Skill Requirements for Virtual Customer Service Jobs

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Virtual customer service jobs connect activities that depend on services and customers. They usually involve interaction over a PC or mobile phone, unlike the classic customer service jobs which are all performed face-to-face. As employers realize the advantages of a remote workforce, the number of customer service remote jobs is growing rapidly.

🚀Read Customer Service: A Guide for Successful Business Growth  🚀

There is a wide variety of virtual customer service jobs. We will explore the most popular ones in this article, along with the skills required for each one, since there is a set of unique skills necessary to be able to perform such jobs.

6 Required Skills for Virtual Customer Service Jobs

Skills can be the main factor in deciding whether you are fit for a certain job. In this case, for very specific jobs – virtual customer service jobs. That’s why you need to identify your skills that can be used when applying for such a job. Needles to say, virtual customer service jobs require a variety of skills. And some are more impactful than others.

Picture 1. Do you meet the requirements for a virtual customer service job?

1. Communication skills

Imagine you contact a call center and after an agent answers the call, everything is according to the protocol. Then all of a sudden, the agent starts to explain the solution using slang. That’s quite unacceptable, right? It’s up to an agent to act extremely professional, which is the main indicator of competence. In this way,  an unqualified agent can greatly harm the company’s reputation in many ways. Great communication skills give customers a sense of trust in an agent. Hence, a bigger vocabulary can resolve interaction much faster. By using words that aren’t a part of an everyday conversation customer gains a much higher opinion about the agent’s knowledge.

2. Comprehension skills

Every agent, no matter the job they do, needs to possess certain comprehension skills. This is largely due to the fact that explaining procedures is a big part of their workday. Therefore, they need to understand what they’re explaining, and they need to know how to explain it.

For example, you call your telecommunication service provider and ask for a new service. An agent offers you two services where the only things they understand are the name and the price of the service. Wouldn’t something like that make you rethink your service provider? You can clearly see what lack of agent’s comprehension brings to customer service.

Talking about comprehension, we count on the agents’ capability to recognize the level of knowledge that a customer has. There’s no point in explaining something in the same way to an IT professional and an average user.

Read Customer Service Agent Training Courses.

3. Decision – making skills

The business environment these days is so fast-moving that companies can’t afford to have employees who can’t make decisions on their own. This can be related to a general customer’s lack of patience and high expectations, but that’s a different topic. Companies need employees who are confident to decide on their own. Overall, all employees must be able to think quickly. If their decisions are too slow, their general productivity will most likely fall. There’s no need to say anything if an agent makes bad decisions quickly. Decision making isn’t an easy task, as it requires a holistic approach where you need to think about everything in order to succeed.

4. Multitasking

To do their job efficiently and keep up with the quotas they must fulfill, every agent needs to have the ability to multitask. Of course, it is applied that an agent doesn’t have instant knowledge about the solution for every customer inquiry. During every call or interaction, they need to be able to communicate with the customer and search for the solution or implement one at the same time. As a result, if you want to work in virtual customer service efficiently, you need to able to multitask your assignments through an omnichannel communication platform.

Picture 2. Multitasking

5. Patience

Keeping your cool when somebody is yelling at you is never an easy job. Especially when it’s about something you’re not personally responsible for.

Therefore, it is extremely important for all customer service agents to be extremely patient in any kind of situation. Maybe a customer is having a bad day. Maybe they’re just finding it hard to figure out how to use your product properly. Or they’ve just had a bad experience with the delivery or the cashier at your store. Whichever the case, it’s your job to make it right.

6. Other skills

Other skills you’ll need to be a successful virtual agent depend on what job are you most interested in. So, you should consider testing your skills in troubleshooting, logical thinking, and technical knowledge. Virtual customer service jobs also require adaptability, analytical, interpersonal and listening skills.

Picture 3. 6 required skills for a virtual customer service jobs

Most Popular Virtual Customer Service Jobs

Let’s find out more about the most popular online customer service jobs.

1. Customer Service Representative

Working as a virtual service representative means that it’s your job to give the customer the value they deserve. All things considered, the business value lies in their approach to the customer. And above all – in the understanding of their needs.

2. Customer Support Representative

Their main task is resolving customer technical issues. Usually, IT-based companies use the term service support because of the psychological impact the term has on customers. As a result, customers typically relate the word support to IT technologies.

3. Chat Agent

With more and more people turning to texting rather than phone calls, the demand for people communicating through chats and emails has also increased. Therefore, it is essential to have strong customer service skills and to easily operate any tasks give on a computer. This primarily refers to utilizing live chat services and software, and email. 

4. Social Media Manager

Many companies have recognized the importance of social media presence and have started to use it as a significant part of their marketing strategy. This is where a job opportunity arises – there has to be a person writing content and communicating with the community. And it doesn’t only include that. Social Media Manager is responsible for implementing the entire social media strategy as agreed with the marketing department in order to increase sales and brand awareness.

Read Online Customer Service Jobs: The Ultimate Guide for Remote Agents.

Virtual Customer Service Jobs: Final Thoughts

Virtual customer service nowadays offers a wide variety of career benefits, depending on what you are most interested in. If you are interested in developing your career in this industry, you should first evaluate your skills. Because a unique set of skills is what will separate you from others and help you get your bearing and find exactly what kind of virtual customer service job suits you best.