edit on your agent.
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Scroll to the Escalation section.
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Toggle Always Silent Escalation on or off.
When to use silent escalation
Silent escalation works well when:
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You want the handoff to feel seamless to the customer
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Your team picks up conversations quickly and the customer will not notice a gap
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The agent has already collected enough context that the human can continue naturally
Visible escalation works better when:
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Response times from your team may be slower, and you want the customer to know a human is coming
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You want to set expectations, for example "A team member will be with you shortly"
What happens after escalation
Once the agent escalates, it stops responding to that conversation. Your team sees the conversation in their queue with the full message history, including everything the agent said and any information it collected.
If no escalation triggers are defined, the agent still uses its own judgment to escalate when it cannot help. Adding triggers gives you more control over exactly when that happens.