Connect Customers to Your Support Team with AI-Powered Contact Support

When a customer asks to talk to a human, the AI gathers the necessary information and opens a ticket. The Human Handoff feature ensures your customers get connected to your support team seamlessly, collecting the right details and creating support tickets in your helpdesk system—all within the natural flow of conversation.

This works everywhere your AI is active: on your website chat widget, in Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Your customers get the same seamless experience regardless of how they reach you.

Unlike traditional rigid contact forms, this feature understands context from the conversation, asks only necessary questions, and even allows other AI skills to escalate issues when needed.

• Automatically captures customer details (email, name, order number) without repetitive questions

• Uses conversation context to provide your support team with helpful background information

• Creates tickets directly in your helpdesk (Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk, or others)

• Reduces friction by making it easy for customers to reach human support

• Customers on Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp get the same support escalation path as website chat visitors

• Your existing Contact Support configuration applies automatically to all channels — no extra setup needed

• Support tickets from Meta conversations appear in your helpdesk alongside website chat tickets

• Other AI skills (like Cancel Order or Returns) can invoke Human Handoff when they can't complete a request

• Maintains conversation flow when escalating from one skill to another

• Provides your support team with context about what the customer was trying to do

• Choose which information to collect: email (always required), name, phone number, order number, photos

• Set fields as required or optional based on your support process

• Customize the acknowledgment message customers see when tickets are created

• Set different messages for different times — holidays, weekends, after-hours, and more

• Works with your connected helpdesk integration (Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.)

• Tag each handoff ticket by what the shopper asked about, using rules you write in your own words

• Enrich tickets with full customer journey context

1. Request Support – Customer says "I need help from a person" or an AI skill determines escalation is needed

2. Smart Information Gathering – AI asks for necessary details, skipping anything already known from the conversation

3. Ticket Creation – A support ticket is created in your helpdesk with all the context

4. Confirmation – Customer receives confirmation that their request has been sent to your team

This flow is the same whether the customer is chatting on your website, messaging on Instagram, reaching out through Facebook Messenger, or contacting you on WhatsApp.

Example Flow (Website Chat):

• Customer: "I want to cancel part of my order"

• AI: "I understand you'd like to cancel part of order #12345. Let me connect you with our support team who can help with partial cancellations. May I have your email to create a support ticket?"

• Customer: provides email

• AI: "Perfect! I've sent your request to our support team. They'll reach out shortly to help with your order cancellation."

Example Flow (Instagram DM):

• Customer sends a DM: "I need to talk to someone about my order"

• AI: "I'd be happy to connect you with our support team. Could you share your email so I can create a ticket for you?"

• Customer: provides email

• AI: "I've forwarded your inquiry to an agent, who will respond within 24 hours."

• The customer sees the confirmation right in their DM thread.

Activating Human Handoff:

1. Navigate to Support Skills in your Rep AI console

2. Find the Human handoff card

3. Click Settings to open the configuration modal

4. Configure which information to collect: * Email – Always required (cannot be turned off) * Name – Set as Required or Optional using the dropdown * Phone – Toggle On/Off, set as Required or Optional * Order Number – Toggle On/Off, set as Required or Optional * Photo – Toggle On/Off, set as Required or Optional

5. Customize Acknowledgment Instructions – This controls what customers see after their ticket is created. You can write a simple message or use time-based conditions (see below). * Default: "I have forwarded your inquiry to an agent, who will respond within 24 hours."

6. Select your Integration Type (e.g., Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk)

7. Set the ticket Subject (default: "Contact support")

8. Set up Ticket tagging rules – describe, in your own words, when a tag belongs on a ticket. At handoff, Rep adds the tags of the one rule that fits. See Tag Each Handoff Ticket by What the Shopper Asked below.

9. Toggle "Enrich ticket with customer journey" to include conversation history in tickets

10. Click Preview to test the experience or Save to activate

These settings apply to all channels automatically — website chat, Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. There's no separate configuration needed for Meta channels.

Modifying Settings:

• Return to Support Skills at any time

• Click Settings on the Human handoff card

• Adjust field requirements, acknowledgment instructions, or integration settings

• Changes apply immediately to new conversations across all channels

Choose which customer details the AI should gather before creating a support ticket:

• Email – Always required (this ensures your team can respond)

• Name – Required by default, can be set to Optional

• Phone – Off by default, toggle On and set as Required or Optional

• Order Number – Off by default, toggle On if you want order context (helpful for order-related issues)

• Photo – Off by default, toggle On for visual issues like damaged products or fit problems

Pro Tip: Only collect information you actually need. The more fields you require, the more friction customers experience. Start with Email and Name, then add others based on your support team's needs.

Note on Meta channels: On Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp there is no upload window — the shopper attaches a photo the way they normally would in the app, and your AI reads it and passes its link along to the support ticket. Because there is no upload step for the shopper to complete, keep Photo set to Optional if your store receives messages on those channels. Set to Required, the AI may keep asking for an upload before it will open the ticket.

Customize the message customers see after the AI creates their support ticket. This is your chance to set expectations and reassure customers.

Default message: "I have forwarded your inquiry to an agent, who will respond within 24 hours."

Customization ideas:

• Mention your actual response time

• Add a reference number or next steps

• Include alternative contact methods for urgent issues

• Add a personal touch that matches your brand voice

You can write conditional instructions that automatically change what customers see based on the current date, day of the week, or time of day. This is perfect for holidays, weekends, seasonal hours, or any situation where your support availability changes.

Instead of manually updating your acknowledgment message before every holiday or schedule change, simply write your conditions once and the AI handles the rest.

How it works: Write your instructions using natural "If... say..." language. The AI reads the current date and time and picks the right message automatically.

Important: For any time-of-day conditions, always include your timezone (e.g., "9am-5pm ET"). Examples

Holiday message:

Business hours (with timezone):

Multiple holidays:

Seasonal hours:

• Be specific with dates — Write "December 24-26, 2025" rather than "the holiday season"

• Always include your timezone for time-of-day conditions — e.g., "9am-5pm ET" or "after 6pm PST"

• Include an "Otherwise" message — This is the fallback your customers see when no other condition matches

• Keep it simple — The AI is very good at understanding plain English conditions, so write naturally

• Use date ranges — "December 24-26" or "June 1 through August 31" both work

• Combine conditions — "Monday-Friday between 9am-5pm ET" works as a single condition

If you write a simple message without any "If" conditions, it works exactly as before — the AI shows that same message to every customer, every time. No changes needed to your existing setup.

• Integration Type – Select your connected helpdesk (Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk, etc.)

• Subject – Default ticket subject line (e.g., "Contact support")

• Ticket tagging rules – rules that tell Rep which tags to add to a ticket, based on what the shopper asked about. They add to Rep's automatic rep and channel tags. See Tag Each Handoff Ticket by What the Shopper Asked below.

Every ticket Rep opens for your team leads with the shopper's request and carries the full chat conversation, so an agent can act without opening anything else.

In every handoff ticket:

• The inquiry – a short, single-line statement of what the shopper is asking for, written by the AI from the conversation. Your agent reads the request first, in plain language, without having to reconstruct it from the chat.

• Shopper contact details – name and email, plus phone number when the shopper has shared it, the order number when one came up in the conversation, and any photo the shopper uploaded.

• The conversation – the full chat transcript between the shopper and your AI, turn by turn.

Quotation marks mean one thing: the shopper said it. Transcript turns are quoted verbatim; the AI's own writing — the inquiry line, the overview — is never in quotes, so an agent can always tell the difference at a glance.

The "Enrich ticket with customer journey" toggle in your Human handoff settings controls how much context Rep adds on top of that.

With the toggle on, each ticket also carries:

• Conversation Overview (AI Generated) – the topic of the conversation, a one-to-two sentence summary, and a bullet list of key highlights, placed above everything else so it's the first thing your agent reads.

• Customer actions on the website – the collection pages and product pages the shopper visited, and the products they added to their cart.

• Time spent on the website before the handoff.

• A link into the live chat, so if the shopper is still on your site your agent can reply in the conversation instead of by email.

With the toggle on, the inquiry line carries the shopper's own last message, since the overview above it already states the request in the AI's words.

With the toggle off, the ticket is the concise version: the AI-written inquiry line, the contact details, and the conversation. No overview block, no on-site journey, no live-chat link.

We recommend keeping this ON – it gives your team the shopper's intent, journey, and a live reply path in one place, and it cuts the time agents spend asking "What's this about?"

The same information reaches every connected helpdesk. The layout follows whatever the helpdesk supports.

Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk, HelpScout, Richpanel, and Rep Inbox receive a formatted ticket with labelled sections:

• Conversation Overview (AI Generated) – Topic, Summary, Highlights (with enrichment on)

• Customer Details – Name, Email, Phone number, Inquiry, Attached image, Order ID, and with enrichment on, Time Spent on Website and a Respond directly in the chat link

• Customer Actions on the Website (with enrichment on)

• Conversation History

Kustomer and Salesforce Service Cloud receive the same content as plain text, since those platforms render ticket bodies as text:

• With enrichment on, the ticket opens with Topic, Summary, and Key highlights, followed by Customer's inquiry and the live-chat link, then Customer actions, the time on site, and the conversation, with the attached image and order ID at the end.

• With enrichment off, the ticket opens with Customer's inquiry, then Name, Email, Phone number and Order ID, then the conversation.

If your handoff goes to a plain support email address rather than a connected helpdesk, the email carries the same formatted layout as the helpdesk group above.

Ticket tagging rules let you describe, in your own words, when a tag belongs on a handoff ticket. When Rep hands a conversation to your team, it reads the conversation, finds the one rule that fits, and adds that rule's tags to the ticket. The routing rules, views, and reports you already run in your helpdesk then take it from there. A cancellation request reaches your order team and a wholesale enquiry reaches sales, before anyone has read the ticket.

Tags on every ticket

Every handoff ticket carries two tags automatically:

• rep marks the ticket as opened by Rep. It's first in your list, labelled Always applied, and you can't change or remove it.

• A channel tag shows where the shopper was talking to you, such as channel:mobile web, channel:desktop web, channel:instagram, channel:facebook, or channel:whatsapp. See See Which Channel Each Handoff Came From below.

The tags from your rules are added to these. They never replace them.

Adding a rule:

1. Open Support Skills and click Settings on the Human handoff card

2. Find Ticket tagging rules, below your Integration Type settings, and make sure its toggle is on. It's on by default.

3. Click Add tag rule

4. Fill in the three fields:

   • Rule name: a short label you'll recognise, such as Cancel order. Up to 100 characters.

   • When it applies: the shopper's situation in a sentence, such as The shopper wants to cancel an order they have already placed. Up to 500 characters.

   • Tag values: type a tag and press Enter. Add as many as the rule needs, such as cancel_order and pre_shipment.

5. Click Add. The rule joins your list, with its name and its tags.

6. Click Save at the bottom of the Human handoff settings

To change a rule, click its edit (pencil) icon, make your changes, and click Save changes. To remove a rule, click its delete (bin) icon and confirm. Tickets then stop carrying that rule's tags, so any helpdesk rule that keys off those tags stops firing too. Either way, click Save to apply the change.

How Rep picks a rule:

• Rep judges by meaning, not wording. "Please stop my order" and "I changed my mind about what I bought" both fit a rule that says The shopper wants to cancel an order. This works in whatever language your shoppers write in.

• Rep reads the whole conversation at the moment of handoff, including what your AI already said.

• One rule per ticket, at most. If more than one rule could fit, Rep picks the single best fit.

• Every part of your description has to be true. A rule for a refund on an existing wholesale order doesn't fire for a new wholesale enquiry. Use "or" when either situation should count.

• "No rule fits" is a normal result. Rep doesn't guess. The ticket goes to your team with its automatic tags only.

• A rule never blocks a handoff. If Rep can't finish checking your rules, it still creates the ticket, with its automatic tags.

Where the rules apply:

Rep checks your rules every time it opens a ticket in your helpdesk, on your website chat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. That includes tickets opened when another skill or flow hands the shopper to your team. If that handoff has its own Tags setting, its tickets carry those tags plus the tags of any rule that fits. The Always applied tags in your Human handoff list go on Human handoff tickets only.

Writing rules that work:

• One situation per rule. Cancel order, Late delivery, and Wholesale enquiry each get their own rule.

• Describe the shopper's situation, not keywords. The shopper's order is late or its tracking hasn't moved works better than late, delayed, where is my order.

• Keep similar rules clearly apart. Rep picks only one rule, so say what makes each situation different.

• Reuse the tags your helpdesk already routes on. Rep's tickets then flow through the views, queues, macros, and SLAs you've already built.

Example rules:

Good to know:

• Each tag can be up to 80 characters. Commas and colons aren't allowed in a tag.

• rep is reserved. It's already on every ticket, so you can't use it as a tag value.

• Each tag belongs to one rule. If you add a tag that another rule already uses, the Console tells you which rule has it. Capitalisation doesn't count as a difference: VIP and vip are the same tag.

• Single words travel best. Some helpdesks split a tag on its spaces. Zendesk, for example, turns late order into two tags. Use late_order or late-order instead.

• Rep considers up to 50 rules.

• Tags apply to new tickets created after you save. Tickets already in your helpdesk don't change.

Tags you already had:

If you set up tags on the Human handoff skill before, they appear in your list right after rep, labelled Always applied. They keep going on every Human handoff ticket, as they did before. There's nothing to migrate and nothing to set up again. You can delete an always-applied tag, but you can't edit it. To use one of those tags for some conversations only, delete it from the list, then add it to a rule.

Turning tagging rules off:

Switch the Ticket tagging rules toggle off and Rep stops adding the tags from your rules and your always-applied tags. Human handoff tickets then carry only rep and the channel tag. Your rules are kept. Switch the toggle back on and Rep uses them again.

Email handoffs:

Tagging needs a helpdesk that can receive tags. When your Integration Type is Email, the Ticket tagging rules section shows as not available. Your rules are kept, and they work again as soon as you switch to a connected helpdesk.

Which helpdesks receive the tags:

Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk, Kustomer, Help Scout, and Rep Inbox add the tags to the ticket itself.

• Zendesk stores tags in lowercase.

• Kustomer creates a tag for you if the name is new to your account. It replaces characters it doesn't accept with an underscore, so the channel tag shows as channel_mobile web, and it shortens tags to 64 characters.

• Salesforce Service Cloud shows the tags as a Tags: line in the case description.

• Richpanel tickets don't currently carry tags. See the note in Troubleshooting.

Every support ticket Rep opens in your helpdesk is automatically tagged with the channel the shopper was using when they asked for help — so your team can see, at a glance, where the conversation started without opening the ticket.

Alongside the standard rep tag, each handoff ticket carries a channel tag identifying one of:

• Mobile – shopper was on your website on a mobile device

• Desktop – shopper was on your website on a desktop computer

• Facebook – Facebook Messenger

• Instagram – Instagram DM

• WhatsApp – WhatsApp

• Email – the conversation reached you over email

Why this helps your team:

• Route faster – send Instagram and Facebook tickets straight to your social-media specialist, or WhatsApp tickets to the right regional agent, using your helpdesk's normal routing rules

• Filter and report – build saved views, queues, or reports grouped by channel (for example, "all WhatsApp handoffs this week") using the tag tools already built into your helpdesk

• Prioritize – apply different SLAs or macros to different channels when your response expectations vary

No setup needed. The channel tag is added automatically on every new handoff ticket. It behaves exactly like any other tag in your helpdesk — there's nothing to configure in Rep. The tag works the same way across Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Kustomer, HelpScout, and Rep Inbox.

Good to know: The channel tag applies only to new tickets created after this feature is enabled — existing tickets in your helpdesk are unchanged. Tickets that come in through a plain email fallback (rather than a connected helpdesk integration) don't carry the tag.

When customers explicitly ask to speak with someone, AI immediately begins the Human Handoff flow without trying to answer first.

When a customer sends a message like "I need to talk to someone" on any Meta channel, the AI activates the same Human Handoff flow. It collects the required information conversationally within the DM thread, creates a ticket in your helpdesk, and sends the acknowledgment message — all without the customer needing to switch to your website.

If a customer is using another AI skill (like tracking an order) but asks for human help, AI gracefully transitions to Human Handoff with full context. This works the same on website chat and Meta channels.

If your AI already knows the customer's email or order number from earlier in the conversation, it won't ask again—it automatically uses that information.

Because every handoff ticket is tagged with its channel, you can use your helpdesk's native rules to send tickets to the right place automatically — for example, routing all Instagram and Facebook handoffs to your social team, or giving WhatsApp tickets a faster SLA. No extra configuration in Rep is required; just build the view or rule on the tag in your helpdesk.

Because Rep tags each ticket by what the shopper asked about, your existing helpdesk rules can sort Rep's tickets with no new setup. A rule that adds cancel_order sends cancellation requests to your order team. A rule that adds wholesale sends bulk enquiries straight to sales. Conversations that fit no rule arrive with Rep's automatic tags, so they land wherever your team handles general Rep tickets.

When you've set up time-based acknowledgment instructions, customers automatically see the right message based on when they reach out. For example, a customer contacting support on Christmas Day sees your holiday message, while someone reaching out on a regular Tuesday sees your standard response time. This works across all channels including Meta DMs.

If your helpdesk integration has any issues, make sure it's properly connected in Settings → Integrations. The AI relies on this connection to create tickets successfully.

• Faster Resolutions – Support team receives context-rich tickets, not just "Customer needs help"

• Request First, Always – every ticket opens on a plain-language statement of what the shopper wants, with the full conversation underneath, so agents can act on the first screen

• Reduced Friction – No duplicate questions or forcing customers through rigid forms

• Improved Customer Experience – Feels like talking to a knowledgeable assistant, not filling out a form

• Cross-Skill Awareness – All AI skills know when to escalate and can do so intelligently

• Multi-Channel Coverage – Shoppers on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp get the same escalation path as website visitors

• Channel Visibility – Every handoff ticket is tagged with the shopper's channel (Mobile, Desktop, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Email), so your team can route and filter by where the conversation began

• Tickets Tagged by Topic – Rep tags each handoff ticket by what the shopper asked about, using rules you write in plain language, so your existing routing, SLAs, and reports pick Rep's tickets up automatically

• Time-Aware Messaging – Customers always see accurate availability expectations, even during holidays or outside business hours

• Flexibility – Works with your existing helpdesk integration

• Verify your helpdesk integration is connected in Settings → Integrations

• Check that you've saved your Human Handoff settings

• Ensure the Integration Type is selected in the configuration modal

• Make sure Contact Support is enabled and configured in your Support Skills settings — the same configuration applies to all channels

• Verify your helpdesk integration is connected in Settings → Integrations

• Confirm that Meta AI Answering is active on the channel where the customer is reaching out

• Click Settings on the Human handoff card. Check that the Ticket tagging rules toggle is on and that you clicked Save.

• Rep picks one rule at most. If another rule fit the conversation better, that rule's tags went on the ticket instead.

• Re-read the rule's When it applies. Every part of it has to be true. A rule for an order that hasn't shipped yet won't fire if the order has already shipped.

• If no rule fit the conversation, the ticket carries only rep and its channel tag. That's expected.

• Tags apply to tickets created after you save. Earlier tickets don't change.

• If a multi-word tag arrived split in two, your helpdesk broke it on the space. Change it to one_word or one-word.

• If your Integration Type is Email, tagging isn't available.

• If Rep couldn't reach your helpdesk and sent the handoff to your support email instead, that email doesn't carry tags.

• Make similar rules clearly different. Say in each description what sets that situation apart from the others.

• If a rule fires too often, add the condition that must also be true. For example: The shopper wants to cancel an order that hasn't shipped yet.

That's a tag from your earlier Human handoff settings. It goes on every Human handoff ticket. Delete it if your team doesn't need it.

Richpanel handoff tickets don't currently carry tags: not the tags from your rules, not the rep tag, and not the channel tag. Richpanel keeps its tags behind a separate API credential from the one that creates tickets. Your rules are saved and everything else about the handoff works normally. We're actively working on this; contact support if it's blocking a workflow and we'll let you know when it lands.

If a ticket arrives with the conversation and the customer journey but no Conversation Overview block, the AI summary wasn't available for that conversation. The ticket still carries everything else — the inquiry line, contact details, on-site journey and the full transcript — so your agent can work the ticket normally. This is rare and resolves on its own; there's nothing to change in your settings.

• The AI asks for information again because it doesn't recognize the shopper as the same person from a previous conversation. This happens when:

• Shopper uses a different device – The customer chatted on their phone yesterday but is now on their laptop

• Cookies were cleared – Browser data was deleted, removing the session identifier

• Not logged into Shopify – Guest shoppers don't have a persistent account connection

• Incognito/Private browsing – These modes don't save session data between visits

Why this happens: Rep AI needs a connection point to recognize returning customers. Without being logged into your Shopify store, the AI relies on browser cookies to identify returning visitors. When that connection is lost, the AI treats them as a new visitor and needs to collect their information again.

Those channels have no upload window, so the shopper attaches the image directly in the conversation instead. Your AI reads what they send and includes its link in the support ticket. If Photo is set to Required, the AI may still ask again before it opens the ticket — set Photo to Optional for stores that receive messages on Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp, and the flow completes normally with the photo attached.

• Double-check that your date format is specific (e.g., "December 24-26" instead of "around Christmas")

• Make sure you've included a timezone for time-of-day conditions (e.g., "9am-5pm ET")

• Remember that the AI uses your business timezone, not the customer's local time

• Verify the year is included for date-specific conditions that shouldn't repeat annually

• Make sure your instructions include the word "If" to signal conditional logic

• Check that you have an "Otherwise" or "Else" clause for when no conditions match

• Review your date ranges to confirm they cover the intended period

• Click Settings on the Human handoff card

• Find the Acknowledgment Instructions section

• Replace the default message with your custom text — either a simple message or conditional instructions

• Click Save to apply changes

Customize your acknowledgment instructions to mention your actual response time. Honesty builds trust—if you respond in 4 hours, say so!

List the tags your team already routes on, then write one rule for each situation that should carry them. Rep's tickets then flow through the views, queues, macros, and SLAs you've already built, with no new helpdesk rules to write.

Instead of scrambling to update your message before every holiday, write your conditions once at the start of the year. Include all your planned closures and schedule changes, and the AI takes care of the rest.

Keep the "Enrich ticket with customer journey" toggle ON. Your support team will thank you when they see the full context instead of just "Customer needs help."

Use Analytics to understand which types of questions lead to support escalations. If you see patterns, consider:

• Adding FAQ content to answer common questions

• Adjusting AI instructions to better handle specific scenarios

• Enabling additional AI skills that might resolve issues before escalation

If customers frequently drop off during information collection:

• Review which fields are set as Required

• Consider making some fields Optional instead

• Only ask for Photo uploads when truly necessary, and keep Photo set to Optional rather than Required if you receive messages on Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp

If you have questions about configuring Human Handoff or want guidance on setting up time-based acknowledgment messages, contact our support team—we're here to help!