A Guide to a Day in the Life of a Customer Service Representative

Updated 31 May 2023

A customer service representative guides customers to purchase and use a business's products or services and helps resolve issues and complaints. If you're interested in pursuing a role in this field, it can be helpful to explore what customer service representatives do during the day. This can help you decide whether it's a job you might enjoy. In this article, we outline what a day in the life of a customer service representative can look like by describing their key duties and tasks.

What does a day in the life of a customer service representative look like?

Depending on their place of work, a customer service representative might work a traditional 9-5 workday or a shift with late-night or early morning hours. Their duties may also vary depending on the size of the business, industry and whether the role is on-site or remote. To get an idea of what a day in the life of a customer service representative looks like, let's examine some of their typical daily duties.

Checking their schedule on a calendar

Customer service representatives often start the day by checking their calendars for any scheduled meetings and customer calls. This helps them understand how much time in the day is already allocated so they can plan their tasks for the remaining hours.

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Reviewing assigned queries

Depending on their place of work, some customer service representatives may check a customer relationship management (CRM) system for assigned queries. They might then prioritise these queries based on urgency and schedule some time on their daily calendar to complete them.

Checking unresolved issues

Some customer services issues are complex and take time to resolve. To prevent issues from dragging out too long, many businesses allocate a specific time period to resolve these issues. One of the daily duties of a customer service representative might be to check whether any unresolved digital support tickets are nearing the allocated resolution time. If so, they might choose to prioritise these issues so they can be resolved before the deadline. This helps ensure the business's customers are satisfied with the level of service they've received.

Meeting with managers

Customer service representatives often attend one-on-one or team meetings with their managers. During meetings, they might discuss the volume of queries they receive, the types of queries, and which channels the queries come from. They might also brainstorm ways to manage queries more efficiently and effectively to improve the team's operations. Meetings are also an opportunity for managers to highlight their team's goals, achievements, and how the team's performance is comparing to business metrics, such as average response and resolution times.

Managing customer issues

Most of a customer service representative's day is spent managing customer issues in a professional and friendly manner. Depending on their place of work, they may address customers face-to-face, take customer calls or manage issues raised in emails, social media posts or comments and online chats. Managing customer issues might include guiding customers to more appropriate channels, such as suggesting a customer who complains on social media to make a phone call. It might also involve accessing a customer's file to learn more about their previous interactions with the business and progress of ongoing issues. Learning a customer's background can help a customer service representative provide better, more personalised support.

Educating customers about the business's products or services

Some customer service representatives' daily duties include helping customers make more informed purchases by sharing information about the business's products or services. They might listen to a customer's needs, suggest suitable products or services and share specifications, options and pricing. Customer service representatives in customer-facing roles might also demonstrate products to emphasise their practicality and showcase their features.

Researching information for customers

Sometimes, a customer service representative may need to research information to answer customers' queries. For example, a customer service representative at a travel agency might research a location's weather conditions at different times of year to help their customers book travel at an ideal time. If an issue requires extensive research, a customer service representative may offer to call customers back once they have the required information.

Escalating complex queries

A customer service representative may occasionally need to escalate complex queries to their manager or employees from other departments. If a customer has an issue with an app's functionality, for example, the customer service representative may direct them to the tech team. When complex queries are escalated, they'll likely need to be logged into the CRM system for easy tracking. Escalating issues to the right person can minimise wait times and help customers get their issue resolved sooner.

Processing customer transactions

Some customer service representatives may process transactions on behalf of customers. If a customer wants to make a purchase, for example, a customer service representative may process the order for them. Depending on the size of the business, they might also process payments for paid invoices and send payment confirmation notices.

Updating the customer relationship management system

An important part of a customer service representative's job is to log their customer interactions in a business's customer relationship management software. They usually make these notes during or immediately after interactions so that all details are relayed. These notes can then be referred to when managing customer issues, ensuring information is accurate even when another employee picks up a query.

Managing return requests

If a customer is unhappy with their purchase, a customer service representative may have to manage a return request. Depending on the product, date of purchase and reason for the return, the customer may be issued a refund or credit. If a product is ineligible for a return, the customer service representative may need to explain the business's policies to customers. If a product is faulty, they may organise a replacement or repairs.

Updating knowledge base and issue logs

After successfully troubleshooting issues or resolving customer queries, a customer service representative might update the business's knowledge base and issue logs. This information may be referred to by other customer service representatives if they have similar issues.

Sharing feedback with internal teams

Customer feedback can help a business improve its operations, products and services. Part of a customer service representative's role includes sharing customer feedback with their managers and members of relevant departments. If there are recurring complaints about a bug in the business's app, for example, they may share this feedback with the tech team. Positive customer feedback might be shared with the sales and marketing department to use in promotional materials.

Participating in training sessions

Customer service representatives regularly participate in training sessions to ensure they stay up to date on the business's products and services. If a new product is being released, for example, they may be trained on its features. This helps them educate and advise customers better. These training sessions are often scheduled at the end of the workday to minimise interruptions to normal daily operations.

Participating in team building activities

Sometimes, managers may organise team building activities to strengthen their team's connection or reward them for good work. Customer service representatives may participate in several kinds of team building activities, such as attending a lunch at a nearby restaurant, going for drinks after work or sharing cake on a team member's birthday.

Answering out-of-hours calls

Some customer service representatives remain on-call outside their standard shifts to answer urgent customer enquiries. If they receive a complex enquiry, they may take notes so that a supervisor or other department member can attend to it in the morning.