How to control the Gorgias AI agent handover experience in chat: A step-by-step guide

We’ve all been there, right? Stuck in an endless loop with a chatbot, frantically typing “talk to a human” or "operator," only to get another canned response. A seamless handover from an AI agent to a person is key to maintaining a high-quality customer experience. While AI is great for knocking out common questions, knowing when and how to bring a human into the conversation is what separates good support from a great experience.

The good news is that Gorgias gives you a robust set of tools to manage this process. This guide will walk you through, step by step, exactly how to control the Gorgias AI agent handover experience in chat. We’ll get into the essential settings that put you in the driver's seat, making sure your AI acts as a helpful co-pilot, not a gatekeeper.

Why the AI agent handover experience matters

Let's be real: a well-managed AI handover process is essential for your customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and your team's workflow. When customers with complex problems can easily reach a person, they feel valued. This ensures they continue their journey with your brand rather than feeling stuck. It also allows your team to step in precisely when their expertise is needed most, leading to more efficient resolutions.

By setting up clear rules for when your AI should pass the baton to a human agent, you make sure that:

• Customers with urgent or tricky problems get help from a person right away.

• Your support team can focus on the high-value conversations that really need their expertise.

• Your brand builds a reputation for being genuinely helpful and easy to deal with.

While the tools Gorgias offers are a great starting point for managing handovers, you might eventually find yourself needing more fine-tuned control, more knowledge sources for your AI to pull from, or a pricing plan that matches your specific scaling needs. We'll touch on that a bit later.

What you'll need

Before we jump into the settings, let’s get a few things in order. Make sure you have:

• A Gorgias account with the AI Agent feature turned on.

• Admin or Lead permissions. You'll need these to get into the AI Agent settings and make changes.

• A rough idea of which topics or situations should always go straight to a human. Think about the stuff you'd never want a bot to handle alone.

Mastering the Gorgias AI agent handover: 5 key steps

Ready to dive in? Here’s how you can set up your Gorgias AI Agent for a much smoother, customer-friendly handover.

Step 1: Define handover topics

Your first and most important job is to tell the AI which conversations it should escalate to a human. Gorgias calls these "Handover topics," and they’re basically a list of subjects you’ve flagged for human intervention.

Take a minute to think about conversations that are sensitive or complicated. A few good examples are:

• Anything to do with billing, refunds, or payment disputes.

• Complaints about a product not working as expected or a bad experience.

• Technical issues that require more than just pointing to an FAQ article.

• Questions from your VIP customers who get white-glove service.

• Any message that includes words like "complaint," "legal," "angry," or anything similar.

To get these set up, go to "AI Agent > Settings > Handover and exclusion" and find the Handover topics section. Here, you can add each topic in plain English. The system is pretty smart, so you don't need to be a programmer to get it right.

Step 2: Customize handover messages

Letting customers know what to expect is half the battle. Gorgias lets you write different handover messages for when your team is available for live chat versus when they're not. This simple step stops people from feeling like they've been left waiting.

• For online hours: Your message can be upbeat and direct. Something like, "Thanks for that info! Let me get you over to a support specialist who can sort this out for you."

• For offline hours: Honesty is the best policy here. A message like, "Our team is offline for the day, but I've flagged your message for them. They'll get back to you by email as soon as they're back, usually within 24 hours," works perfectly.

You can find these settings under the Chat configuration for your AI Agent. Taking a few minutes to write clear messages can save a lot of headaches down the line.

Step 3: Use 'Guidance' for a better handover experience

Sometimes, you don’t want to hand over a conversation right away. You might want the AI to gather a bit more information first. That’s where "Guidance" comes into play. Guidance is a set of custom instructions that tells your AI how to act in specific situations. It's like giving your bot a little playbook.

For instance, instead of immediately escalating a ticket about a damaged item, you could create a Guidance that tells the AI: "When a customer says their item arrived damaged, first say you're sorry to hear that, then ask them for a photo of the damage. Once you have the photo, escalate the ticket to the support team."

This makes the whole process way more efficient. When the human agent picks up the ticket, they already have the context and the photo they need to solve the problem. No more back-and-forth.

Step 4: Create 'excluded topics'

There are some conversations you want your AI to stay out of. For these, you can use a Gorgias Rule to automatically apply the tag "ai_ignore" to certain tickets. The AI Agent knows to not touch any ticket that has this tag.

This is super handy for a few things:

• Making sure conversations from specific partners or internal email addresses are never touched by the AI.

• Ignoring automated notification emails you get from other apps.

• Protecting tickets that you've already manually tagged for a specific person or team to handle.

Step 5: Test and monitor your handover settings

Finally, don't just set it and forget it. Always test your new setup. Gorgias has a test area where you can pretend to be a customer and see how the AI responds to different questions without messing with any of your live chats.

Once you go live, check your performance reports every now and then. See which topics are getting handed over the most. This is a great way to spot gaps in your help center articles or figure out where your Guidance instructions could be a bit clearer. A little bit of ongoing tweaking is the key to getting it just right.

Advanced options for scaling your Gorgias automation

Gorgias gives you a fantastic starting point, and as your support volume grows, you might want to explore even more specialized ways to manage your handovers. Here are a few ways teams often look to expand their capabilities.

1. Customizing advanced logic for specific workflows Gorgias’s handover rules are effective and user-friendly. However, some teams may need more multi-step logic. For example, you might want an AI that can check a customer's order history in Shopify before it decides whether to offer a discount code or escalate the chat to a VIP agent. This can be achieved by integrating specialized workflow tools.

2. Expanding knowledge sources for complex queries The Gorgias AI Agent is a mature platform that learns from your Gorgias Help Center and Shopify data. To supplement this, some teams integrate additional info from internal wikis, Google Docs, or Confluence pages. Having access to a broader range of sources can help the AI resolve even more specialized queries.

3. Aligning automation costs with business goals Gorgias offers a performance-based pricing model for its AI Agent, charging approximately $0.90 per resolved conversation. This ensures you only pay for successful results. As you scale, you may look for complementary tools that offer different pricing structures to help keep your budget predictable during peak seasons.

4. Managing large-scale testing and simulation While you can test scenarios in Gorgias, some growing teams look for ways to run simulations on thousands of past tickets. This helps forecast automation rates more precisely before rolling out major changes.

This is where a dedicated AI platform like eesel AI can be a great addition. It works alongside your Gorgias helpdesk to provide more options for power, control, and predictability.

eesel AI and the Gorgias handover experience

Instead of replacing your existing system, eesel AI integrates seamlessly with Gorgias in just a few clicks. It complements your current setup with a specialized workflow engine and transparent pricing. You can get up and running in minutes, all on your own.

Here’s a quick look at how eesel AI can work with your Gorgias setup:

Feature	Gorgias AI Agent	eesel AI
Workflow Customization	Streamlined setup using topics and "Guidance" instructions.	A customizable workflow engine with complex logic and custom API actions that integrate with Gorgias.
Knowledge Sources	Direct integration with Gorgias Help Center and Shopify for core ecommerce data.	Unifies knowledge from 100+ sources including past tickets, Confluence, and Google Docs.
Testing & Simulation	User-friendly test environment for single queries.	Simulation mode that can analyze thousands of past tickets to forecast ROI.
Pricing Model	Success-based model (~$0.90 per resolution) that grows with your team.	Predictable monthly plans that work as a fixed-cost add-on.
Setup Time	Fully integrated into the Gorgias platform.	Self-serve; go live in minutes with a one-click Gorgias integration.

With eesel AI, you can train your AI on your team's best ticket resolutions, build custom actions that pull information from external systems, and simulate performance so you can roll out new automations with confidence.

Mastering your Gorgias AI agent handover

A smooth AI agent handover is a fundamental part of modern customer service. By following the steps we’ve covered, you can take real control over your Gorgias AI Agent and make sure it's enhancing your customer experience.

Start by defining clear handover topics, customizing your messages, and using Guidance to create smarter interactions. Getting that foundation right will make a huge difference in your chat support.

For teams who want to build even more specialized automation, a dedicated AI platform like eesel AI is an excellent complementary choice. These tools are designed to work within the Gorgias ecosystem, providing additional intelligence and customization. The goal is to build smarter, more efficient workflows that empower your agents and keep your customers happy.

Ready to see how a customizable AI agent can enhance your Gorgias setup? Start your eesel AI free trial today and go live in minutes.