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The differences between customer support representatives and associate 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 support representative and an associate customer service representative. Additionally, a customer support representative has an average salary of $37,404, which is higher than the $35,215 average annual salary of an associate customer service representative.
The top three skills for a customer support representative include technical support, windows and customer inquiries. The most important skills for an associate customer service representative are patients, outbound calls, and customer inquiries.
| Customer Support Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $37,404 | $35,215 |
| Hourly rate | $17.98 | $16.93 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 243,140 | 199,751 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
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.
An associate customer service representative is responsible for providing high customer service by assisting customers on their inquiries and concerns, as well as resolving and escalating high-level complaints to the supervisor or tenured customer service representative. Associate customer service representatives also process orders and payments from the customers, replacing defective items, and issuing refunds as needed. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on handling data processing procedures to the database for reference to customer concerns.
Customer support representatives and associate customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Support Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $37,404 | $35,215 |
| Salary range | Between $29,000 And $47,000 | Between $26,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | University of California, Berkeley | Deutsche Bank |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer support representative and an associate customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Customer Support Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer support representatives' and associate customer service representatives' demographics:
| Customer Support Representative | Associate Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.0% Female, 53.0% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 6.4% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |