What an AI chat does when it doesn't know the answer: handoff and leads

October 13, 2026

Every AI assistant sometimes doesn’t know the answer. That is normal. What matters is what it does at that moment: make something up, stay silent or pass the question to a person. Whether shoppers trust it depends on this.

When the bot should hand over to a person

In BotNow the bot passes a question to a manager in two groups of cases.

The needed data isn’t there. If the answer isn’t in the catalog or on the site’s pages, the bot says “unfortunately I don’t have this information” and offers to leave contacts so a manager can reply.

It isn’t for a bot. The shopper asks for a live person, complains, asks about the status or payment of a specific order, or about a refund. A person, not a neural network, handles such questions.

What a handoff looks like

The bot calls an operator. If an operator is online, they see the conversation and continue it in the same chat window.
If nobody is online, the bot offers to leave contacts, and a form appears in the chat window: name, phone, a comment and a consent checkbox.
The lead is saved together with the last messages of the conversation, and the store owner sees it in the dashboard.

The manager doesn’t need to ask again: they see what the shopper discussed with the bot.

What the bot does not do

It doesn’t say it has already passed the lead on. Until the shopper leaves contacts, no handoff has happened, and the bot says exactly that. A “the manager has already joined” said too early deceives the person, and they wait for a reply that won’t come.

It doesn’t invent an answer. For questions about price, availability and terms there is a rule: no data, no number. More in How an AI chat answers about price and availability.

It doesn’t leave the shopper without an answer when no operator is around. Outside working hours the bot doesn’t promise an instant reply from a person: it offers to leave contacts, and a manager gets in touch with them.

What a store needs for this to work

Someone who handles the leads. If leads sit unanswered, better not to turn the bot on: the shopper leaves a contact and never gets a reply.
A clear reply time. Say on the page and in the message when you reply, for example “on weekdays by 6 pm”.
A data processing policy. The form collects a name and phone, so the store is responsible for them as the data controller. What we collect and how is described on the Data and privacy page.
A weekly review of leads. The questions the bot couldn’t answer show what is missing from the catalog and the site. Often it is enough to add a delivery or returns section.

How to tell whether everything is fine

After two weeks, look at:

How many conversations ended with a lead.
What share of leads were “ordinary” questions that the bot could have answered if the data had been on the site.
How long the manager took to answer leads.

If many leads are about the same thing, add the answer to your site and have the catalog re-read. How to combine different ways of handling inquiries is compared in AI assistant, live chat or a form.

Frequently asked questions

Does an operator join the conversation right in the chat window?

Yes. When the bot doesn't know the answer or the shopper asks for a person, an operator joins the conversation and replies in the same chat window. If nobody is available, the bot offers to leave contacts and a manager gets in touch.

What does the manager see in a lead?

The name, phone, the shopper's comment and the last messages of the conversation, so there is no need to ask again about what was already discussed.

Do the shopper's contacts go to the language model?

No. Contacts from the lead form are not sent to the model; it receives only the shopper's questions and the found fragments of the store's data.