What is Customer Support? Salary, Skills and Qualifications

By: Job Hai | December 6, 2022 5 min read
What is Customer Support? Salary, Skills and Qualifications

In this fiercely competitive, digital-first world, providing customers with relevant, responsive support has become more important than ever. Customer support is now emerging as a top customer consideration, a key differentiator between companies, and a profit-generating force. 

With the growing importance of customer support services, the demand for people who can excel in this role is also growing steadily. Therefore, here’s an article discussing in detail “what is customer support,” customer support job roles, the qualifications and skills required, and the salary to help willing candidates acquire a clear understanding of this job type. 

Table of Contents

What is Customer Support?

Customer support services refer to the technical support offered to customers who use a company’s services/products. The term is generally associated with SaaS and technology companies that provide complex IT solutions and whose customers need constant technical assistance. The main goal of customer support teams is to promote customer satisfaction. 

What are Customer Support Services? 

Now that we have understood what is customer support services let’s look at some of the types of customer support services –

  • Live chat support
  • Email support
  • Self-service support
  • Interactive voice support
  • Social media support
  • Web commerce support
  • On-site support
  • Telephone support

Why go for a Customer Support Job?

Listed below are some of the reasons elaborating why you should go for a customer support job – 

  • You’ll master the art of effectively solving problems. 
  • You’ll learn about your service or product, inside and out, thus becoming a subject matter expert. In turn, this might open endless possibilities for you as you continue to grow in your career. 
  • You will be able to build transferable skills such as sales, marketing, problem-solving, and product development skills that might help you to snag a new job/role if you wish to branch out further. 
  • You will master various communication mediums such as emails, live chat, phone, community forums, and social media. 
  • You’ll learn to collaborate with a diverse team. 

Customer Support Skills & Qualifications 

Although the set of key skills required depends on the type of customer service executive job one applies to, there are some basic skills that one must possess to apply to any customer support job. Such basic skills are as follows –

  • Multi-tasking abilities and time management skills.
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Strong communication skills
  • Relationship-building skills. 
  • Good listening skills.
  • The skill to empathize with customers and communicate accordingly.
  • Basic technical skills. 

To secure a job as a customer service representative or executive, you need to have the following qualifications –

  • A high school degree from any registered college or school
  • A bachelor’s degree or diploma degree.
  • Basic computer knowledge.
  • Sound knowledge of English. 

Customer Support Salary, Types & Career Scope

Listed below are some of the most commonly known types of customer support jobs –

  • Customer support representative or specialist. 
  • Customer support manager
  • Customer support engineer
  • Customer support executive
  • Customer support associate

Talking about career scope, a customer support job offers you a wide range of possibilities to grow professionally and personally. In the table given below, the various job positions and the average annual salary in India have been listed to help you understand your career scope. 

Job roleApproximate Annual Salary in INR
Customer Support Representative₹ 2,48,295
Customer support engineer₹ 2,30,544
Customer support manager₹ 8,50,000
Customer support executive₹ 2,76,723
Customer support associate₹ 2,20,000

Customer Support Interview Questions: 

Why are you applying for a Customer Support position?

I am applying for this job position because it is an opportunity to use my experience and expertise in dealing with customers. I also possess the technical skills required for this job position. 

Why do you want to join Customer Support? 

I want to join Customer support because my experience working in the field of client relations has made me realize how satisfying it feels to turn a dissatisfied and angry customer into a satisfied one by solving their problems. 

FAQs

Q1: What is the meaning of customer support?

A: Customer support is the service that is provided to customers to help them. Resolve any technical problems that they might face with a service/product.

Q2: What is the role of customer support?

A: The role of customer support is to support customers by answering their queries, promptly responding to their complaints, and providing them with helpful information.

Q3: What is a customer support executive?

A: A customer support executive manages a team consisting of customer support representatives and ensures that the team has been adequately trained to provide excellent customer service. 

Q4: What is customer support in BPO?

A: Most companies prefer to outsource their customer service work to the BPOs that specialize in handling customer queries that come in through email, phone, social media, and other channels.

Q5: What is a customer support associate?

A customer service associate bears the responsibility of assisting customers with their queries related to services/products and providing professional customer service. 

6: What is a customer support representative?

A: A customer support representative helps customers by solving their problems and answering their queries about the products/services they have bought.

Q7: What is the difference between customer service and customer support?

A: Customer service teams build relationships between the customers and the organization, whereas customer support teams fix technical issues.

Q8: Is customer support an IT job?

A: Yes, the customer support job is an IT job because most customer support employees have to work in the technology industry and solve various technical problems.