Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer retention representatives 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 retention representative and a customer support representative. Additionally, a customer retention representative has an average salary of $41,084, which is higher than the $37,404 average annual salary of a customer support representative.
The top three skills for a customer retention representative include customer service, outbound calls and bundling. The most important skills for a customer support representative are technical support, windows, and customer inquiries.
A customer retention specialist helps an organization build relationships with existing clients. Their primarily job is to develop programs and strategies to strengthen customer loyalty and communicate directly with clients to assist them with their needs, which may involve answering inquiries, discussing product or service specifications, providing price quotes, troubleshooting issues, or giving instructions. They may also negotiate contracts, give discounts, and offer customers incentives.
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 retention representatives and customer support representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Retention Representative | Customer Support Representative | |
| Average salary | $41,084 | $37,404 |
| Salary range | Between $20,000 And $83,000 | Between $29,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Phoenix, AZ | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Torchmark | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer retention representative and a customer support representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Retention Representative | Customer Support Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer retention representatives' and customer support representatives' demographics:
| Customer Retention Representative | Customer Support Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 45.7% Female, 54.3% | Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 6.0% White, 58.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | 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% |