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The differences between contact agents and customer support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a contact agent and a customer support specialist. Additionally, a customer support specialist has an average salary of $39,470, which is higher than the $28,301 average annual salary of a contact agent.
The top three skills for a contact agent include customer service, phone calls and patients. The most important skills for a customer support specialist are customer support, phone calls, and compassion.
| Contact Agent | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $28,301 | $39,470 |
| Hourly rate | $13.61 | $18.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 209,089 | 259,592 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 1 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Contact agents are customer service professionals who handle emails, phone calls, and live chat messages. The agents assist customers with order inquiries, bills and payments, and support questions and complaints. These agents deal with technical support, inbound and outbound sales, and appointment bookings. They must ensure to handle an appropriate number of calls per day, resolve calls on the primary contact or refer them to the correct department, and log the call accurately against the customer's account.
A customer support specialist is responsible for assisting a customer's inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services the organization offers. Customer support specialists handle customer issues and resolve them promptly, escalating high-level complaints to the immediate supervisors. A support specialist will also replace products or process payment refunds as needed. Their goal is to maintain the highest customer satisfaction and keep a good reputation for the company while driving revenues and increasing profitability. A customer support specialist must have outstanding communication skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to record customer complaint cases while providing resolution.
Contact agents and customer support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Contact Agent | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $28,301 | $39,470 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $36,000 | Between $28,000 And $55,000 |
| Highest paying City | Milwaukee, WI | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Idaho Central Credit Union | Micron Technology |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a contact agent and a customer support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Contact Agent | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between contact agents' and customer support specialists' demographics:
| Contact Agent | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 33.4% Female, 66.6% | Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% Asian, 6.6% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |