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The differences between customer support 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 support specialist and a customer service specialist. Additionally, a customer support specialist has an average salary of $39,470, which is higher than the $33,238 average annual salary of a customer service specialist.
The top three skills for a customer support specialist include customer support, phone calls and compassion. The most important skills for a customer service specialist are customer service, strong customer service, and cleanliness.
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $39,470 | $33,238 |
| Hourly rate | $18.98 | $15.98 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 259,592 | 223,323 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | 4 |
| 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.
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 support specialists and customer service specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average salary | $39,470 | $33,238 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $55,000 | Between $26,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Micron Technology | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer support specialist and a customer service specialist in terms of educational background:
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Service 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 service specialists' demographics:
| Customer Support Specialist | Customer Service Specialist | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 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% |