Customer Support vs. Customer Service: Here's the Difference

Many people use the terms customer support and customer service interchangeably. However, there’s a marked difference between the two.

Customer service is an umbrella term. It covers everything you do to create an excellent experience for your customers. Customer support is a subsection of that umbrella; it involves problem-solving, troubleshooting, and interacting directly with your customer base.

Today, we’ll review the similarities and differences between customer support and customer service. We’ll dive into how they’re similar and why it’s important to distinguish between the two.

Is there a difference between customer service and customer support?

Yes. While the two are similar, there’s a difference between customer service and customer support.

To start, customer service isn’t a department at your business. It’s not a phone line that customers call or a chatbot pretending to be a person.

Customer service is a commitment to your customers and a passion for creating an awesome experience. It’s present in your marketing campaigns as well as your sales pitch. Every aspect of your business involves customer service.

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Customer support is a type of customer service. It’s the reaction to customer problems and what your business does to provide solutions.

In other words, it’s what you do to keep customers informed and set up for success. If they have questions, you can answer them. If there’s an important update at your business, you share it proactively. Customer support ensures customers have everything they need to have a great experience with your business.

Customer Support vs. Customer Service: Similarities

While we’ll spend the bulk of this post discussing the differences between customer support and customer service, let’s quickly review the similarities between the two.

1. Customer support is a subsection of customer service.

We’ve talked about this already, but customer support is a subcategory of customer service. Here’s a graphic to visualize this concept:

There are many ways to demonstrate customer service, and customer support is one of those strategies.

2. Customer support and customer service are both reactive.

When we think about customer service, we typically think of it as a reaction. Customers have problems, and your business reacts and offers solutions.

The same goes for customer support. If your product breaks or a customer has a bad experience, you provide customer support to resolve these issues.

Both customer support and customer service can also be proactive. Rather than waiting for problems to arise, you should anticipate them and provide solutions before they happen. For example, if you get a lot of questions about your pricing and payment options, create an FAQ page on your website that addresses these questions. That will help your customers and save you time from having to answer recurring questions.

3. Both customer support and customer service solve problems.

Another similarity between support and service is that they both solve customer problems. Customer support reacts to people’s issues, while customer service always looks for ways to improve the brand experience. That typically involves clearing roadblocks and solving problems, whether proactively or not.

4. Customer support and customer service use multiple communication channels.

To provide great customer service and support, you need to use multiple communication channels, such as email, live chat, phone, social media, etc. The more channels you offer, the easier it is to communicate with you. Customer service and support require a combination of these channels to communicate effectively with customers.

Here’s the catch. The more channels you use, the harder it is to manage customer communication. That’s why you need a shared inbox that combines your conversations into one channel. Email, phone, and social media messages are forwarded to the same inbox. That makes responding to each customer easier and keeps you more organized as you oversee multiple communication channels.

With the similarities covered, let’s move on to the differences between customer support and customer service.

Customer Support vs. Customer Service: Differences

While it’s not the end of the world if you use these terms interchangeably, here’s what makes them different, according to a former customer service professional.

1. Customer support is more technical than customer service.

An easy way to remember the difference between customer service and support is that customer support often requires technical expertise and know-how. Most customer support questions involve problems related to your products or services. You need to troubleshoot these issues quickly to keep customers happy.

Customer service is more about the general experience with your business. It involves answering technical questions but goes beyond just providing solutions. It’s how you provide those solutions and make the customer feel valued.

For example, if you sell someone a faulty product and they ask for a refund, the refund itself is customer support. Now, if you refund the customer and provide a 20% discount (as an apology for the inconvenience), that extra discount is customer service. Your support solved their initial problem, but your service created a positive experience.

2. Customer service focuses on experiences, while customer support prioritizes success.

Since customer support responds to the customer’s journey, it focuses less on experience than success. Don’t get me wrong — you should always create a great support experience. However, the ultimate goal of customer support is to provide a solution.

Some people will be unhappy when they contact customer support. We’ve all been there; you want answers quickly when frustrated. The best customer support people aren’t just polite; they’re good at providing solutions. Setting your customers up for success is the most important part of customer support.

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Customer service, however, deals with the entire customer experience. Its goal is to ensure every interaction people have with your business is positive. Sometimes, that means providing solutions, but it also includes:

• Asking customers for feedback
• Responding to comments on social media and local listings
• Analyzing surveys, reviews, and product data
• Following up or checking in with customers
• Rewarding customer loyalty
• Nurturing customer relationships

3. Customer support is more transactional than customer service.

Customer support tends to be more transactional than customer service. For instance, when a customer has a problem, they contact support for a solution. The interaction ends when you provide the answer to the customer’s problem. It’s a simple exchange of information – similar to a sales role.

Customer service is more open-ended. People aren’t always reaching out with problems and questions about your business. Sometimes, they’re interested in a seasonal marketing campaign or want to interact with your brand on social media. They’re not looking for something specific but expecting you to create a great experience for them. That positive interaction is what leads to future deals and sales.

4. Customer support is typically a post-purchase function.

While people can still ask you questions before they buy from your business, customer support usually deals with issues from new or existing customers. It’s a resource that people use after they purchase something from your business.

Meanwhile, customer service is used constantly in marketing campaigns as well as sales strategies leading up to each purchase. For example, Lowe’s has this FAQ section on its landing page promoting HVAC services:

This checklist is a form of customer service. It gives potential customers more information, so they know what they’re buying from Lowe’s. It doesn’t overtly promote its services and clearly wants to improve the customer experience.

Before we wrap up, let’s look at another example of customer vs. customer service.

Custom Support vs. Customer Service: Example

Let’s say I manage a small fitness studio called “Clint’s Kickboxing Classes.” We value customer service, so we give out free water bottles and complementary gear rentals for new members.

We also use a key fob system at our gym for 24/7 access. If you have any issues getting into our facilities, you can contact our customer support team (a.k.a. me) over the phone for help.

In this example, we provide customer service by giving out free stuff. The water bottles and gear aren’t required, but they help create a great customer experience. People will see we have these perks and want to choose our gym over competitors.

On the other hand, we provide customer support by offering a phone number for questions and problems. We used the key fob as one example, but we could also answer questions about memberships, troubleshoot payment issues, and respond to customer feedback. All of these actions would be a form of customer support.

Customer Support vs. Customer Service: Which Matters More?

Both customer support and customer service are vital to small businesses. Customer service creates a great experience for your customers, while support keeps them happy and coming back for more purchases. While it’s important to understand their similarities and differences, both are needed to provide an excellent experience at your business.