What it is
Aria hands a conversation to your team when:
- the customer asks for a person;
- the request needs one: a complaint, a refund or return, a possible safety issue, a finance question and similar;
- she says she'll check with the team;
- she can't do something the customer asked for herself, such as a booking, a quote or a sales inquiry from a service customer.
The conversation becomes Awaiting staff, a case is saved with its type, urgency and the customer's own words, and the person chosen by the location's Handoffs rule (Settings → Assignments) is alerted.
How to use it
- Open Inbox and choose the Awaiting staff tab.
- Select the conversation and read the Human attention card in Context: the case type, urgency, what the customer said and wants, and how it reached staff, such as "Routed by Aria".
- Select Take over and reply to the customer.
- When it is handled, select Resolve handoff. On the last open case, Resolve and hand back to Aria also gives the chat back to her.
- See "A customer is waiting for staff" for the full staff steps.
What the data means
What the customer is told. Aria's own words are sent if they pass QualiFlow's checks. Otherwise a reviewed standard line is sent at once in the customer's language (English, Spanish or French), for example "I've passed your test drive request to the team; they'll confirm the time with you.", "I've passed your quote request to the team; they'll get back to you with the figures." or, when a person was alerted, "The manager has been notified." These lines never name a person, never promise a time that isn't recorded and never add an offer.
Aria keeps going. Awaiting staff doesn't stop her: she still answers new messages and can still book. Changing Assigned to doesn't stop her either. Only Take over and Pause do.
How to reach the customer. The case lists the contact's saved phone numbers and emails, shortened (for example "phone ending in 0147"), or says none are saved: reply in the conversation. It updates as soon as one is saved, and says when the customer asked not to be contacted a certain way ("The customer asked not to be contacted by email."). When the customer can be reached only in that chat, Aria asks once for the missing detail. She never asks for one already saved or just given, nor for an email after "I don't use email" (saved as a contact preference), and never holds up the hand-off. A detail they give is saved as given by the customer and is never permission to market.
One case per topic. While a case of the same kind is open, Aria adds the customer's newer words to it. After you resolve it, a new request opens a new case.
The case card sends nothing. It says "No external notification or response promise". The customer waits until a person writes.
Possible issues and fixes
The chat still says Awaiting staff after I resolved it
Symptom: You selected Resolve handoff, but the badge still says Awaiting staff.
Why: Resolve handoff closes the case only; it doesn't change the conversation's state.
Fix: Select Hand back to Aria, or use Resolve and hand back to Aria on the last open case.
How to check: The badge reads Automation active.
A customer got a reply that names a person or a time
Symptom: A hand-off reply promised a specific person or time.
Why: Aria's hand-off lines never do this, so it most likely came from a team member.
Fix: Open the conversation's steps in Workflow debug and check who wrote it. If it was Aria, report it to support with the conversation link.
How to check: The steps show the author of the reply.
Nobody picked up the hand-off
Symptom: A case waited for a long time.
Why: Nobody was assigned, or the unattended alert is off.
Fix: An Owner sets the Handoffs rule and Unattended handoffs in Settings → Assignments.
How to check: The next hand-off alerts the chosen person.
