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The differences between customer service associates 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 associate and a customer service representative. Additionally, a customer service representative has an average salary of $32,260, which is higher than the $31,709 average annual salary of a customer service associate.
The top three skills for a customer service associate include patients, sales floor and plumbing. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
Customer Service Associate | Customer Service Representative | |
Yearly Salary | $31,709 | $32,260 |
Hourly rate | $15.24 | $15.51 |
Growth Rate | -4% | -4% |
Number Of Jobs | 380,943 | 209,515 |
Job Satisfaction | 5 | 4 |
Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 33% |
Average Age | 40 | 40 |
Years Of Experience | 12 | 12 |
Customer service associates are representatives of the company who are responsible for solving customer concerns. They provide exceptional service to clients to ensure that their problems are solved and that the relationship between the client and the company remains strong. Customer service associates are in-charge of processing transactions, maintaining a good working relationship between the client and the company, ensuring that the client remains loyal to the company, and working on the requests of the client. Through all of this, customer service associates must keep any information they may encounter confidential. They should also have time management skills, problem-solving skills, and customer service skills.
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 associates and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
Customer Service Associate | Customer Service Representative | |
Average Salary | $31,709 | $32,260 |
Salary Range | Between $24,000 And $40,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
Highest Paying City | Richmond, CA | Des Moines, WA |
Highest Paying State | California | Washington |
Best Paying Company | Fidelity Investments | Oracle |
Best Paying Industry | Finance | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a customer service associate and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
Customer Service Associate | Customer Service Representative | |
Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 33% |
Most Common Major | Business | Business |
Most Common College | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer service associates' and customer service representatives' demographics:
Customer Service Associate | Customer Service Representative | |
Average Age | 40 | 40 |
Gender Ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
Race Ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.5% Asian, 6.6% White, 55.9% 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% |