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The differences between customer 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 specialist and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer specialist has an average salary of $38,371, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a customer specialist include customer transactions, client facing and phone calls. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $38,371 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $18.45 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 202,965 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer specialist is responsible for assisting customers with their needs and concerns about the products and services offered by the company, addressing their inquiries timely and accurately. Customer specialists evaluate the customers' issues and provide immediate solutions through remote communication. In some cases, a customer specialist may send technical staff to the customer's location for problems that cannot be resolved over the phone or e-mail. They also take orders from the customers, process their payments, and explain the features and functions of the product.
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 specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $38,371 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $66,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | AbbVie | Dell |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 54% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer specialists' and customer service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.5% Female, 57.5% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.5% White, 55.3% 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% |