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A transfer rule is only half the story. Once the agent hands a conversation over, a person has to pick it up. This page explains how that works, and how to make sure a transfer at 9pm is not a customer left waiting.

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How your team finds out

A transferred conversation lands in the Inbox as Awaiting reply and, if assignment applies, assigned to a teammate. The team is alerted through browser notifications. Turn them on from the notifications bell, where New messages and New conversations can each be enabled. A newly assigned conversation shows an “Assigned to you” alert. Browser notifications only reach someone whose browser allows them and who has Ciarem open, so do not rely on them alone. The Inbox’s Awaiting reply count is the source of truth. When you open a transferred conversation, read the AI handoff summary card first. It recaps the conversation up to the handoff.

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Set yourself available

The Inbox header shows your Session status, and it controls whether new conversations reach you:
  • Active: you receive new conversations.
  • Inactive: you do not receive new conversations.
  • On a break: you do not receive new conversations.
Set yourself Active during the hours you handle chats. If everyone is Inactive or on a break, a transfer has no one to go to. Admins see everyone’s status in the Session column of Team management > Users. When someone left for the day without switching off, use Set session to inactive in their row’s menu so new conversations stop going to them. Admins can only switch a session off; each person sets themselves Active again. The Session status selector in the Inbox header: Active, Inactive, and On a break

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Team availability and after hours

Readiness includes a Team availability check for this reason: someone needs to be Active to take handoffs. When your business is closed and no one is Active, a transferred conversation waits in the Inbox until someone comes back and works it. Nothing is lost, but the customer waits, so a couple of habits help:
  • Keep at least one person Active during business hours.
  • Check the Inbox’s Awaiting reply every day, first thing, and clear it to zero.
  • If a lot of transfers happen after hours, consider a transfer rule or first message that sets expectations about when a person will reply.

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When the AI is switched off

If an admin switches the AI off for the whole workspace (AI status in the Control center), the agents stop replying. A conversation the AI was handling moves to a person when its customer next writes: it is queued, and the assignment rules give it to an available agent, unread. A conversation you kept in your inbox while the AI answered comes straight back to you. Nothing moves at the moment you switch the AI off, only as each customer writes again. An unworked transfer is the same lost lead as an unanswered message, just slower. Availability plus a daily Inbox habit is what closes that gap.