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Open Chatbot → Forms & Handoffs to define customer-facing forms that collect information before chat or when the conversation needs a human.

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Two form modes

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Pre-chat

A pre-chat form is shown before the visitor can send a message. It is collection-only. Submitting it does not itself create a Zendesk ticket, send an email, or create a RAUM Request. Pre-chat forms cannot contain attachment fields. The captured values can be reused later in a handoff form when the destination field is compatible with the stored value and current validation rules.

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Handoff

A handoff form appears when a configured escalation condition is reached and collects the information your human team needs. A handoff submission can become:
  • a RAUM Request;
  • an Email; or
  • a Zendesk ticket.

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Field types

The form builder supports fields such as:
  • text;
  • textarea;
  • email;
  • phone;
  • select;
  • checkbox;
  • consent; and
  • attachment.
Attachment fields are available for handoff flows, not pre-chat collection. A handoff attachment field can accept up to the supported flow limit, currently five files.

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Handoff triggers

A handoff flow can be triggered when:
  • Visitor asks for support;
  • Low-confidence answer;
  • A public action fails;
  • Configured intent matches; or
  • the conversation is Outside business hours.
These triggers can be combined according to the flow configuration.

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Configured intent

Intent-triggered handoff uses configured intent names and the Chatbot classifier. Enter the intended normalized names rather than prose paragraphs. The trigger is designed to match classified intent, not to perform another independent semantic-search experiment.

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Outside business hours

Business-hours routing includes:
  • IANA timezone;
  • opening time;
  • closing time; and
  • active weekdays.
Set the timezone explicitly. A support schedule without a timezone is merely a future incident written in local time.

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Destination: RAUM Request

Choose RAUM request inbox when your team will handle the submission inside RAUM. Requests support status, priority, assignment, internal notes, originating transcript, form answers, and retained attachments. Requests →

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Destination: Email

Choose Email when the handoff should be delivered to a configured support mailbox.

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Destination: Zendesk ticket

Choose Zendesk when the handoff should create a Zendesk ticket. The flow can include:
  • ticket tags; and
  • mappings from form answers to Zendesk custom fields.
Field mapping data is delivery configuration. It is not injected into Chatbot prompts as customer-facing knowledge.

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Signed webhook delivery

Signed webhook is configured at the Channel delivery layer rather than as a Forms destination enum. Use Chatbot → Channels to configure the webhook URL and signing secret. Channels →

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Localization

A form can have localized customer-facing content including:
  • title;
  • description;
  • submit-button text;
  • success message;
  • field labels; and
  • field placeholders.
Locale codes use BCP-47-style values. Publication rejects incomplete/invalid translations rather than quietly serving a half-translated form.

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Associate forms with widgets

Creating a form does not put it on every widget. Open Widgets → Experience & CSAT and select the active forms that should belong to that widget.

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Test handoff behavior

For each published widget, test:
  1. pre-chat gate;
  2. visitor-requested handoff;
  3. low-confidence handoff;
  4. failed public action;
  5. configured intent;
  6. inside/outside business hours;
  7. every destination; and
  8. each enabled locale.
Use Chatbot Simulation for decision-path testing, then perform at least one real delivery test for the configured handoff provider.