Every transfer has a cost the customer pays
A transfer feels free to the team and expensive to the customer. Each one risks a dropped thread, a wait in a second queue, and the sinking “so, starting over” moment. Some transfers are genuinely necessary — the question really does belong to someone else. The goal is not zero transfers; it is zero unnecessary ones.
Route it right the first time
The cheapest transfer is the one that never happens because the chat reached the right person to begin with. A short pre-chat form or a department picker sends billing questions to billing and technical questions to technical, so the first agent can actually resolve it. Good routing up front prevents the reactive shuffle later.
Broaden what the first agent can handle
Many transfers happen not because the question belongs elsewhere but because the agent wasn't equipped to answer. A well-maintained knowledge base and canned answers let a generalist resolve more without punting. Every question your front line can handle directly is a transfer, a wait, and a repeated story avoided.
When you must transfer, transfer well
Some handoffs are right — and a good transfer is nearly invisible. Pass the full context in an internal note so the receiving agent reads in instead of re-interviewing, and tell the customer who they are going to and why. “Let me bring in Sam from billing, I've filled them in” keeps a necessary transfer from feeling like a brush-off.
How MyLiveChat supports fewer, cleaner transfers
MyLiveChat routes by department and skill so chats start in the right place, supports internal notes so a needed transfer carries its context, and its knowledge tools help a single agent resolve more without handing off. The reporting then shows you which topics transfer most — the shortlist for where to train or re-route next.