How To Become A Customer Retention Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a customer retention specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

The average customer retention specialist salary is $33,422. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 6-12 months of experience to become a customer retention specialist. Customer retention specialists with a Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -105,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Customer Retention Specialist?

Sally Hiott B.S. MBA, DBA

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Charleston Southern University

Show employers how you would not only fill an open position regarding the work at hand, but show them how you would be an asset to their team. We are in very team driven work environments currently, and hiring managers want to know what you can bring to the table. Filling a void is great for the workload, but enhancing a team culture makes them not want to work without you!

ScoreCustomer Retention SpecialistUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,422

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.9

Growth Rate -4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 6.28%

Black or African American 11.12%

Hispanic or Latino 19.85%

Unknown 5.26%

White 56.80%

Gender

female 57.63%

male 42.37%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a customer retention specialist

Explore customer retention specialist education requirements

Most common customer retention specialist degrees

Bachelor's

40.4 %

High School Diploma

25.0 %

Associate

23.2 %

Start to develop specific customer retention specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	19.83%
Inbound Calls	12.39%
Outbound Calls	9.43%
Customer Satisfaction	4.60%
Customer Complaints	4.57%

Complete relevant customer retention specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer retention specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer retention specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer retention specialist resumes.

Research customer retention specialist duties and responsibilities

Prepare proposals and analysis for county Medicaid facilitators to educate regarding available manage care programs.
Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities
Demonstrate superb organizational and multitasking abilities

Prepare your customer retention specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer retention specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer retention specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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