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The differences between customer care specialists 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 specialist and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer care specialist has an average salary of $32,427, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer care specialist include customer care, customer service and outbound calls. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $32,427 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $15.59 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 260,027 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer care specialist is responsible for assisting the customers with their inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services offered by the organization. A customer care specialist must be detail-oriented, as well as have excellent communication and time-management skills in responding to the customers' needs while documenting the processes on a specific computer program. Customer care specialists are responsible for processing payments, replacing defective items, and initiating refunds as needed. They must resolve complaints accurately and efficiently to ensure customer satisfaction to keep a good reputation for the organization.
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 specialists and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $32,427 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $39,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Grand Forks, ND | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Washington |
| Best paying company | Axogen | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a customer care specialist and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer care specialists' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.2% Female, 69.8% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% Asian, 6.5% White, 56.1% 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% |