---
title: "Hand off a chat to a human"
description: "Let your bot email your team with the visitor's email and the conversation when someone asks for a person, and mark the chat as escalated."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/talk-to-a-human"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Hand off a chat to a human

**Available on:** Basic, Standard, Pro, Enterprise plans.

Add the **Talk to a human** power-up so that when a visitor asks for a person, your bot takes their email address and emails your team the full conversation.

**Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do).

> **Want to reply live in the chat?**
>
> This power-up hands off by email. To have a team member take over the conversation in the web widget, also turn on [human takeover](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/human-takeover) (Standard plan and above). The power-up then escalates the chat so your team can claim it.

[Video: Talk to a human and Send email power-ups (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmGWMwI8fv4)

*Video walkthrough; the first part covers Talk to a human. Recorded in 2024, so some screens have changed since.*

## Steps

1. Open your bot, go to the **Power-ups** tab and click **New power-up**.
2. Choose **Talk to a human** and click **Create power-up**.
3. Optionally change the **Power-up name**. Visitors see it in the chat while it runs.
4. Edit the **Description** to say when the bot should hand off. The default is "Notify a human that the current user needs help. Ask their email first." You might add: "Use this when the user asks for a person, or when you can't answer after two attempts."
5. In **Notification Email**, enter the address that should receive handoffs, such as a shared support inbox. Leave it blank to send them to the team owner's account email.
6. Click **Save**.
   ![Talk to a human power-up settings with the power-up name, the default description and a Notification Email address](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1753954163/Xnapper_2025_07_31_10_21_46_bce4b0c881.png)

## What happens during a handoff

1. The bot asks the visitor for their email address. It only continues with a real, valid address. Placeholder addresses such as `name@example.com` are rejected.
2. Chat Thing emails your notification address. The subject is "*visitor's email* has requested to speak - Chat Thing" and the email contains the whole conversation so far and a **Reply?** button that starts an email to the visitor.
3. The conversation's state changes to **Escalated** on every channel. You can find escalated conversations in [Conversations](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/conversations).
4. If you use [webhooks](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/webhooks), Chat Thing sends a conversation escalated event, so you can also create a ticket or alert in another tool.
5. The bot tells the visitor their request was sent and that they'll be contacted as soon as possible.
   ![A visitor asks for help cancelling a subscription, the bot asks for their email address, then confirms the request was sent to the team](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1711642662/talk_to_a_human_chat_696420ca5b.png)
   ![The handoff email your team receives, with the visitor's email address, the conversation so far and a Reply button](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1711642663/talk_to_a_human_email_4452274b5d.png)

If your bot has human takeover turned on and the visitor is using the web widget, your team is also notified in real time and can [claim the conversation](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/human-takeover) and reply in the chat.

## Turn on human takeover from the power-up

If human takeover is off, the power-up's settings page shows **Enable 'Human takeover' in bot settings**. Click **Enable now** to turn it on, or **Go to settings** to open your bot settings. The setting is called **Allow human takeover of conversations**.

![The Talk to a human settings page showing the Enable 'Human takeover' in bot settings notice with Enable now and Go to settings buttons](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1773412201/docs/talk-to-human-enable-takeover-callout.png)

## Check it works

1. Chat with your bot and ask to speak to a person.
2. Give a real email address when the bot asks.
3. Check that the email arrives at your notification address and that the conversation shows as **Escalated** in Conversations.

## Troubleshooting

### The bot answers but never offers a person

Make the **Description** more explicit, and add a rule to your bot's [prompt](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions), for example: "If the user asks for a human, or is frustrated, offer to pass them to the team."

### The bot keeps asking for an email address

The power-up needs a valid email address and rejects `example.com` addresses. If the visitor gave one in a different format, the bot asks again.

### No email arrived

Check the **Notification Email** address, then your spam folder. If the field is blank, the email goes to the team owner's account email, not to the person who created the power-up.

## Related

- [Take over a live chat from your bot](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/human-takeover): Let your team step into a live website chat, reply to the customer directly while the bot pauses, then hand the conversation back to the bot.
- [Send an email notification from your bot](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/send-email): Let your bot email up to three fixed addresses with a visitor's details and message, for lead capture or contact requests. No inbox connection needed.
- [Webhooks](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/webhooks): Send Chat Thing events such as new conversations, escalations and syncs to your own systems, Slack or Discord, and trigger data source syncs from a URL.