Customer associate vs customer relations representative

The differences between customer associates and customer relations representatives 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 associate and a customer relations representative. Additionally, a customer relations representative has an average salary of $38,632, which is higher than the $32,989 average annual salary of a customer associate.

The top three skills for a customer associate include sales floor, product knowledge and customer service. The most important skills for a customer relations representative are customer relations, customer complaints, and team-oriented environment.

Customer associate vs customer relations representative overview

	Customer Associate	Customer Relations Representative
Yearly salary	$32,989	$38,632
Hourly rate	$15.86	$18.57
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	191,027	235,295
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a customer associate do?

A customer associate is responsible for providing the best customer service by assisting the customers with their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving their complaints, processing replacements, and issuing refunds as needed. Customer associates also sell products and services to the customers, demonstrating product features, and identifying business opportunities to drive more revenues and profits for the business. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills to process orders and payments timely and accurately.

What does a customer relations representative do?

A customer relations representative is responsible for providing the highest customer service by interacting with customers to respond to their inquiries and concerns, process their requests, and resolve their complaints. Customer relations representatives assist the customers with their needs by offering products and services according to their requirements and budget limitations. They may also sell newly launched products to the customers, discuss features and usability, and generate payments and delivery details. A customer relations representative must have excellent communication and organizational skills to maintain healthy business relationships with the customers to achieve the company's long-term goals and objectives.

Customer associate vs customer relations representative salary

Customer associates and customer relations representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Customer Associate	Customer Relations Representative
Average salary	$32,989	$38,632
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $51,000	Between $29,000 And $50,000
Highest paying City	Los Angeles, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	California	New Jersey
Best paying company	Udemy	Cook Children's Medical Center
Best paying industry	Telecommunication	Finance

Differences between customer associate and customer relations representative education

There are a few differences between a customer associate and a customer relations representative in terms of educational background:

	Customer Associate	Customer Relations Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Customer associate vs customer relations representative demographics

Here are the differences between customer associates' and customer relations representatives' demographics:

	Customer Associate	Customer Relations Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%	Male, 29.8% Female, 70.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.1% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 6.9% White, 54.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.3% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between customer associate and customer relations representative duties and responsibilities

Customer associate example responsibilities.

Manage product queries, process orders and deliveries of medical devices to NHS and private hospitals in UK.
Collaborate with management to train new employees on company policies and procedures and manage customer concerns via LiveChat.
Provide troubleshooting steps to service apple products.
Answer phones, operate POS and collect payments of cash, credit/debit cards and checks.
Job duties include not only calls, but faxing, copying, outlook, multitasking.
Require to have above average language skills, phone, negotiating, collaboration, persuasion, innovation.

Customer relations representative example responsibilities.

Lead upselling program initiatives that elevate company revenue.
Manage software maintenance renewal partner and assist with upselling additional and higher functionality licenses to increase revenue.
Monitor and coach CRA'S on calls to meet the clients expectations.
Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities
Work closely with QA to develop use cases, review test cases and track feature bugs.
Assist as needed maintaining meeting minutes, working with QA to identify and track bugs and other projects as assigned.

Customer associate vs customer relations representative skills

Common customer associate skills

Sales Floor, 24%
Product Knowledge, 22%
Customer Service, 13%
Phone Calls, 7%
Customer Calls, 3%
Outbound Calls, 3%

Common customer relations representative skills

Customer Relations, 10%
Customer Complaints, 8%
Team-Oriented Environment, 7%
Propane, 6%
Customer Retention, 6%
Schedule Appointments, 5%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Customer Associate
Customer Associate vs Customer Relations Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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