Customer Service Duties

10 Responsibilities and Duties of Customer Service Employees

What exactly are the day-to-day activities and tasks of customer service representatives? Below is the list of 10 major duties and responsibilities of employees working in customer-facing roles – ranging from frontline agents and tech support reps to those in managerial customer service positions:

1. Answering questions about a company’s products or services

Answering both general and specific customer questions about all the aspects of the products or services offered by a company is a key responsibility of many service agents. In fact, dealing with knowledgeable employees is considered by consumers as one of the most important aspects of a good customer service experience. Knowing the ins and outs of a company’s offerings is critical for frontline service reps as it allows them to provide quick, accurate and comprehensive responses to customers and prospects. 

2. Processing orders and transactions

Some of the basic customer service job duties may involve receiving and processing incoming orders and transactions as well and handling order cancellations, product returns or exchanges. It means ensuring that customer orders and transactions are processed in an efficient and timely manner. Order processing is often associated with entry-level customer service jobs and is seen as a prime opportunity for those looking to launch their career in customer service.

3. Resolving issues and troubleshooting technical problems

Resolving product or service issues, troubleshooting problems and providing ongoing technical assistance to customers are the typical duties of help desk support teams in SaaS and tech companies. That includes providing help and support with installation, customization, maintenance and upgrading of the product, and requires agents to have deep product/ service knowledge, as well as certain hard skills. Tech support reps very often work closely with product development teams to ensure product optimization and improvement of end-user experience.

4. Delivering information about a company’s offerings

Apart from answering questions and resolving issues, the duties of a help desk support specialist may include providing information about a company’s special offerings and upselling related products or services, if appropriate, when engaging with customers. However, while service reps may be partially involved in sales, in some capacity – their primary responsibility is assisting customers with product or service inquiries,  ensuring a positive service experience and customer satisfaction.

5. Providing proactive customer outreach

According to numerous studies, today’s consumers highly expect customer service to be more proactive and personalized. Therefore customer service representatives are not just required to reactively respond to requests – proactive customer outreach is also becoming a common duty of service employees. It may include offering support before customers even ask for help through proactive chat, informing customers about real or potential product or service issues, monitoring brand mentions and engaging in customer conversations on social media or proactively asking customers for feedback.

6. Handling customer complaints 

Dealing with unhappy customers and handling complaints is an almost inescapable duty of many customer service employees, especially frontline reps who are usually the first point of contact for customers. Those agents need to be trained for a wide range of customer service soft skills (such as good listening, clear communication, empathy, ability to use positive language etc.) to be able to diffuse frustrated customers and ensure effective and successful complaint resolution. When facing conflicts that are beyond the scope what agents can handle, they are responsible for escalating them to the appropriate internal teams.