Exhibit A
Where should each transferred chat go?
Only agents with the required skill are eligible; the least busy of them wins.
Incoming · 0 left
- All 7 conversations have been routed.
Conversation 7 of 7 · Skills-based
Shift ended, open chatgoes toAccounts · Sana
No skill needed, so the least-busy agent, Accounts · Sana, takes it.
Accounts · Sana
2 of 4 open
- Invoices
- Refunds
- Re-issue GST invoiceneeds Invoices
- Shift ended, open chat
Accounts · Dev
1 of 3 open
- Invoices
- Invoice name spellingneeds Invoices
Support · Ishita
2 of 5 open
- Hindi
- Login
- Can't log in to appneeds Login
- Hindi: batch timingneeds Hindi
- Full
Senior · Farhan
2 of 2 open
- Refunds
- Complaints
- Refund for duplicate UPIneeds Refunds
- Complaint about tutorneeds Complaints
Waiting · 0
- Nobody waiting: every conversation found an agent.
| Strategy | Routed | Waiting | Skill mismatches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skills-based | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Least busy | 7 | 0 | 4 |
Conversation 7 of 7, Shift ended, open chat: No skill needed, so the least-busy agent, Accounts · Sana, takes it.
What is a chat transfer?
A chat transfer is the reassignment of a live WhatsApp conversation from one agent, or team, to another. The conversation keeps its full message history, attachments, tags and internal notes, and ownership changes in the shared team inbox, so the new agent picks up exactly where the last one stopped. For the customer nothing changes: they are still talking to the same business number, in the same thread.
Transfers happen for practical reasons: the question needs a skill the current agent lacks (a GST invoice correction, a Tamil speaker), the agent's shift ends, or the customer asks for a specific team. Most inboxes support transferring to a named agent, or to a team queue where auto-assignment picks the next free person.
There are two styles. A cold transfer just changes the owner. A warm transfer adds a short internal note — what the customer wants, what has been checked, what is promised — and, where the tool supports it, tells the customer who will help next. Warm transfers are what stop the dreaded "please share your order number again".
Chat transfer is not the same as human handoff, which moves a conversation from a bot to a person, and it is narrower than escalation, which moves a case up a support tier and usually changes its priority or SLA. A transfer can be part of an escalation, but most transfers are sideways moves.
Key takeaways
- A chat transfer moves a conversation that already has an owner to another agent or team, keeping the full history in the thread.
- A warm transfer adds an internal note so the next agent can continue without asking the customer to repeat anything.
- Transfers happen inside your inbox; the customer stays on the same WhatsApp number and thread and sees no technical change.
- Chat transfer is agent to agent; human handoff is bot to agent; auto-assignment is the first routing decision.
How does a chat transfer work?
Decide the transfer is needed
The agent confirms the question is outside their scope or shift. If it is a quick fact, an internal note asking a colleague is often faster than a transfer.
Write the handover note
In one or two lines, record the customer's goal, what was checked and anything promised. Internal notes are never sent to the customer.
Pick a destination
Transfer to a named agent when continuity matters, or to a team queue so routing can choose someone online and below their concurrency cap.
Tell the customer
Send a short reply such as "I'm passing this to our billing team, who will reply here" so the silence that follows is expected.
Accept and continue
The new owner reads the note and history, replies in the same thread, and the inbox logs the transfer for reporting.
Common mistakes with a chat transfer
Cold transfers with no note
The next agent has to reread forty messages or ask the customer again. Make the handover note mandatory, even if it is one line.
Transferring to someone offline
A named transfer to an agent who has left for the day leaves the chat ownerless. Transfer to a team queue unless you have checked the person is online.
Ping-pong transfers
A chat bounced between three teams frustrates everyone. Track transfers per conversation and fix the routing rule or skill gap causing repeat moves.
Losing the window in the queue
The 24-hour window does not pause during a transfer. Alert the receiving team when a transferred chat is nearing the limit, or a template will be needed to reach the customer.
Example: A billing question in Lucknow
A Lucknow coaching institute's sales agent is chatting with a parent about course batches when the parent asks for a corrected GST invoice. The agent writes an internal note — "Needs invoice re-issued with school's GSTIN, number shared above, paid by UPI on 14 Oct" — tells the parent the accounts team will reply in this chat, and transfers to the Accounts queue. An accounts agent picks it up eight minutes later, reads the note and sends the corrected invoice as a PDF without asking a single repeat question.
Why does a chat transfer matter?
Every transfer is a moment where context can be lost and the customer made to wait. Done badly, transfers inflate resolution time, lower CSAT and leave chats ownerless until the 24-hour customer service window closes. Done well, they let a team specialise — sales, billing, returns — while the customer experiences one continuous conversation.
Best practices for a chat transfer
- Report on transfer rate per tag; a high rate usually means the first routing rule is wrong.
- Offer a one-click "transfer with note" so warm transfers are as fast as cold ones.
- Keep the customer-facing message short and honest about who will reply next.