Managing Customer Agent settings

You will learn

Where to configure Customer Agent’s handoff behavior, channel-level settings, agent name and greeting, and permissions for who can edit the agent.

Before you begin

You’ll need:

• An Owner, Admin, or Manager role
• Customer Agent enabled

Overview

Settings control how Customer Agent operates outside of conversation behavior — things like how it hands off to a human, which channels are active, and how the agent identifies itself to shoppers.

If you’re looking to change how Customer Agent talks (tone, communication style) or escalates (escalation rules), that’s Guidance. See Understanding Customer Agent Guidance.

Configure handoff

Handoff settings control what happens when Customer Agent can’t resolve a conversation — either because an escalation rule fired or because the shopper asked for a human.

Two methods:

• Send a ticket to your helpdesk — Customer Agent creates a ticket and continues to manage the shopper experience based on which helpdesk you use.
• Don’t hand off — Customer Agent shows a custom message instead of handing off. Use this if you don’t have a helpdesk integration but still want to give shoppers a clear next step.

Helpdesk options

Behavior varies by helpdesk:

• Klaviyo Helpdesk — Conversation lands in Inbox. The shopper continues the conversation through web chat with your team.
• Zendesk — A Zendesk ticket is created. Web chat continues to be available to the shopper while the ticket is open.
• Gorgias — A Gorgias ticket is created. The conversation transfers to email; web chat closes after handoff.

Each helpdesk receives the conversation transcript, timestamps, the visitor’s email address, and the Klaviyo profile ID with the ticket.

Web chat handoff requires authenticated customers

Handoffs to a human agent on web chat require the shopper to be signed into an authenticated customer account. Anonymous shoppers won’t be able to continue the conversation with a human via web chat — they’ll need to provide an email address or sign in.

Per-channel handoff

Web chat, email, SMS, and WhatsApp are configured separately. You can use different handoff destinations per channel — for example, web chat handoffs go to Klaviyo Helpdesk and SMS handoffs go to Zendesk.

Configure channels

Each channel has its own toggle and configuration. From this section, you can:

• See which channels are active
• Toggle a channel on or off
• Open a channel’s setup (which redirects to the relevant settings page — for example, klaviyo.com/settings/sms for SMS, klaviyo.com/settings/whatsapp for WhatsApp)

To launch a channel from scratch, see How to launch your Customer Agent.

Configure general settings

A few brand-level settings live here:

• Agent name — How Customer Agent introduces itself to shoppers (e.g., “Maya” or “Hammerhead Help”). Affects the greeting and any places Customer Agent refers to itself by name.
• Greeting — The opening message Customer Agent shows when a shopper opens a conversation.
• Avatar — The image shoppers see in the chat widget. Upload a logo or branded illustration.

Permissions

Customer Agent settings are role-gated:

• Owner, Admin, Manager — Can view and edit all settings.
• Other roles — Can view conversation data and reporting, but can’t edit settings.

If you need to change who can edit, update the user’s role in your Klaviyo account settings.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: Handoff emails aren’t sending to my helpdesk.
Likely cause: Helpdesk integration isn’t connected, or the connection has expired.
Fix: Open your helpdesk integration in Klaviyo. Reconnect if expired. Test by escalating a sample conversation in the test sidebar.

Symptom: A channel toggle doesn’t take effect.
Likely cause: A required prereq for the channel isn’t met (e.g., no two-way SMS sender configured), or the change hasn’t propagated yet.
Fix: Check the channel’s setup page. Confirm prereqs. If the toggle stays in the same state, refresh the page.

Symptom: Web chat handoff isn’t reaching a human agent.
Likely cause: The shopper isn’t signed in, or no human agents are available in the helpdesk.
Fix: Confirm shoppers can sign in or provide an email address before handoff. Check helpdesk staffing for the relevant queue.

FAQ

Can different channels have different handoff destinations?
Yes. Each channel’s handoff is configured separately.

What happens to in-progress conversations when I change handoff settings?
Changes apply to new handoffs going forward. Conversations already escalated stay routed where they were sent originally.

Can I temporarily disable handoff?
Set the handoff method to “Don’t hand off” and provide a custom message. Customer Agent will show that message instead of escalating.

Next steps

• Configure escalation rules to control when Customer Agent hands off
• Test in the test sidebar to confirm handoff works as expected
• Monitor escalation rates on the Performance dashboard