The escape route is not optional
Every screen of the conversation should have an obvious way to reach a person. Not buried, not after three attempts, not conditional on the bot giving up.
The complaints people have about chatbots are almost entirely about not being able to get past them. Solve that and most of the objection disappears.
When the bot should hand over automatically
- The visitor asks for a person, in any wording
- It has failed to answer twice in a row
- The topic is a complaint, a fault or anything about money owed
- The question needs a quote or a commitment
- The visitor sounds frustrated
Hand over the context, not just the person
- The whole conversation, readable at a glance
- Which pages they were on before starting
- What the bot could not answer, stated plainly
- Any details already given, so nothing is asked twice
Making a customer repeat what they just typed is the fastest way to undo any goodwill the bot earned.
Be honest about availability
If nobody is available until Monday, say so, and offer to take details for a reply then. A promise of an immediate person that does not materialise is worse than the truth.
Out of hours, the bot's job is to answer what it can and capture the rest properly.
Ticket or live chat
Live handover works where someone is genuinely watching. A ticket with a promised response time works everywhere else and disappoints far less often.
Choose based on whether you can actually staff it, not on which sounds better.