What Is a CSAT Score? Meaning, Calculation, and Examples 

TL;DR — CSAT Score Explained

CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) measures how happy customers are with your business, products, or services. It’s a simple but powerful metric that predicts loyalty, repeat purchases, and overall customer retention.

Key points:

• What it measures: Customer satisfaction, distinct from NPS (loyalty) and CES (effort).
• Calculation: Percentage of satisfied customers (those rating 4–5 or 80%+) ÷ total survey responses × 100.
• Good scores: Typically 70–85% depending on industry.
• Why it matters: Higher CSAT correlates with repeat business, positive word-of-mouth, and lower churn.
• How to improve: Identify service gaps, train teams for better responses, personalize experiences, and close the feedback loop by acting on customer input.
• Tools help: Platforms like Listen360 automate surveys, track trends, and provide actionable insights to boost CSAT.

Strong CSAT means happier customers, more loyalty, and long-term growth for your business.

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Customer satisfaction can make or break your business. Happy, contented customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend your business to others. But how would you know if customers are truly happy with your brand, products, or services? 

That’s where the CSAT score comes in. 

CSAT score is a powerful metric for gauging customer satisfaction. This article breaks down everything you need to know about CSAT. Read on as we answer the following questions: 

• What is a CSAT score? 

• Is CSAT important to my business? 

• How do you calculate an accurate CSAT score? 

• What’s a good CSAT score? 

• How can I improve my CSAT score? 

Understanding CSAT Scores 

What exactly is a CSAT score, what does it measure, and how is it different from other business performance metrics? 

What a CSAT Score Measures 

A CSAT score measures one thing and one thing only—customer satisfaction. It’s a very simple but weighty metric. 

Customer satisfaction is basically a measure of how happy customers are with your business or offering. Do customers leave your business with a smile on their faces or cursing under their breath? A satisfied customer tells you that their journey was smooth, the interaction was positive, and your business met or exceeded their expectations. 

You can think of a CSAT score as an aggregate of multiple customer experience (CX) metrics. It provides a general overview of your business’s performance from the customer’s perspective. That’s why 80% of businesses use CSAT scores to gauge and improve the overall customer experience. 

What “CSATˮ Stands For 

The abbreviation “CSAT” stands for “customer satisfaction score.” The “score” part represents a rating. Customer satisfaction scores can be rated as a percentage, ratio, or fraction. 

How CSAT Differs from NPS and CES 

Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) is just one of several metrics used to assess customer experience. Two other popular metrics are Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES). Here’s how CSAT differs from these: 

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

NPS tracks customer loyalty and brand advocacy. It checks the likelihood or willingness of customers to recommend your business or its specific products/services to friends, colleagues, or family. 

A typical NPS survey question is framed like this: “How likely are you to recommend [product/company] to a friend or colleague?” The customer then chooses their answer from “Very unlikely,” “Likely,” “Unlikely,” and “Very unlikely.” 

The Net Promoter Score is a powerful metric that can be easily tracked with NPS survey software. 

• Customer Effort Score (CES) 

The Customer Effort Score measures the effort customers put into achieving an objective with your business or its products. It can, for example, assess the ease (or difficulty) of interacting with the business or purchasing and using specific products. 

Here’s an example of a CES survey question: “How easy was it to use [service/product]?” The customer can then answer with “Very hard,” “Hard,” “Easy,” or “Very easy.” 

This metric tries to find friction or obstacles in the customer journey. It might also reveal problems with your service delivery or product design. 

RELATED ARTICLE — Beyond NPS: How Listen360 Helps You Improve Customer Experience & Reputation 

Why CSAT Matters for Customer Experience 

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important KPIs in your business. It’s directly linked to customer experience, service, loyalty, and advocacy. Your CSAT score also speaks volumes about the quality and relevance of your services or products. 

How CSAT Predicts Customer Loyalty 

Let’s say you’re trying out a new restaurant. You get there and take your seat, but the waiter takes 20 minutes to notice you. And you think to yourself, “Well, that’s forgivable. It’s a pretty busy place.” Then the food arrives, but it looks nothing like the mouth-watering picture on the menu. Worst of all, the taste is off. Some items appear to be overcooked, and others are clearly undercooked. 

You eat the food anyway, convincing yourself it’s not so bad. But will you ever go back to that restaurant? Probably not, because you were not satisfied with the service or the food. The correlation between CSAT and customer loyalty is really that simple. 

Customer satisfaction levels are a strong indicator of customer sentiment and loyalty. Customers who are happy with your business (what it does and what it sells) are more likely to stick around. On the other hand, low CSAT scores may indicate a high rate of customer churn. 

CSATʼs Role in Service Quality and Retention 

What is CSAT in customer service? Well, customer service and customer satisfaction go hand in hand. Good customer service is the basis of good CX, and that influences overall customer satisfaction. 

CSAT scoring can help you pinpoint the exact causes of customer dissatisfaction. More often than not, you’ll find that the problem has nothing to do with the product. Poor customer service is usually the main culprit of negative CX and subsequently low CSAT scores and high churn rates. 

Industry stats show that customers indeed prioritize experiences, sometimes even above the product’s quality and price. And unsurprisingly, companies with good CX have more loyal customers. 

If you understand why your customers are unhappy, you can take the necessary steps to rectify the situation. You can improve customer service purposely to raise customer satisfaction and loyalty. For instance, that could mean minimizing delays, boosting customer engagement, or enhancing customer communications. 

RELATED ARTICLE — How to Measure Customer Experience: Metrics, Methods, & Tools 

How to Calculate a CSAT Score 

A CSAT score can measure long-term or short-term customer satisfaction. You can also gauge general satisfaction or customer sentiments toward a specific product or service. It all comes down to what you want to know and the available data. 

Here’s a quick guide on how to calculate CSAT. 

The Standard CSAT Formula 

This is the general formula for calculating CSAT: 

To get the number of “satisfied customers,” simply tally all the positive responses in a customer satisfaction survey. Anyone who rates your business or product 4–5 stars or 80% and above also counts as a satisfied customer. 

The next step is to divide that by the total number of responses. Finally, multiply the resulting figure by 100. That gives you a CSAT score as a percentage. 

What Counts as a Good CSAT Score 

The higher the customer satisfaction score, the better. An 80% score is better than a 40% CSAT score, meaning that twice as many customers are satisfied with your company or products. 

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) tracks CSAT score benchmarks across industries. Generally, the scores hover between 70% and 85% for most industries. So anything within that range is a good CSAT score. 

Common CSAT Scales (1–5, 1–7, 1–10) 

CSAT surveys use various scales to capture customer satisfaction levels. The most popular of these are numerical CSAT scales. 

• The 1–5 scale: This is the most popular scale, with 1 meaning “Very dissatisfied” and 5 meaning “Very satisfied.” It’s a simple format based on the familiarity of the all-too-common 5-point rating system. 

• The 1–7 scale: A 1–7 scale is just an extended version of the 1–5 format. The extra points allow you to add two more answer options, capturing a wider range of satisfaction levels. 

• The 1–10 scale: This is the largest practical CSAT scale you can use. It provides customers with the greatest number of options to rate their satisfaction, ranging from “Extremely unsatisfied” to “Perfectly satisfied.” 

There are, of course, other CSAT scales, including percentages, star rating, binary (Yes/No), and even emojis. 

The choice of the CSAT scale mainly comes down to what your customers are most likely to respond to. It’s also worth considering the complexity of analyzing the survey data. For example, a more nuanced scale might make it a bit more difficult to quantify the results. 

Best Practices for Measuring CSAT 

CSAT measurement centers around customer satisfaction survey questions. Here’s a typical CSAT question: “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the recent purchase?” 

However, crafting these questions is only the beginning of CSAT scoring. You need a solid strategy detailing how you’ll serve the questions, collect responses, and quantify CSAT from the data. 

How to Craft Effective CSAT Questions 

Let’s start with the most critical step—crafting the CSAT questions. Ask thoughtful questions that solicit genuine responses from customers. The key lies in the language, tone, and actionability. 

Ensure your CSAT survey questions check all these boxes: 

1. Brief and concise: Keep the question short and straight to the point. 

2. Neutral tone: Do not lead the customer into giving a desired answer. 

3. Clear and specific: Use simple language that clearly conveys what you want to know. 

4. No double-barreled questions: Ensure each question asks only one thing. 

5. Actionable: Make it clear what you want the customer to do. 

6. Relevant: Ensure that every question is tailored to the specific customer, based on their current stage in the customer journey. 

Where and When to Send CSAT Surveys 

You can invite customers to participate in CSAT surveys via email, your website, social media channels, or a smartphone app. 

About the when, send surveys after critical customer interactions or touchpoints. Here are some ideal situations for collecting CSAT feedback: 

• When a customer completes a purchase 

• After onboarding a new customer 

• Soon after resolving an issue with the customer support team 

• When a customer inquires about your products or services 

A CSAT survey should be just a subtle device to collect customer experience and satisfaction data. The customer shouldn’t have to go out of their way to answer your questions. That’s why timing is so important. Send the survey when the experience is still fresh, ideally while the customer is still in your store, on your website, or on your social media pages. 

Avoiding Bias and Common Survey Mistakes 

Here are common CSAT measurement mistakes you should avoid: 

• Crafting biased or loaded questions: Avoid phrasing questions in a way that encourages certain answers. Questions like, “How thrilled are you about your purchase today?” 

• Serving lengthy surveys: Start the survey with a main question, followed by no more than two closed or open-ended questions. Any longer, and you risk survey fatigue. 

• Asking ambiguous questions: Every question should have just one interpretation and answer. 

• Relying on open-ended questions: Open-ended questions can be challenging to answer and analyze quantitatively. 

• Holding the customer hostage with CSAT surveys: Let the customer choose whether or not to answer your CSAT questions. Don’t make it a requirement for proceeding on the customer journey. 

RELATED ARTICLE — How to Gather Customer Feedback: Effective Techniques and Best Practices 

Ways to Improve Your CSAT Score 

When it comes to customer satisfaction, there’s always room for improvement. You can’t please all customers all of the time, but you can work on pleasing more customers most of the time. Let’s discuss three essential ways you can do that. 

Identify Service Gaps in Customer Interactions 

Collect and analyze customer feedback to gain insights into what’s missing in your customer service. Carefully tracking CSAT score, CES, and even NPS can help you identify customer interaction pain points. You can then create an action plan to boost customer experience and satisfaction. 

Train Teams for Faster and Better Responses 

Your employees are the brand’s top ambassadors for customer satisfaction. They may also be the weakest link in promoting CSAT. 

Train your staff extensively on the importance of customer satisfaction. Empower your teams with the necessary skills and tools to deliver quality customer service. Only then can you consistently cut response times and build a customer-first culture. 

Close the Feedback Loop with Customers 

Closing the feedback loop essentially means taking meaningful action on customer feedback. An effective feedback loop has five key steps: 

1. Gather feedback 

Collect as much customer feedback as possible from the various channels. Gather information from reviews, CX surveys, complaints, and support tickets in one place. 

2. Analyze feedback data 

Organize and review the feedback you’ve collected. Identify any key issues, themes, or suggestions raised by customers. And crucially, prioritize the feedback to act on first based on urgency or potential impact. 

3. Take action 

Make tangible changes in your business based on the feedback analysis. Take an action that fixes a real problem. It could be anything from redesigning a product to installing an intelligent chatbot on your website. 

4. Follow up with the customer 

Contact the customer who provided the feedback that you acted upon. Start by thanking them for bringing the issue to your attention. Then reassure them that the problem is now addressed. 

5. Communicate changes broadly 

Share the feedback-driven changes with your entire customer base. Let your customers know that their voice matters and can indeed drive positive changes in your company. 

Yes, collecting feedback is essential. But what you do with it is what really matters. Closing the feedback loop is a great way to continuously improve your business, making it more relevant and appealing to customers. Plus, most customers (89%) are more likely to buy from businesses that respond to reviews, both good and bad. 

RELATED ARTICLE — How to Track Customer Feedback: Tools, Systems, and Best Practices 

How Listen360 Helps You Track and Improve CSAT 

Listen360 is a robust, all-in-one CX platform complete with a reviews dashboard, AI customer analytics software, and CX survey tools. It’s a solution designed to enhance customer satisfaction, maximize customer lifetime value, and reduce churn. 

Measure and boost CSAT by leveraging Listen360’s unique capabilities: 

Automated CSAT Survey Distribution 

Automatically deploy CSAT surveys to capture customer reactions immediately after every critical interaction. Listen360’s CSAT surveys help businesses gather actionable feedback across the customer journey and on specific services and products. 

Real-Time Dashboards and Reports 

Track your CS performance in real-time via detailed dashboards and reports. The platform consolidates and distills feedback data to help you clearly visualize customer satisfaction trends. 

Alerts, Workflows, and Actionable Insights 

AI-powered analytics convert large volumes of raw feedback into actionable insights. This enables you to make data-driven CX decisions. The system also alerts you to high-priority feedback or triggers pre-defined workflows. 

Ready to take customer satisfaction to the next level? Request a demo to see Listen360 in action.