When your company grows, so do your customer service needs. Did you know that businesses that adopt customer experience-led growth strategies report a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction and engagement?
From front-line support to specialized technical support teams, we’ll examine how different types of customer service teams can become true assets for your business. So, if you’re considering new strategies or optimizing your current setup, this guide will help you understand the strengths and applications of each team type.
How many types of customer service are there?
Historically, customer service primarily revolved around phone support or in-person. But today, we have a broader range of channels and walk in customer service. Modern customer service comes in a variety of service models that cater to different customer needs and business goals.
Some factors that define its category include:
- Communication channels through which customer service is provided
- Level of automation or human interaction
- Scope of service
- Approach as to whether proactive or reactive
- Customer lifecycle stage
What are the different types of customer service?
The exact number of types you can have varies depending on how granular you classify and structure your customer service operations. Here are the types of customer service teams you can leverage to create a true support powerhouse.
In this section, we divided the different types of customer service teams into customer-facing (teams that have direct interactions with customers) and internal (teams that support the customer service function from behind the scenes):
Customer-facing service teams:
1. Help desk support
They’re the frontline heroes. Help desk support directly address customer inquiries usually through phone, email, live chat, or on social media platforms. Their focus is on resolving customer issues efficiently so ticket customers have a positive experience. A study reveals that for every 1% improvement in FCR (First Contact Resolution), customer satisfaction with the service increases by 1%.
2. Community management team
If you have communities (social media groups, slack groups, or discord servers), you might want to have a dedicated customer service type for that. They manage your online communities where customers usually interact with one another, share tips, and ask questions. If they’re the social media customer support teams, they’re also responsible for creating social content useful to customers.
3. User adoption team
This team is specific to personalizing the onboarding experience. They leverage customer behavior analytics (feature usage, log-in frequency, TTV) to tailor content and recommendations. They may also design in-app prompts that guide users toward discovering valuable features and completing key actions. As part of the onboarding process, the team ensures that the paid plan clearly demonstrates how it is better than the free plan. 63%of customers prefer this factor in onboarding when buying from a business.
4. Account management team
Usually in tandem with account-based marketers, these teams specifically manage relationships with key customers. Their purpose is quite obvious—to ensure the account holder’s satisfaction and identify upselling opportunities. They monitor the accounts so they can proactively support and provide increased value to the customer. But of course, the priority should be on genuine value creation, with customer service reps not just pushing additional sales.
5. Partner service team
Often in a B2B context, having your own team to handle partnerships and integrations is crucial. Unlike other types of customer service—which focus on end-users—a partner service team is tailored to meet the needs of your business partners. It’s about you making sure they have the tools and support necessary to succeed. Providing partners with the right training helps them sell your product more effectively, taking collaboration to a whole different level.
6. Product experts
Some your customer support inquiries are more complex than others. In this case, product experts are necessary. This customer service type is focused on escalating complex support tickets to experts with product advanced knowledge. They first identify root causes, develop workarounds, and suggest optimizations for those user scenarios. When deciding whether or not to have a separate product expert team, you should consider your offering’s complexity.
Internal service teams:
7. Knowledge base management
Empowering customers with self-service options reduces reliance on direct support and improves overall problem-solving efficiency. So, it does make sense to have such a team whose role focuses on creating resources to resolve customer service issues like FAQs, tutorials, and troubleshooting guides—preferably these are clear, concise, and easily accessible. After all, companies that offer self-service saw an improvement in their website traffic by 54%.
8. IT operations
Let’s be real. Customer service representatives aren’t required to possess technical expertise. It’s a mega bonus if they do. That’s why it’s important to have an IT operations and on site customer service team so technical issues won’t be disruptive to customers. This team manages and maintains the organization’s technological infrastructure, including servers, networks, and applications.
9. Technical enablement
Much like a hybrid of knowledge base management and IT operations customer service team, this type educates customers on product usage and provides resources to help them avoid having technical issues in the first place. They also assist developers with integration, troubleshooting, and API access.
10. Billing and payment support
An experienced team specializing in handling billing inquiries, troubleshooting payment issues, and providing guidance on different payment options. More often than not, billing systems involve detailed rules and regulations. Did you know that communication companies receive about 50% of their calls for billing inquiries? Having a team with specialized knowledge of these systems allows them to handle inquiries and resolve problems quickly and accurately.
Additional service teams
Here are some additional specialized customer service agent types that can strengthen your support structure:
11. Compliance service team
Though isn’t directly customer service in the traditional sense, the team can be a good resource for representatives who receive inquiries related to data privacy, security practices, or regulatory compliance.
12. Customer health score team
This team can analyze customer behavior and engagement data to identify users at risk of churn. They can then flag these cases for proactive outreach from the success team to address concerns and improve satisfaction.
13. Sentiment analysis Team
This team leverages software to listen and analyze customer sentiment across various channels (social media, reviews, surveys). This lets you know how satisfied your customers are and where customer service needs to improve.
What is the best customer service type for your business?
So many different types of customer service teams, right? The truth is creating the optimal customer service team structure can seem overwhelming. Let us help. Here are four questions you can answer and use as tips to guide your decision-making:
How is my brand identity?
Start with you. Your brand’s personality should be reflected in your customer service approach. If you’re personal and relationship-focused, prioritize using phone calls, or video support. Tech-focused? You might excel with live chat or social media support to reflect your digital-first image. Simply keep your customer service language and tone consistent with your brand’s voice.
Who is my audience?
Yes, the majority is your customer base will dictate the type of customer service and type you’ll actually have. You must understand their demographics, communication preferences, and pain points. Are they tech-savvy and prefer self-service options, younger audiences who prefer chat and social media support, or older customers more into phone support? Use this information to choose your customer service channels.
How complex is my product?
The complexity of your product influences the ideal customer service approach. For complex products, consider offering detailed video tutorials, live demos, or one-on-one consultation calls. But if your product is relatively straightforward, you can probably get away with a FAQ section or chatbot. Or just take advantage of a hybrid approach where both self-service options and human support complement each other.
What is my business scale?
Consider the resources available to you when deciding. Small businesses might start with email support. On the other hand, established businesses often need a more robust approach. A multi-channel strategy, including can help you manage a larger customer volume efficiently.
Number one tip: Omnichannel customer service
While considering specific customer service types is important, the overarching principle for online businesses today is to adopt an omnichannel approach. Remember:
Omnichannel customer service integrates multiple communication channels so customers can switch between them seamlessly. And this strategy is you being aware that customers often use various platforms and [still] expect consistent customer service options across all of them.
Omnichannel strategies have been found to retain 89% of customers and see a 7.5% YoY decrease in their cost-per-contact.
There’s no time to waste—start building (or outsourcing) your customer service dream team
The best way to serve online customers is through a thoughtful, strategic approach. While there are various types of customer service, the key is not to focus on a single method but to implement an omnichannel strategy that integrates multiple communication channels seamlessly. And the goal is to provide consistent, high-quality support across all of them.
Unsure where to go from here?
Here’s a smart shortcut to exceptional customer service—outsource to LTVplus. Our team is composed of dedicated agents trained to manage your company’s growth. Schedule a free call and let’s talk about how we can increase the lifetime value of your customers.
