Explore the vital role of customer service representatives in delivering exceptional support

Definition of customer service representative

A customer service representative is an individual who interacts with customers on behalf of a company or organization in order to provide help in resolving any issues or inquiries they may have. Customer service reps act as the primary point of contact between the company and its customers, representing its values and brand image.

A guide to what makes a good customer service representative?

Who are Customer Service Representatives (CSRs)? What is their role in growing and supporting your business? What are their day-to-day activities? If you want to expand your customer support team, what qualities should you look for in your support reps?

In this comprehensive guide, you will find answers to all these questions and get a thorough idea of the duties and responsibilities of a customer service representative.

What does a customer service representative do?

“The primary job of a customer service representative—also referred to as a customer service or support agent—is to address customer issues and resolve them in a timely and efficient manner. Support reps interact with customers on a variety of channels such as phone, email, messaging app, and social media, and ensure that all valid customer concerns are dealt with as soon as possible.”

Whether it’s a bug in your product, a billing issue, or just about any problem, a support agent takes ownership and ensures a smooth and optimal experience for the customer. The support rep also works closely with teams from different departments to make sure swift action is taken to get a particular issue sorted.

Traditionally, call centers employed customer service reps to handle inbound calls, where customers would reach out. primarily to agents via phone calls to resolve their issues. However, in recent times, with the rise of more digital channels of communication and with customers valuing their overall experience with a brand rather than just product quality, customer service as a function is gaining more prominence.

Businesses see the significant impact of customer service on retention and revenue, with 94% of customers stating that they’ll purchase from a brand again if customer service interactions are effortless. This elevates the role of customer service professionals across various industries, including e-commerce, healthcare, travel, banking, and insurance companies, as the onus of crafting effortless customer service experiences lies with service reps.

Duties and responsibilities of a customer service representative

A customer service representative should be able to interact with a customer and immediately get the context of their problem. Support agents should have sound knowledge of the product/service, which will help them suggest a solution to the customer right away. Suppose the customer complaint is beyond the immediate scope of the support rep. In that case, they should know how to escalate the problem to the right internal team(s) and follow up with them regularly for updates on the progress made to resolve the complaint.

Here’s a look at the key responsibilities of a service rep.

1. Take ownership of customer issues

Customer service reps must take ownership of the customer’s problem and be the single point of contact for all inquiries related to progress updates, the troubleshooting procedure, and the expected resolution time.

2. Troubleshoot problems and drive resolutions

A service rep must follow a customer-first attitude and leave no stone unturned in giving customers the best possible experience. Once a support ticket is assigned, they need to research all possible ways to troubleshoot it and quickly develop a solution.

3. Escalate unresolved issues to relevant internal teams

Customer support reps often deal with issues that are highly technical or beyond their scope. For such cases, the support agent needs to communicate with the right internal teams and ensure that they take appropriate action to resolve it.

4. Collect prompt and accurate customer feedback

The work of a support rep does not end with resolving the issue. They also need to follow up with the customer, find out if the solution worked, and take note of the customer’s suggestions on what could have improved their experience.

5. Document knowledge as solution articles

The solution to every customer problem provides a valuable learning experience for service reps. They should be able to document this knowledge with help content or solution articles so other reps and customers can find answers to the same problem and potentially avoid it in the future.

6. Master the helpdesk software

If your company uses customer support software, all of these tasks will be easier. Your support agents should be able to quickly learn the helpdesk's functionalities and resolve customer problems.

What makes a good customer service representative?

Service reps must be quick on their feet, excel in having good conversations with customers, exhibit mastery in the product/service, and have a positive outlook that isn’t put down by a bad customer interaction. Here are some of the skills that every support agent in your team should possess.

1. Communication skills

Service reps should be pleasant and empathetic while they’re interacting with customers. They must have great listening skills to understand what the customer really wants and should also have the patience to handle conversations effectively irrespective of their skill level.

2. Competent technical knowledge

It’s always good to have a support agent who’s well versed with your product and is familiar with the latest technologies in customer support. CSRs can use their technical know-how to solve complex customer issues and help new team members adapt quickly to your company’s support routines.

3. Ability to multitask

As customer support is one of the most chaotic departments within a company, a support rep must be able to multitask seamlessly between tasks like handling high-priority tickets, documenting solution articles, and preparing notes for meetings/events in a way such that their time and energy are divided optimally.

4. Attention to detail

Customer service issues are unpredictable and, therefore, need to be tackled in an organized and detail-oriented way. Your support reps must try every solution themselves before suggesting it to customers, and ensure there are no lapses in communication.

5. Ability to honor deadlines

Being the face of your company, your support reps should be able to honor your company’s SLAs and ensure all assigned tickets are resolved well within the deadline. If a particular ticket is out of their scope, they must follow standard procedures to escalate it to the right team.

6. A proactive approach to support

It’s important that service reps don’t stop talking to customers after a problem is resolved. They can also take the liberty to make outbound calls to customers—proactively reach out to customer accounts—find out if it’s been a smooth sailing for them with the product, and gather customer feedback.

What is the difference between customer service representative and customer service associate?

The terms "Customer Service Representative" and "Customer Service Associate" are often used interchangeably, and no universally accepted definition clearly distinguishes the two roles. However, in some contexts, there can be subtle differences in the job titles.

One difference could relate to the level of experience: Some organizations may use the term "Customer Service Associate" for entry-level positions, while "Customer Service Representative" may denote a slightly more senior or experienced role within the customer service department. The representative might handle more complex issues or have additional responsibilities compared to an associate. Another difference might involve the scope of responsibilities. For instance, a Customer Service Representative could have a broader range of duties and responsibilities compared to a Customer Service Associate. Representatives might be involved in activities such as handling escalated customer complaints, providing training or mentoring to associates, or taking on additional administrative tasks.

Different organizations tend to have different hierarchies and as such, some organizations may put the customer service associate role higher than the customer service rep role.

What is the difference between customer service representative and customer success representative?

The roles of a customer service representative and a customer success representative have distinct focuses and responsibilities within a company's customer-facing operations.

In the table below, you’ll find a clear distinction between customer service reps and customer success reps.

Customer Service Representative

A customer service representative’s primary objective is to understand the customer’s problem and troubleshoot it with an optimal and effective solution.

Customer service processes focus on short-term customer goals and do not directly impact revenue and other long-term objectives. Some highlights of their functions are:

• A customer service team’s underlying focus is on problem-solving in the short term.

• Support roles generally fall under conflict resolution, responding to tickets, answering phone calls from struggling customers, and responding to all customer concerns.

• Customer support is measured by factors like speed and quality of help received.

• Some of the most important support metrics include average response time, first call resolution, customer satisfaction rating, and net promoter score.

Customer Success Representative

A customer success representative’s primary focus is to empower customers to succeed with your product or service in the long term.

Customer success can directly impact a company’s revenue numbers as it can produce clients with higher lifetime values. The key features of the customer success rep role are:

• Customer success teams are focused on helping customers achieve greater value and are genuinely seeking to improve their business.

• They generate more downstream impacts such as bigger returns on investment, more reselling, better retention, and higher order values.

• Customer success teams should target their efforts on the account level, taking an almost account-based marketing approach to customer success.

• Key performance indicators of customer success teams are lifetime value, upsell and cross-sell rate, customer churn, and net promoter score.

When should you scale your customer support team?

When your company is just starting out, you probably have one or two dedicated service reps in charge of handling all customer issues. However, as your business grows, this setup will no longer be feasible, and you will have to start looking for ways to scale your support team.

The fewer people you have in your support team, the longer you have to keep your customers waiting. As a result, your customer base will become increasingly more frustrated with the slow response times, which can hamper your company’s progress.

It’s the right time to scale your support team and start hiring more support reps when:

• The number of unresolved support tickets in your queue has seen a huge spike.

• Your company’s CSAT rating seems to be witnessing a sudden decline.

• Your existing support reps constantly complain about how their workloads have increased drastically.

• Your once-loyal customers are becoming increasingly impatient and expecting a more prompt/immediate resolution of issues.

• Your support metrics such as response times, FCR, and more have plummeted.

• Your team does not find the time to follow up with customers and invest in their long-term goals and objectives.

Customer service representative job description template

If you’ve decided to expand your customer service team, then a good job description helps you set the expectations for the role and attract the right people to your support team. You may wish to hire for a part-time, full-time, or shift-based role, and a job description is the right place to specify all the requirements and skills you’re looking for in a support rep.

Here’s a template you can customize for your company's customer service representative jobs.

JOB TITLE:

Mention the exact role you’re hiring for. A customer support entry-level role could be ‘Customer service associate’, ‘Customer service representative’, or ‘Customer support representative’.

JOB SUMMARY:

Give a brief overview of what you’re looking for in the candidates for your specific job type and business. Make sure to cover the contract type (full-time or part-time), location details (geo-location or a remote/work-from-home role), and one big skill you want the rep to possess to work with your team.

Example:

We’re looking for a customer-focused, positive customer service associate who can take end-to-end ownership of assigned customer requests and deliver prompt resolution primarily through mail and chat channels. This is a full-time, on-site role based out of Singapore.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

List the primary duties of the customer service agent in this section.

Sample list of responsibilities for a customer service associate:

• Handle customer inquiries via email and chat, giving prompt answers to customer questions.

• Provide knowledgeable help to customers and go the extra mile in providing the correct details to customer queries.

• Adhere to Service Level Agreement (SLA) deadlines in resolving customer complaints quickly and effectively.

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders such as the product and payments team for faster resolutions.

• Identify and escalate customer requests to managers when there’s a complex issue.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Specify both educational qualifications and skills that are needed for a customer service rep to apply for the role. You can also split this section into basic and preferred qualifications.

Sample list of qualifications and skills:

• Minimum qualification: High-school diploma. Graduates in any stream can also apply.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (English).

• Good documentation skills. Proficiency in using Microsoft Excel and Word is an added advantage.

• Sound problem-solving skills to find the root cause of customer issues.

The tools a customer service rep uses

A customer service software

With a seamless, AI-powered omnichannel solution like Freshdesk Omni, agents can dive into conversations with the context they need all in one place, so the next steps are clear and personalization is easy. When it’s time for teams to collaborate, having a unified view across channels keeps everyone on track.

A help desk software

With dedicated ticketing software like Freshdesk, it becomes easier for your service reps to execute their jobs in a more streamlined manner. They can access customer requests from multiple communication channels through a unified database, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure deadlines are being adhered to.

A CRM solution

To access important contextual information about a customer, the service rep will require access to CRM software. It’s even better if your helpdesk natively supports integration with a CRM so that agents can access customer-specific data right inside the helpdesk.

Excel sheets

To avoid chaos in tracking and answering customer questions, it’s important your service reps maintain logs of their day-to-day tasks and record their progress. Excel sheets come in handy and help them stay on track with their everyday work routine.