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The differences between customer service advocates 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 service advocate and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer service advocate has an average salary of $33,000, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer service advocate include strong customer service, social work and appointment scheduling. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Customer Service Advocate | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $33,000 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $15.87 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 211,969 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer service advocate is responsible for prioritizing customer satisfaction in a company or business. Most of the time, they reach out to clients and perform follow-up calls to secure sales, devise strategies and programs to improve support operations, handle correspondence, and monitor all inquiries to ensure that all issues get resolved on time. Furthermore, as a customer service advocate, it is essential to develop corrective measures on complex matters, coordinate with staff, and adhere to all regulations.
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 service advocates and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Service Advocate | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $33,000 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $39,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Danvers, MA | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Washington |
| Best paying company | Committee for Public Counsel Services | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a customer service advocate and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Service Advocate | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service advocates' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Service Advocate | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 25.6% Female, 74.4% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.3% 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% |