Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer associates 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 associate and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer service specialist has an average salary of $33,238, 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 service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,989 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $15.86 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 191,027 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
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.
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 associates and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $32,989 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $51,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Udemy | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer associate and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer associates' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Associate | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 11.6% 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% |