--- schema_version: "1" id: 9d3aa3f51e96c13a145b35b33ddd2e4780989673bdcd87cd92ff99e84fdea771 title: Understanding Escalations from Help Agent to Service Rep collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/ai/264-0-0/help_agent_escalation.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.help_agent_escalation.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 5d4f092221e9c59d603457355b21e5e765d5b50b8f900a36204107f7bc3df1b5 description: Customer conversations with the Help Agent can be escalated to a human service rep. By default, escalation is triggered when a customer explicitly requests to speak with a human or service rep. products: - Agentforce - Cross Cloud release: "264" --- # Understanding Escalations from Help Agent to Service Rep Customer conversations with the Help Agent can be escalated to a human service rep. By default, escalation is triggered when a customer explicitly requests to speak with a human or service rep. If needed, you can customize the triggers in the Agentforce Builder. For example, you can configure escalation based on business rules or guardrails, such as when a question falls outside the agent's knowledge or goes unanswered multiple times. If an escalation is triggered but no rep is available, the Help Agent remains in the session and, by default, offers to create a support case. For more information about the escalation, see [Transfer Conversations from an Agent with an Omni-Channel Flow](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.service_agent_escalation.htm&language=en_US). ## Escalation Path in the Conversation Lifecycle This section describes the full lifecycle of a customer conversation, from the moment a contact is made, through the Help Agent, through escalation to a service rep, to resolution. This diagram illustrates the full lifecycle of a customer conversation. ![Flowchart showing the full escalation lifecycle: customer initiates contact, Omni-Channel routes to Help Agent, Help Agent handles request, escalation decision point branches to either issue resolved or escalation triggered, which leads to capture feedback and attempt transfer; service rep available branches to service rep handling or case creation, then interaction ends](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/generative_ai/images/help_agent_escalation_flowchart.png) 1. **Customer initiates contact.** The customer contacts your organization through a supported channel, such as voice or web chat. 2. **Omni-Channel routes conversation to the Help Agent.** Omni-Channel routes the conversation to the Help Agent via a queue. 3. **The Help Agent handles the request.** The Help Agent accepts the conversation and begins handling the customer's request. The Help Agent interacts with the customer to understand and resolve their issue. To help the customer, the agent draws on its configured knowledge sources, subagent instructions, and available actions. Depending on configuration, it may retrieve knowledge articles, look up account details, create or update cases, or perform other actions. 4. **Escalation decision point.** After the Help Agent handles the request, one of these paths follows. 1. **The Help Agent resolves the customer issue.** The Help Agent resolves the customer issue and the conversation ends. Escalation isn't triggered. 2. **Escalation triggers.** When escalation triggers, the Escalation with Feedback subagent activates. This subagent contains the instructions that govern both the initial escalation attempt and any fallback behavior. 5. **Subagent captures feedback.** If escalation triggers, before transferring the conversation to a rep, the Escalation with Feedback subagent prompts the customer for a satisfaction rating. This feedback is recorded against the conversation for resolution-based billing purposes. 6. **Flow attempts to transfer conversation to a service rep.** The escalation flow assigned to the Help Agent attempts to route the conversation to the specified queue. The queue determines which service reps are eligible to handle the conversation. Before attempting to transfer the work to a rep, the Check Queue Availability element in the Omni-Channel flow determines if a rep is available. ![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/images/icon_important.png) Important Until at least one rep is assigned to the queue and available, no escalation requests can be routed to a rep. By default, no reps are assigned to the default queue. 1. **The service rep takes over the conversation.** If a service rep is available, the conversation transfers to them. The Help Agent exits the session. The service rep takes over and handles the customer directly. 2. **The Help Agent creates a case.** When an escalation request can't be routed to a service rep, the conversation reverts to the Escalation with Feedback subagent, which contains the fallback instructions. During fallback, the Help Agent remains in the session, informs the customer that the escalation was unsuccessful, and offers to create a support case. Full context from the prior conversation is maintained throughout the fallback. After fallback occurs, to prevent customers from repeatedly triggering escalation, the escalation action is blocked for the rest of the session. An escalation request can't be routed for the following reasons. - No agent is available. - The business is closed. - The queue is full. - The Help Agent isn't assigned an active escalation flow. - The LLM times out. ![Important](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/images/icon_important.png) Important To create a case for the customer, the customer must exist as a contact. If no contact record exists, the case isn't created. 7. **Interaction ends.** The customer's issue is resolved by the Help Agent, handed off to and resolved by a service rep, or captured as a support case for follow-up. For the default settings, like the default escalation flow and queue, see [Customize Help Agent Default Settings](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.help_agent_default_settings.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "While the Help Agent comes with default configurations designed to support common service workflows out of the box, you can tailor these settings to better align with your specific business requirements. To customize out-of-the-box solutions or create your own, use Agentforce Builder and agent assets, including subagents, actions, filters, and variables."). To change what the agent says during an escalation, see [Adapt Escalation Instructions and Actions Based on Your Business Needs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.help_agent_default_settings.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5). To change how conversations are routed, see [Customize Escalation Routing](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.help_agent_default_settings.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5).