What Is a Customer Support Representative? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

Customer support representatives are responsible for fielding, managing and responding to questions and issues from customers and clients. Here’s what to know about a customer support representative’s salary, needed skills and how to become one.

What Is a Customer Support Representative?

Customer support representatives are responsible for serving customers and their needs. They work closely with customers in person, over the phone or through online communication. 

What Do Customer Support Representatives Do?

The main responsibility of a customer support representative is to serve the customer by answering their questions, resolving complaints and issues and informing them of new products and improvements.

Customer Support Representative Responsibilities

• Manage and respond to customer questions. 
• Review social media to answer customer questions via various platforms. 
• Inform customers of new products, services and improvements.
• Create documentation surrounding customer support processes and procedures. 
• Answer billing questions. 
• Manage and update customer account information. 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities of a Customer Support Representative

• Field customer calls. 
• Process orders and customer payments. 
• Work closely with other customer support representatives to resolve issues. 

Customer Support Representatives Within a Company

Customer support representatives are the base of an organization’s customer support department and typically report to customer support managers.

Importance of Customer Support Representatives

Customer support representatives are an integral part of a company’s customer support operations. Without customer support representatives, a company’s relationship with its customers wouldn’t be successful. 

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Customer Support Representative?

Qualifications to Be a Customer Support Representative

• Ability to work under pressure. 
• Patience. 
• Ability to make quick decisions. 
• An understanding of industry trends and technologies. 
• Strong understanding of customer service best practices. 
• Experience with customer support software and tools. 

Customer Support Representative Prerequisites

• Although it’s not always required, most customer support representatives have a high school diploma. Some customer support representatives may also have a bachelor’s degree in business administration or a related field. 
• Most people in this role have worked in customer-facing roles previously. 

Customer Support Representative Hard Skills

• Basic technical skills. 
• Client-facing skills. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 
• Active listening skills. 

Customer Support Representative Soft Skills

• Time management and organizational skills. 
• Presentation skills. 
• Adaptability. 

Tools and Programs Customer Support Representatives Use

• Zendesk 
• Intercom
• Salesforce
• Talkdesk
• Olark
• Survey Monkey
• Hiver
• Zoom
• HubSpot
• Hootsuite

How to Become a Customer Support Representative

Customer Support Representative Education and Experience

Some customer support representatives enter the field shortly after earning a high school diploma. Although it’s not always required, some customer support representatives have a bachelor’s degree in business administration, communications or a related field. 

Customer Support Representative Certificates and Courses

• Certified Customer Service Manager
• Customer Service Manager Training
• HubSpot Customer Service Manager Learning Path
• COPC Certification
• CCPC Certification

Customer Support Representative Career Path

Although customer support representatives can come from a variety of backgrounds such as traditional retail or SaaS, this role is typically an entry-level position in the field. Many customer support representatives go on to become customer support managers. 

Customer Support Representative Salary and Job Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the customer service representative job outlook is expected to decline by 4 percent between 2021 and 2031. 

The full compensation package for a customer service representative depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average customer service representative’s salary.