Customer associate vs customer support representative

The differences between customer associates and customer support 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 support representative. Additionally, a customer support representative has an average salary of $37,404, 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 support representative are technical support, windows, and customer inquiries.

Customer associate vs customer support representative overview

	Customer Associate	Customer Support Representative
Yearly salary	$32,989	$37,404
Hourly rate	$15.86	$17.98
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	191,027	243,140
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
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 support representative do?

A customer support representative is responsible for answering calls and correspondence, providing customer assistance in various technical issues, concerns, or difficulties. There are also instances when they must make calls to follow-up on the issues, or even sell products and services. Most of the time, a customer support representative has a certain quota to reach and works under a manager's supervision. Furthermore, it is essential to keep accurate records and report to managers or supervisors should there be any problems.

Customer associate vs customer support representative salary

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

	Customer Associate	Customer Support Representative
Average salary	$32,989	$37,404
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $51,000	Between $29,000 And $47,000
Highest paying City	Los Angeles, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	California	Alaska
Best paying company	Udemy	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Telecommunication	Finance

Differences between customer associate and customer support representative education

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

	Customer Associate	Customer Support Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Customer associate vs customer support representative demographics

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

	Customer Associate	Customer Support Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4%	Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0%
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, 10.9% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 20.1% Asian, 7.3% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between customer associate and customer support 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 support representative example responsibilities.

Manage customer relationships using company CRM system, deliver post sales training on system, and offer additional assistance as needed.
Manage software maintenance renewal partner and assist with upselling additional and higher functionality licenses to increase revenue.
Coordinate and escalate efforts with adjacent operations and engineering groups to offer end-to-end solutions for customers with complex technical issues.
Track and measure all activity demonstrating the impact of CRR involvement.
Act as technical liaison and sell product into Telco and LAN markets.
Support internal users regarding installation of hardware, software and other windows application issues.

Customer associate vs customer support 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 support representative skills

Technical Support, 10%
Windows, 8%
Customer Inquiries, 6%
Data Entry, 6%
Customer Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%

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

Updated January 8, 2025

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