Curious about the role of a customer service representative?
Whether you’re hiring for the position or seeking the job yourself, this all-encompassing guide breaks down everything you need to know about the position.
From general job description to responsibilities and skills to average salary, find out the typical expectations of a customer service rep.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the position and how to find the perfect role for yourself or your business.
Job description and general role
What does a customer service agent do? Customer service reps provide assistance to customers of a business. They offer guidance, support, and education to patrons of a store or users of a product. They are the first line of defense at a company for questions, problems, and, ultimately, resolutions.
For e-commerce brands, customer service reps are also tasked with upholding the company’s voice and enticing customers to purchase more products or leave glowing reviews.
The job can vary depending on the type of company and customer needs, but there are some basics that remain true for all customer support roles.
Salary
The average salary of a customer service representative is about $35,830 per year or $17.23 per hour. This can certainly range depending on experience level and job type. But it’s helpful to keep in mind if you’re planning to enter into the world of customer service.
Locations
The good news for customer service job seekers is that jobs are available pretty much everywhere in the world. Wherever businesses live, so do customer service reps.
The shift to remote work offers even more opportunities for customer support job seekers. The job can mostly be done with just a computer and a phone. If you’re able to create space for a home office, you can easily work remotely as a support rep.
That said, research shows that the best states for customer service work are Alaska, Washington, Massachusetts, and California, based on both availability of work and salary.
Typical day as a customer service representative
Tasks range from technical to personal for customer service agents, depending on your company and the customer you’re dealing with at any given time. The most common tasks that all customer service reps can expect to do include answering emails, phone calls, social media inquiries, and live chat requests.
Using the help of a customer support platform, you can organize and prioritize inquiries to make sure you address the most urgent complaints first. While the majority of your day revolves around talking to and helping customers, you may also attend meetings to represent the voice of the customers or create tickets to communicate issues to other departments.
Here’s a list of common customer service tasks:
- Monitor the inbox, organize inquiries
- Respond to assigned tickets
- Troubleshoot and resolve problems
- Create bug tickets or product requests
- Gather customer feedback
- Write knowledge base articles and new canned replies
Companies hiring for customer service
Essentially, every type of business has a customer service department. Big enterprise businesses have huge departments and may even outsource customer service to an entirely different company. Smaller companies may have the founder juggling customer support in addition to everything else.
Whether you’re looking to join a large organization or a small startup, there are many great resources for seeking a customer service job.
These job sites offer a wide range of job types and locations:
- Indeed: Filter by location, salary, experience level and more.
- LinkedIn: View and contact current employees to find out more about open positions.
- Glassdoor: Find out what the interview process is like and learn more about the company culture.
Resume tips for customer service roles
Highlight your communication and social skills when putting together your resume for a customer service role. Start with a brief summary of what you’re looking for. Note your passion for helping people and solving problems.
Outline your professional history, paying special attention to customer-facing experience and accomplishments. For education, most employers ask for a high school diploma or more.
Use the skills section to talk about your soft and hard skills, including communication skills as well as technical experience. Consider adding a section for hobbies or interests if they pertain to the job.
Skills & training
You can expect on-the-job training for most customer support roles. You’ll need to get comfortable with the help desk they use, along with any backend, CRM, or e-commerce platforms the company uses.
While the most necessary skill is communication, understanding POS (Point of Sale) systems, data entry, and general customer service procedures will also come in handy.
Customer service tools
Working in customer service requires a general knowledge of certain tools. Those who pick up on new technologies fairly easily will quickly get the hang of customer service tools.
You can expect to use tools like:
- Helpdesk software (inbox, knowledge base, live chat)
- CRM (customer relationship management) tools
- E-commerce platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce)
- Google Drive or Excel (spreadsheets, documents, presentations)
Using Groove as a customer service agent
Groove is the perfect option for companies who are obsessed with customer experience, but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a clunky support platform. Not to mention—Groove is extremely easy to use and easy to learn for customer service agents of all levels of experience.
We believe that great customer service tools shouldn’t be reserved for the mega-brands that can afford them. We believe that every business should be empowered to deliver fast, exceptional service, even if they’re not billion-dollar businesses…yet.
