Afni News

Customer Service Representative Job Description

April 03, 2024 in

The Customer Service Representative (CSR) is the face of the company for any questions and inquiries a customer has regarding a particular product. They are directly connected with customers as they answer questions about the company’s products or services. Although many confuse the duties of CSR with sales, as both roles are involved with customers, they greatly differ. You can even see it on some customer service representative job description templates.

In this article, we will walk you through the role of the CSR, their main responsibilities, and what a valid customer service representative job description should look like.

Customer Service Representative Job Description

We all know that CSR ensures customer satisfaction as it is the first point of communication and contact a customer has regarding a question or issue with the product or service of the company. But what is a customer service representative, exactly? What are the customer service representative qualifications?

Customer service representatives are responsible for listening to customer questions, answering inbound calls, and processing payments or returns about a product or service.

Given their prominent customer-facing role in a company, when hiring a CSR, the company needs to have a carefully tailored job description to attract candidates with those specific needs.

If you’re interested in the role, keep reading below to learn what one should include in their customer service representative job description resume in terms of skills and responsibilities.

Core Responsibilities

Handling customer inquiries

Predominantly, the role of the CSR is to handle customer or client calls or messages. That’s why the best CSRs are more than happy to help customers. They are patient, empathetic, and possess great communication skills.

Depending on the company, a CSR will have to answer customer inquiries via real-time channels such as phone, email, live chat, or texts in a professional and courteous manner.

Once they’ve listened to the customer’s issues, a CSR needs to provide information about the given product or service and assist them in placing orders, tracking shipments, and processing returns or exchanges, if necessary.

Resolving customer issues

Customers call for all kinds of questions, complaints, and issues. They may be interested in using the product or service, they may have technical issues or want to cancel a certain subscription, etc. Therefore, having solid problem-solving and organizational skills is vital because a CSR will have to identify and resolve customer issues effectively. There is a high chance they’ll need to collaborate with other departments to come to a solution and ensure customer satisfaction.

Providing support and assistance

This is like an extension of the abovementioned responsibility. But, the difference is that you have to practically guide them to ensure they solve the problem. The reason we separated resolving customer issues from providing support and assistance is to address other challenges and skills you will need.

Namely, the customer service representative qualifications involve knowledge of computer skills, preferably advanced. While CSR is not expected to be tech-savvy, they should be faster in coming up with an effective solution. Additionally, they must know all about the project and its potential challenges, features, and benefits.

Processing orders and requests

CSRs are responsible for processing orders, returns, and exchanges promptly and accurately. Usually, each company has a different exchange and return policy, so you will learn how the return policy operates during the onboarding.

Maintaining customer records

The final responsibility in the customer service representative job description is the management of customer records. CSRs must document all customer interactions and transactions accurately in the CRM system and update them regularly. Therefore, a CRS will have to know how to operate a CRM system.

Working Conditions and Environment

If you have ever considered applying to a CSR role, you should be prepared for the dynamics. As the responsibility involves helping the clients in overcoming their issues, dilemmas, or service problems, you can expect that the working mode may include working during weekends or holidays.

Here’s what you should expect from this working mode:

Office-based or work-from-home arrangements

Usually, call centers have the CSRs work from the office, or at least for the first few months during the onboarding and the training sessions, and then allow them to continue working remotely from home or wherever they feel comfortable. You should find this information in the customer service representative job description call center details. Otherwise, CSR BPOs work remotely, and they use private technology and working equipment.

Potential for shift work and weekend/holiday rotations

We mentioned that part of the CSR role involves working during the weekends and holidays. However, that doesn’t mean that you will spend all your holidays at work. There are shifts for rotations for particular holidays. The only thing would be to announce it earlier.

With the working conditions, we close the responsibilities for the CSR role. Last note to add, for a customer service representative job, the applicant should have a high school diploma. Although a higher degree is not required, it’s considered a plus.

Find the Best Customer Service Representative Jobs with Afni

If you find yourself in the CSR role and you want to choose this career path, mind that we are currently hiring CSR in our company.

Here at Afni, you get to collaborate with 10,000 people all around the globe. With us, you will feel accepted, financially secure, and inspired to move forward with your career. Additionally, you will have opportunities to collaborate with respectable names in the insurance industry. Therefore, stop wasting your time, go over the customer service representative job description, and write a stellar resume. Leave the rest to us.

About the Author

Samantha is the Recruitment Marketing Manager for Afni and brings a wealth of knowledge and tips for job seekers. She holds a bachelor's degree in public relations and marketing from Mount Saint Vincent University as well as a masters degree in digital marketing and advertising from Liberty University.