Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer care specialists 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 care specialist and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer service specialist has an average salary of $33,238, which is higher than the $32,427 average annual salary of a customer care specialist.
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 specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,427 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $15.59 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 260,027 | 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 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 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 care specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $32,427 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $39,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Grand Forks, ND | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Axogen | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer care specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Care Specialist | 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 care specialists' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Care Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 30.2% Female, 69.8% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |