Remote customer service jobs have been popularized lately by Gen Zers due to the TikTok “lazy girl … [+]
A new remote job trend has arrived on the remote and flexible work scene: customer service jobs.
It’s been popularized thanks to Gen Zers, staunch advocates of remote and flexible working opportunities, who, according to Jason Saltzman of Live Data Technologies in an interview with Business Insider, are constituting an 82% greater share of customer success roles. The proportion of Gen Zers in customer success and customer service is currently 12.2%, up from 6.7% in 2021.
Additionally, the number of Gen Zers within white collar jobs is also increasing as should be expected due to graduation, with the group comprising “a 22% greater share of the white-collar workforce,” Saltzman told Business Insider based on his analysis of 75 million white-collar workers.
But why customer success/service roles?
Customer service roles are popular as remote jobs, likely because of several reasons:
First, they are relatively easy for companies to implement as fully remote. Customer service and customer success relies heavily on technology such as CRMs, email, chatbots, live chat, and phone communication—all of which do not require the physical presence of the customer service agent.
Secondly, hiring remotely for customer success roles, especially if they adopt a work-from-anywhere or working from multiple locations policy, allows employers to source talent from around the world, in multiple time zones, ensuring they adequately meet customer needs, on-demand, even outside of regular office hours (take Amazon’s customer service as an example).
Another important reason as to why customer service roles are popular as remote jobs is because of the scalability aspect. Companies who are looking to expand their business operations and meet customer demand quickly are able to deploy agents who live in those time zones, without spending much cost as far as physical offices are concerned.
Additionally, remote customer service jobs have low barriers to entry—you generally do not need more than a high school diploma to get one, making it an easy choice for those without a degree, and Gen Zers who are currently studying, to pursue.
And let’s not forget one other obvious factor—remote customer service and customer success jobs do pay well. Even at the entry level, you can make decent money, and begin to earn more as you acquire years of experience, upskill so you can provide more specialized support, receive bonuses, or progress up the ladder into senior support roles and working at the management level.
Finally, remote jobs such as customer success and customer services are perfect for those who wish to help others, use their skills in communication and empathy, and who genuinely are delighted to make another person’s day and solve their problems—all while lounging comfortably in a headset and work-from-home pajamas.
However, remote customer service jobs are not all daisies and roses. Even in the Business Insider story with Saltzman, it was highlighted that the role can take a toll on your mental health, due to factors such as isolation, and angry, rude, and impatient customers with unrealistic expectations.
Additionally, one of the downsides of having a remote job in customer services or customer success is that it is heavily dependent on your internet connection and device. If you have technical problems with your connection, this will severely impact your ability to support customers in a timely manner and can exacerbate issues, leading to their frustration and potential complaints about you.
Finally, it’s easy to get burned out and exhausted with answering customer questions back-to-back, all day.
Remote jobs such as those in customer success demand patience, tact, strong communication skills, … [+]
To mitigate these factors, it is essential to ask yourself before stepping into a customer success role, What am I looking to gain from this job? What am I willing to put up with, and what are my non-negotiables?
It is at this point that you may discover that working a remote job in customer service is not for you. Or, you may still decide to go ahead and give it a try, but at least you have set your expectations.
It’s also essential to make a clear distinction between work and your personal life to prevent burnout, and allow yourself regular time to relax, to breathe, and to do something for yourself that will rejuvenate your body and mind and boost your wellbeing.
Lats but not least, it’s essential to note that despite their apparent popularity now, customer service jobs will be, for the most part, extinct within a few years. The industry is witnessing a 5% decline in job postings, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is mostly due to new technology such as artificial intelligence and chatbots taking over, simplifying processes, answering queries around the clock, and eliminating the need for customer success agents.
In that case, it would be a wise idea to look at customer success roles that are less likely to be touched by AI.
Customer service jobs, in their traditional sense, are declining due to AI, but remote customer … [+]
It would be expected, that due to the high levels of trust that are committed by businesses making large purchases at the enterprise level, customer service and success roles within this category are not as likely to be affected by AI than those merely providing B2C service.
Now, let’s take a look at three popular customer success and customer services remote jobs:
In demand by prospective candidates but losing its popularity amongst employers, this entry-level role still has an active presence globally, and requires tact, patience, and strong written and oral communication skills.
Average pay range: $35,240 and $43,928 (this is at the lower range for customer service jobs and falls below the U.S. median salary which is approximately $59,000; however this can be bumped up depending on other compensation factors such as sign-on bonuses, and performance-related incentive bonuses)
Coming in next, with higher pay, is customer success associate. This is part of the customer success team and is step below customer success manager. The role entails providing assistance to customers, usually for SaaS (software-as-a-service) and tech-related services/products, throughout their customer journey, and proactively owning the process of finding the solution.
Average pay range: $54,867 and $66,867
Moving up the pay scale, is the role of customer success manager, which is, again, most popular in SaaS and other tech companies. Customer success managers are pivotal to the customer lifecycle, ensuring they are happy and are able to use their product after purchasing. They are typically assigned as the customer’s first point of contact.
Average pay range: $105,074 to $146,547
Remote customer success jobs are best suited to professionals who have strong communication skills, … [+]
Ultimately, choosing a remote job within customer services and customer success can be rewarding…but it’s not for the faint of heart. If you are truly passionate about solving others’ problems, genuinely enjoy making someone’s day, and have the guts it takes to succeed in the industry—especially when working from home—this is the remote job for you.
