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The differences between customer agents and customer service 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 customer agent and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer service specialist has an average salary of $33,238, which is higher than the $31,834 average annual salary of a customer agent.
The top three skills for a customer agent include data entry, customer service and outbound calls. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Agent | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $31,834 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $15.30 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 211,832 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer agent provides friendly service to external and internal customers. Customer agents talk to customers on behalf of businesses and companies. They help customers with their queries and complaints. It is their job to give customers a better understanding of the products. They answer questions with regards to their reservations. Sometimes, they also have sales roles. Oftentimes, they answer questions, process sales, provide information, and resolve problems.
Customer service specialists are employees who are responsible for providing the best customer experience to customers, usually for after-sales transactions. They attend to customers' inquiries and provide answers to their questions on products or services that the company offers. They also address customer complaints and help mitigate the concerns by offering solutions such as instructions on how to fix defects, or processing replacements or refunds. Customer service specialists also listen to customer feedback and ensure that these are logged properly so that proper departments will be able to receive them.
Customer agents and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Agent | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $31,834 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $39,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Speedway Motors | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer agent and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Agent | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer agents' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Agent | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.8% Female, 56.2% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.3% Asian, 7.0% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |