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The differences between customer care representatives and associate 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 representative and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, an associate customer service representative has an average salary of $35,215, which is higher than the $32,912 average annual salary of a customer care representative.
The top three skills for a customer care representative include customer care, customer service and work ethic. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.
| Customer Care Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $32,912 | $35,215 |
| Hourly rate | $15.82 | $16.93 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 214,835 | 199,751 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer care representative is responsible for providing resolution with the customer's concerns, following the business' procedures and strategic processes. Customer care representatives must have exceptional customer service skills to address their clients' concerns efficiently and accurately, as well as having extensive knowledge of the products and services their company offer. Duties of a customer care representative also include managing client's complaints, offering alternative products and refunds as needed, calculating fees for special requests, updating customer's account information, documenting actions taken, and escalating special case concerns to the supervisor.
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
Customer care representatives and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Care Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $32,912 | $35,215 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $40,000 | Between $26,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Philadelphia Corporation for Aging | Deutsche Bank |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer care representative and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Care Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer care representatives' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Care Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.5% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |