Hand off to your team
Control when Pengo Intelligence brings in a person, what visitors see during a handoff, and how your team is alerted to pick the conversation up.
On this page
Pengo Intelligence answers what it can and brings in your team when a person is needed. This article covers when that happens, what the visitor sees, and how your team finds out.
#When Pengo hands over
#Always, whatever your settings
- The visitor asks for a person.
- The visitor is frustrated, or asks the same thing again after an answer.
- A topic you marked as always needing a person comes up.
- Pengo still isn’t sure after one clarifying question.
- A legal threat, a safety concern or a payment dispute.
Visitors can also tap Talk to a human in the widget once Pengo has replied.
#Rules you add
In Intelligence Behavior Escalation :
| Section | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hand over right away | Phrases and Topics that always need a person. If a visitor writes one, a person takes over straight away. Pengo already knows phrases like “talk to a human”; use phrases, not single words. |
| Escalation rules | Precise rules. Pick conditions such as The visitor is upset, It’s urgent, The visitor wants to…, The topic is…, A verified customer detail is…, The customer is a VIP or The channel is…. All conditions in a rule must match. Then choose Hand over to a person, Offer a person, Mark urgent and keep helping or Add a tag and keep helping. |
| Escalation guidance | Situations in your own words, for cases rules can’t capture. For example: bring in a person when someone wants more than 50 units. Saved as soon as you add it. |
| Frustration and repeats | With Offer a person first on, the first time a visitor is frustrated or repeats a question Pengo offers a person, and the second time it hands over. |
| Backstop | After this many replies in one conversation (5, 10, 20 or 50), a person takes over anyway. |
Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
#What the visitor sees
When Pengo hands over, it tells the visitor what happens next. You can rewrite each message under Messages in the Escalation tab:
| Message | When it’s sent |
|---|---|
| Handing over | Someone on your team is available. By default: “Thanks! I’m bringing in someone from the team; they’ll reply here in a few minutes.” |
| Team away | A person is needed and nobody is available. Pengo also asks for an email so your team can reply later. |
| Can’t answer | Pengo doesn’t have the information. |
| Declining a topic | The visitor brings up a topic you told Pengo to avoid. |
While the handoff is in progress the widget shows “Connecting you to the team…”. When a teammate replies, the chat shows Agent joined.
#When your team is away
Under When your team is away, choose what Pengo does when a person is needed and nobody is available:
- Ask for an email: Pengo asks how to reach the visitor and keeps the chat open for your team.
- Keep answering: Pengo keeps helping and only asks for an email if a person is really needed.
#Choose when Pengo answers
In Intelligence Behavior Channels , When to answer decides which new conversations Pengo takes first:
| Option | Pengo takes |
|---|---|
| Always on | Every new conversation. |
| After hours | New conversations outside your business hours. |
| When no one is online | New conversations while no one on your team is online. |
Pengo finishes the conversations it has started, and your team can take over anytime.
#How your team finds out
When Pengo hands over, the conversation is routed by your auto-assign setting in Settings Team Routing .
- If someone is assigned, they get the Chat assigned to you alert.
- If nobody is assigned, your team gets a Bot handoff alert. The email includes why Pengo handed over and, when available, a short summary of the conversation.
Each teammate chooses how they get Bot handoff alerts (in-app, browser push, mobile push or email) in Settings Your profile Notifications . All four are on by default.
#When Pengo can’t answer at all
Pengo also hands new conversations to your team when it can’t run. For example: your AI credits are used up, a website reached its monthly AI cap, or on Plus your AI key is failing. The Behavior page header shows the reason.
Common questions
Can a visitor ask for a person at any time?
Yes. Once Pengo Intelligence has replied, the widget shows a Talk to a human button. Phrases like "talk to a human" or "speak to someone" also hand over straight away.
What if nobody on my team is online?
Pengo tells the visitor your team is away and asks for an email so your team can reply later. You can choose Keep answering instead in the Escalation tab.
Can I give a conversation back to Pengo Intelligence?
Yes. In the inbox, open the conversation's actions menu and choose Hand back to Intelligence. If the visitor's last message is unanswered, Pengo answers it right away.
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