Customer care agent vs customer service representative

The differences between customer care agents and customer service 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 care agent and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer service representative has an average salary of $32,260, which is higher than the $31,774 average annual salary of a customer care agent.

The top three skills for a customer care agent include customer care, customer service and work ethic. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.

Customer care agent vs customer service representative overview

	Customer Care Agent	Customer Service Representative
Yearly salary	$31,774	$32,260
Hourly rate	$15.28	$15.51
Growth rate	-4%	-4%
Number of jobs	268,932	209,515
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 35%	High School Diploma, 33%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	12	12

What does a customer care agent do?

A customer care agent is responsible for assisting the customers' inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services of the company, as well as resolving and escalating complaints, ensuring that the needs of customers are addressed timely and accurately. Customer care agents also take customers' orders, process their payments, and set delivery or shipment schedules. They assist with the development of strategic procedures, as well as operational techniques, to increase productivity and generate more revenues and profits for the business.

What does a customer service representative do?

Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.

Customer care agent vs customer service representative salary

Customer care agents and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Customer Care Agent	Customer Service Representative
Average salary	$31,774	$32,260
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $38,000	Between $25,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Santa Clara, CA	Des Moines, WA
Highest paying state	Washington	Washington
Best paying company	Bassett Furniture Industries	Oracle
Best paying industry	Retail	Insurance

Differences between customer care agent and customer service representative education

There are a few differences between a customer care agent and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:

	Customer Care Agent	Customer Service Representative
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 35%	High School Diploma, 33%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Customer care agent vs customer service representative demographics

Here are the differences between customer care agents' and customer service representatives' demographics:

	Customer Care Agent	Customer Service Representative
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 34.7% Female, 65.3%	Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.5% Asian, 6.4% White, 55.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between customer care agent and customer service representative duties and responsibilities

Customer care agent example responsibilities.

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Apply excellent upselling techniques to increase company profits.
Answer all inquiries and concerns relate to a participant's account with the upselling of products and services.
Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities
Provide superior customer service to inbound calls from DirecTV customers regarding their schedule service/install appointment.

Customer service representative example responsibilities.

Manage and plan escalations; assure HIPPA guidelines are followed for confidentially and privacy.
Maintain cleanliness and safety and assist patients as necessary.
Operate POS system and maintain exceptional and consistent customer service.
Exercise proofreading and basic math skills to maintain quality control over documents process
Work in customer service department entering information into customer relationship management (CRM).
Develop highly empathetic client relationships and earn reputation for exceeding good customer service rep goals.

Customer care agent vs customer service representative skills

Common customer care agent skills

Customer Care, 22%
Customer Service, 12%
Work Ethic, 9%
Excellent Interpersonal, 6%
Customer Interaction, 5%
Excellent Organizational, 5%

Common customer service representative skills

Cleanliness, 10%
POS, 7%
Data Entry, 6%
Sales Floor, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Home Health, 5%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Customer Care Agent
Customer Care Agent vs Customer Service Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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