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Human support lets a visitor ask for a person during a conversation. When the conversation escalates, the AI stops answering and your team replies. To learn how AI mode, human mode, and escalation fit together, see Conversations and handoff.

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Before you start

  • Plan: any plan. See Plans and limits.
  • Role: Manager or higher. See Team members.
  • Decide who on your team answers escalated conversations, and when.

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Turn on human support

1

Open Human Support

In your chatbot’s sidebar, select Leads > Human Support.
2

Turn it on

Under Human Support Options, turn on Enable Human Support.
3

Save

Select Save Changes.
The AI can now escalate a conversation when the visitor asks for a person. The other settings on this page stay unavailable until you turn on Enable Human Support.

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Set the escalation buttons

The widget can show two buttons after each AI answer. One says that the answer helped. The other asks for a person.
1

Show the buttons

Under Escalation Button Settings, turn on Show escalation buttons after responses. When this is off, visitors can ask for a person only by writing in the chat.
2

Choose where the buttons go

Turn on Replace other suggestions with escalation buttons to show only these two buttons. When it is off, the buttons show next to your conversation starters and follow-up suggestions.
3

Write the button text

In Positive Feedback Prompt, enter the text of the “that helped” button. In Request Human Support Prompt, enter the text of the button that asks for a person.
4

Write the confirmation message

In Human Support Confirmation Message, enter the message the visitor sees after they ask for a person. For example: Your request has been forwarded to our human support team. They will respond soon.
5

Save

Select Save Changes.
Show escalation buttons after responses and Replace other suggestions with escalation buttons apply to the website widget only. On chat channels such as Slack, Messenger, Crisp, and Freshdesk Messaging, answers that use your content show the two prompts whenever human support is on. Each integration page describes what shows on that channel. See Integrations. The three fields show default text when you turn on human support. When you select Save Changes, SiteGPT saves that text. Do not leave a field empty. If a field is empty, the widget shows an empty button or no confirmation message.

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Tell the AI when to escalate

By default, the AI escalates in three cases: the visitor asks for a person, the situation is urgent, or the visitor is frustrated after an answer that did not help. To use your own rules:
  1. Under Escalation Policy, write your rules in When should the AI escalate? Use plain language. The limit is 2,000 characters.
  2. Select Save Changes.
Your rules replace the default triggers completely. Include every case where you want a person, including “the visitor asks for a person” if you still want it. Example:
To go back to the defaults, clear the field and save.

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Choose who answers new conversations

The chat mode sets how every new conversation starts.
1

Open Chat Modes

In your chatbot’s sidebar, select Settings > Chat Modes.
2

Choose a mode

Select Always Starts New Conversation with Human, Always Starts New Conversation with AI, or Follow Working Hours. To set the hours, see Answer during working hours.
3

Save

Select Save Changes.
The mode applies only to new conversations. To move one conversation between the AI and your team, see Reply to visitors and take over conversations. In human mode, the visitor sees a Continue with AI button and can switch the conversation to the AI. To lock a conversation that started in human mode, open the … menu at the top of the conversation in Chat History and select Lock conversation. See Lock a conversation that your team holds.

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Answer during working hours

Use Follow Working Hours when your team answers chats at set times.
1

Select Follow Working Hours

In Settings > Chat Modes, select Follow Working Hours. The schedule opens below the option. A new schedule starts with Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, in the time zone of your browser.
2

Choose the time zone

In Time zone, select the time zone of your team. The page shows the current day and time in that zone.
3

Set the hours for each day

Under Working hours, select the check box of each day your team works, and set a start and an end time. A day without a check mark shows Closed. To add a second range on the same day, for example after a lunch break, select the plus button. A day can have up to 4 ranges. A range that ends before it starts continues into the next day, and the page shows Ends the next day. The start time is in the working hours. The end time is not. For example, with 09:00 to 17:00, a message at 17:00 is outside the hours. The start and end times cannot be the same. A range that continues into the next day covers the morning of that day, also when that day is closed. SiteGPT follows daylight saving time in your time zone.
4

Choose what happens outside working hours

Under Outside working hours, select one option:
  • The AI answers: new conversations start in AI mode.
  • Your team answers later: new conversations start in human mode. Write the away message in the box. If no away message is saved yet, the page fills in this text, which you can change: “Thanks for your message. Our team is offline right now and will get back to you during our working hours.” The message can have up to 2,000 characters. Below the box, the page shows: “Every channel sends this message. Your team cannot reply to Google Chat visitors in Google Chat, so do not promise a reply in the chat.”
5

Save

Select Save Changes. If the schedule has a mistake, the page shows Fix the working hours below, then save. and lists each mistake. It does not save.
How working hours work:
  • SiteGPT decides how a conversation starts when the visitor sends the first message, at that time in your time zone.
  • The hours decide the mode of new conversations only. A conversation keeps its mode when the hours start or end.
  • With Your team answers later, SiteGPT sends the away message when a visitor writes outside working hours in any conversation in human mode. This includes conversations that started during the hours, escalated conversations, and conversations where a team member replied. Each conversation gets the away message one time. A conversation that a team member took over gets no away message, and neither does a closed conversation.
  • Working hours apply to the website widget, the API, and the chat integrations. Zendesk and Zoho SalesIQ do not use working hours. In these two tools, new conversations start with the AI or with your team as set by the last fixed option you saved, which is the AI by default.
  • If you later select Always Starts New Conversation with AI or Always Starts New Conversation with Human and save, working hours turn off. SiteGPT keeps the schedule, and it shows again when you select Follow Working Hours. Setting only the chat mode to AI or human mode from the CLI, the API, or the MCP server also turns working hours off. In the MCP server, update_sitegpt_settings with chatMode set to WORKING_HOURS turns the saved schedule on again. See Appearance and settings tools.
Check that it works: Below the schedule, the page says how a conversation that starts now begins, for example “Right now, a new conversation starts with your team.” Start a conversation in the widget to confirm.

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Set working hours with API v2

Send PATCH /api/v2/chatbots/{chatbotId}/settings/chat-mode with a workingHours object. The object replaces the saved schedule as a whole.
  • timezone is an IANA time zone name. Times are HH:MM. A day that you leave out is closed.
  • outsideHours is AI (the AI answers) or AWAY (your team answers later). AWAY needs an awayMessage.
  • "workingHours": null turns working hours off and deletes the schedule. Sending only mode turns working hours off and keeps the schedule.
  • enabled: false saves the schedule and keeps working hours off.
  • If you send mode together with workingHours, the schedule stays as you sent it.
  • A GET of the section also returns currentMode, the mode that a new conversation gets right now. You cannot set it.
  • A GET also returns mode, the fixed chat mode. Zendesk and Zoho SalesIQ use mode, and SiteGPT uses it when working hours are off.

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Other ways a conversation escalates

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What the visitor sees

  1. The visitor selects the escalation button, or the AI decides to escalate.
  2. If the visitor selected the button, the widget asks them to confirm.
  3. The chat shows that the conversation changed to human mode. Then it shows your confirmation message.
  4. The chat asks for contact details if lead collection is on, or if Pre-Chat User Details is Required or Optional. Your team can then follow up by email. See Collect leads from conversations.
  5. The AI stops answering. The visitor’s messages wait for your team.
You can change the visitor-facing texts in Language & Region. See Change the widget language and text.

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Get notified when a conversation escalates

SiteGPT emails the chatbot owner for each escalation. To send the emails to other people, and to set up other alerts, see Choose who gets notified.

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Check that it works

  1. Open your chatbot on your website or in the dashboard preview.
  2. Ask a question. After the answer, select the button with your Request Human Support Prompt text, then confirm.
  3. The chat shows your confirmation message.
  4. In the dashboard, open Chat History. The conversation shows the Escalated badge and is in the Attention view.
To answer the visitor, see Reply to visitors and take over conversations.