What Counts as Customer Service Experience

Customer service experience means any job or role where you communicate directly with customers to help them solve problems, answer questions, or complete transactions. This includes face-to-face interactions, phone calls, emails, WhatsApp or SMS messaging, social media chats, and web chat support. It involves listening to customer concerns, providing clear information, resolving issues, and ensuring customers feel supported.

Why this comes up / what goes wrong

Small-business owners often want to hire or train staff with customer service experience but struggle to define exactly what counts. They may only consider formal roles like retail or call centers and overlook informal channels like social media or messaging apps. Sometimes, they confuse sales activities with customer service or fail to track service requests after a sale. These gaps can lead to hiring mistakes, poor customer retention, and lost referrals. Understanding what counts as customer service experience helps you find the right people and measure service quality accurately.

Step-by-step

1. List all customer communication channels your business uses. These might include phone, email, WhatsApp, SMS, in-person visits, social media platforms, and website chat. Check if candidates or employees have experience handling customer inquiries on these channels.
2. Confirm their communication skills. Look for experience responding clearly, patiently, and professionally to customer questions or complaints.
3. Check their problem-solving experience. Determine if they have helped customers resolve issues by providing information, escalating problems, or following up until resolved.
4. Verify documentation and follow-up practices. Good customer service involves recording customer requests or issues and tracking them to completion. Ask if they have used ticketing systems, customer portals, or CRM software.
5. Assess familiarity with customer service tools. Experience with support tickets, knowledge bases, or referral tracking shows they understand managing service efficiently.

Example (fictional figures)

John owns a landscaping company in Charlotte, North Carolina. He wants to evaluate if his new hire, Lisa, has relevant customer service experience.

• Lisa worked for 3 years at a garden center answering customer questions in-person and by phone.
• She spent 2 years managing email communication to confirm orders and handle delivery issues.
• Lisa also resolved customer complaints about damaged plants and helped customers choose products.

John calculates Lisa’s total customer service experience:

• In-person and phone interaction: 3 years
• Email communication: 2 years

Total customer service experience = 3 + 2 = 5 years

This shows Lisa has solid experience across multiple channels, making her a good fit for John’s business.

Common mistakes

• Ignoring informal communication channels. Overlooking social media or WhatsApp as valid customer service experience. Prevent this by including all platforms your business uses.
• Confusing sales with service. Treating sales calls as customer service without confirming problem-solving or follow-up skills. Prevent by clarifying the nature of interactions during hiring.
• Not verifying documentation skills. Failing to check if the person records and tracks customer issues. Prevent by asking about experience with ticketing or CRM systems.
• Assuming all communication is equal. Not recognizing that listening and empathy are key to service, not just quick replies. Prevent by assessing communication quality.
• Neglecting post-sale support. Forgetting customer service continues after the sale with requests or issues. Prevent by reviewing experience with after-sales support and follow-up.

Doing this in HelloGrowthCRM

HelloGrowthCRM helps small and mid-sized businesses manage customer service experience in one place. After the sale, service requests stay on the same customer record as the deal, ensuring continuity. The platform offers a branded self-service customer portal, referral tracking, support tickets, and a knowledge base to streamline service. These features help your team track interactions across email, WhatsApp, and SMS, improving response times and customer satisfaction. Learn more about HelloGrowthCRM for the United States and its WhatsApp and SMS CRM capabilities at /usa and WhatsApp and SMS CRM.

Frequently asked questions

What types of jobs count as customer service experience? Any role involving direct interaction with customers to answer questions, resolve problems, or provide information counts. This includes retail, call centers, help desks, online chat support, and social media messaging.

Is handling sales calls the same as customer service experience? Not necessarily. Sales calls focus on selling products, while customer service involves helping customers with issues or questions before, during, or after a sale. Both can overlap but require different skills.

Does experience with CRM software count as customer service experience? Yes, familiarity with CRM tools like HelloGrowthCRM to track customer interactions, tickets, and follow-ups is valuable customer service experience.

How do I measure customer service experience for hiring? Look for experience across multiple communication channels, problem-solving skills, follow-up ability, and use of service tools. Using a customer health score can help track ongoing service quality.

Can customer service experience include social media messaging? Yes, responding to customers on platforms like WhatsApp or SMS is a valid and increasingly important part of customer service experience.

Key takeaways

• Customer service experience includes all direct interactions aimed at helping customers.
• Evaluate experience across channels: phone, email, WhatsApp, in-person, and social media.
• Problem-solving, communication, documentation, and follow-up skills are essential.
• Avoid common mistakes like ignoring informal channels or confusing sales with service.
• HelloGrowthCRM supports managing customer service with tickets, portals, and knowledge bases on one platform.

Start managing your customer service experience more effectively by trying HelloGrowthCRM. Start on the Free Forever plan (200 leads, no credit card).