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The differences between customer support specialists and customer care 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 support specialist and a customer care specialist. Additionally, a customer support specialist has an average salary of $39,470, which is higher than the $32,427 average annual salary of a customer care specialist.
The top three skills for a customer support specialist include customer support, phone calls and compassion. The most important skills for a customer care specialist are customer care, customer service, and outbound calls.
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Care Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $39,470 | $32,427 |
| Hourly rate | $18.98 | $15.59 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 259,592 | 260,027 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A customer support specialist is responsible for assisting a customer's inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services the organization offers. Customer support specialists handle customer issues and resolve them promptly, escalating high-level complaints to the immediate supervisors. A support specialist will also replace products or process payment refunds as needed. Their goal is to maintain the highest customer satisfaction and keep a good reputation for the company while driving revenues and increasing profitability. A customer support specialist must have outstanding communication skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to record customer complaint cases while providing resolution.
A customer care specialist is responsible for assisting the customers with their inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services offered by the organization. A customer care specialist must be detail-oriented, as well as have excellent communication and time-management skills in responding to the customers' needs while documenting the processes on a specific computer program. Customer care specialists are responsible for processing payments, replacing defective items, and initiating refunds as needed. They must resolve complaints accurately and efficiently to ensure customer satisfaction to keep a good reputation for the organization.
Customer support specialists and customer care specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Care Specialist | |
| Average salary | $39,470 | $32,427 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $55,000 | Between $26,000 And $39,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Grand Forks, ND |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Micron Technology | Axogen |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a customer support specialist and a customer care specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Care Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between customer support specialists' and customer care specialists' demographics:
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Care Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6% | Male, 30.2% Female, 69.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% Asian, 6.5% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |