CSAT Meaning: How to Measure Customer Satisfaction Score

You want to ensure every customer has a positive experience, no matter their interaction. However, measuring the customer experience (CX) involves taking note of several moving parts, and an essential one is customer satisfaction (CSAT).

The CSAT meaning gives a numerical value to the level of satisfaction among your customer base. You start by creating and sending a CSAT survey to follow up on customer interactions, and then you collect and average the responses to your CSAT metric score.

In this article, we will:

• Detail how to measure customer satisfaction. 
• Explain how to calculate CSAT scores.
• Provide different CSAT formulas. 
• Offer tips about how to improve your CSAT scores.

Let’s dive into what you need to know about customer satisfaction and CSAT scores.

What Is CSAT and What Does It Stand For?

How To Measure Customer Satisfaction

CSAT measures customer satisfaction and provides valuable customer insights through feedback collected via surveys. To measure CSAT, follow these steps:

1. Choose a customer survey method 

Decide how you want to collect CSAT data. These methods include: 

It’s also important to consider factors like response rate, cost, time, and the detail you need before choosing your survey method.

2. Design the survey 

Create the survey from scratch or work with a template using simple, easy-to-understand CSAT questions. State the survey questions with clear, neutral language, avoiding jargon and leading questions. Then, format the survey in one of these common ways:

Likert scale: This is the most common method, where respondents choose a number on a CSAT rating scale to indicate their satisfaction level. For example, you could ask, “How likely are you to recommend our brand to others?” and provide a numerical scale for the customer to choose from, like this:

1 – Very unlikely

2 – Unlikely

3 – Neutral

4 – Likely

5 – Very Likely

Smiley face system: This system allows customers to choose a smiley face that best represents their satisfaction level, such as:

☹️ – Very unsatisfied

🙁 – Unsatisfied

🙂 – Neutral

😊 – Satisfied

😁 – Very Satisfied

Thumbs up, thumbs down system: This system gives customers a simple choice of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, represented by a Thumbs up or Thumbs down symbol. For example, you can ask, “Were you satisfied with our service?” with the respondent options as:

👍 – Yes

👎 – No

3. Distribute the survey 

Send the survey to your customers as soon as possible after an interaction. You can send CSAT surveys via email, in-app, social media direct message, text, QR code, or other preferred channels. Doing so allows you to get the most accurate customer feedback while the interaction is fresh on their mind.

4. Calculate and analyze your results 

Calculating the CSAT formula may differ depending on the type of CSAT you use. (More on that later). Look for trends, patterns, strengths, and weaknesses from the CSAT survey results. Note which products, services, or interactions have higher or lower satisfaction rates. Compare results to benchmarks to see how you stack up against industry standards.

5. Take action

 Develop a plan based on the survey results to target specific pain points, whether those are changes to products, services, or processes. Prioritize improvements in areas with the greatest impact on customer satisfaction.

6. Monitor progress 

Continuously track improvements or declines to ensure your changes have a positive impact.

With a goal of continuous improvement, you can incorporate CSAT into your decision-making process overall. Data-driven decisions can help you prioritize projects and initiatives that will greatly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How To Calculate CSAT Scores

While the most common calculation involves a simple percentage, there are a few variations depending on your specific needs and preferences. Here are three common ways for CSAT calculation.

1. Standard CSAT formula

The standard CSAT formula takes the most straightforward approach. Here’s how it works:

• Assign numerical values to response options using the Likert scale.
• Count the number of positive responses that signify satisfaction.
• Divide the number of satisfied responses by the total number of responses. Then, multiply the result by 100 to get the CSAT percentage. Here’s the formula:

Standard CSAT formula = (Number of Satisfied Responses / Total Responses) x 100

Standard CSAT example:  Say you send out an email survey asking, “How satisfied are you with our service?” Customers respond on a 1–5 scale, where 1 means “Very Dissatisfied” and 5 means “Very Satisfied.” You receive the following responses:

• 20 customers selected 5 (Very Satisfied)
• 30 customers selected 4 (Satisfied)
• 25 customers selected 3 (Neutral)
• 15 customers selected 2 (Dissatisfied)
• 10 customers selected 1 (Very Dissatisfied)

There were fifty satisfied customers out of 100 respondents. Using the standard CSAT formula, the CSAT calculation is (50 / 100) x 100 = 50%.

2. Average Score CSAT formula

To calculate the average CSAT score, simply sum all customer satisfaction ratings and divide by the total number of customer responses. This approach provides a comprehensive overview of customer sentiment, considering both positive and negative feedback.

Average Score CSAT formula = (Sum of all scores / Total Responses)

Average CSAT example: Same survey, but instead of calculating the percentage of satisfied customers, you want to calculate the average satisfaction score from all the responses. The CSAT calculation would be:

• 20 customers selected 5 (Very Satisfied): 20 x 5 = 100
• 30 customers selected 4 (Satisfied): 30 x 4 = 120
• 25 customers selected 3 (Neutral): 25 x 3 = 75
• 15 customers selected 2 (Dissatisfied): 15 x 2 = 30
• 10 customers selected 1 (Very Dissatisfied): 10 x 1 = 10

The total sum is 335 divided by 100, the total number of respondents, which makes the average CSAT score 3.35.

3. Weighted CSAT formula

The weighted CSAT method allows you to prioritize specific customer satisfaction aspects. You can assign weights to different response options based on their importance to your business.

Weighted CSAT formula = (Sum of weighted scores / Total Responses) x 100

Weighted CSAT example: Same survey, except you put more weight on satisfied responses than dissatisfied ones. The scale might look like this:

• 5 (Very Satisfied) = 1.0
• 4 (Satisfied) = 0.75
• 3 (Neutral) = 0.5
• 2 (Dissatisfied) = 0.25
• 1 (Very Dissatisfied) = 0.0

Now, calculated with the customer responses:

• 20 customers selected 5 (Very Satisfied): 20 x 1.0 = 20
• 30 customers selected 4 (Satisfied): 30 x 0.75 = 22.5
• 25 customers selected 3 (Neutral): 25 x 0.5 = 12.5
• 15 customers selected 2 (Dissatisfied): 15 x 0.25 = 3.75
• 10 customers selected 1 (Very Dissatisfied): 10 x 0.0 = 0

The total weighted score is 20 + 22.5 + 12.5 + 3.75 = 58.75, with the total number of respondents (100). Using the weighted CSAT formula, the CSAT score is (58.75 / 100) ×100 = 58.75%.

Why CSAT Scores Are Important to Businesses

CSAT scores are a critical customer service metric because they peel back the curtain to reveal how satisfied your customers are with your business.

Here’s what you can do when CSAT is a part of your customer experience overview:

• Monitor customer loyalty because satisfied customers might become repeat customers, buy more over time, and even become brand advocates.
• Flag potential issues before they escalate, preventing customer churn.
• Stand out from competitors with a positive customer experience.
• Retain more customers and reduce the need to constantly acquire new customers.
• Enhance brand reputation with positive feedback that boosts credibility.

You should aim to create the most comprehensive view of your customer experience possible. With more detail from more customer experience analytics, you can get granular with improvements and offer personalized, targeted services and products to your customers.

According to a research team from Boston Consulting Group, adopting a data-first mindset is key to succeeding in today’s competitive business landscape:

“Many retailers are sitting on a fortune of data, yet most neither collect first-party customer data in a structured way nor leverage its full potential. The missed opportunities are massive … setting up a best-in-class loyalty program to collect first-party data and scaling 1:1 personalization offers typically improves revenue and profit by 3% to 5%.”

Source: Boston Consulting Group

Overall, CSAT data can help inform critical business decisions, such as product improvements, service enhancements, and marketing strategies.

What Is a Good CSAT Score?

A good CSAT score is entirely relative and will vary depending on industry, company size, specialty, and even geographic region. Many industries aim for a CSAT score between 70%–85% as a marker of strong customer satisfaction.

The higher the CSAT score, the more satisfied customer responses you receive as a percentage of total responses.

CSAT Pros and Cons

These are the main pros and cons of using CSAT as a CX metric:

How To Use CSAT To Boost Customer Retention

While it has pros and cons as a metric, you should aim to understand your customer satisfaction score no matter your business type. 

You can also integrate your CSAT findings with other customer experience metrics, such as Customer Effort Score (CES) and Net Promoter Score® (NPS), to better understand your customers and improve customer experience.

Provide proactive and personalized support 

CSAT can help you give your customers more tailored, in-depth support that makes them feel appreciated. You can use CSAT feedback to anticipate and address issues before they escalate.

Example: Your customer gives you a low CSAT score after a support interaction, so you reach out to understand their concerns and offer a personalized solution.

This demonstrates that you value customer feedback and you’ll do what it takes to prevent further dissatisfaction.

Use customer advocates for marketing 

CSAT scores aren’t just part of a customer service strategy. They also provide a transparent marketing opportunity: you can share them directly with your customers as use cases for your product. Customer advocates are often some of the most qualified salespeople, so why not take their words directly to convince others of your quality?

You can also use CSAT survey data to spot common pain points and communicate these to customers to gain trust.

Example: You notice a trend of low CSAT scores related to a specific product feature, so you reach out to customers about upcoming improvements to address the issue.

This helps manage customer expectations and shows that you’re actively working to enhance their experience.

Reward customer loyalty

Loyalty programs are great ways to reward customers for providing feedback while maintaining a high CSAT score. You may even create special loyalty tiers for extra-loyal customers over a period of time by using CSAT data to identify customers who choose to share their positive experiences.

Example: You offer a discount and an exclusive product sneak peek to customers who consistently give high CSAT scores for their interactions.

This incentivizes customers to provide feedback and rewards them for their loyalty and positive customer engagement with your brand.

Train to continuously improve

CSAT feedback is key to identifying training opportunities and areas for improvement, both with soft skills and more technical ones. After you analyze and interpret the data to spot the issue, you can monitor CSAT scores before and after an improvement to see how successful the implementation was.

Example: Your customers consistently give low CSAT scores for the checkout process, so you provide targeted training for better purchasing support and overhaul the cart on your site.

This improves customer experience and can improve employee performance and the overall employee experience.

Get Actionable Insights To Drive Retention with Nextiva

When measuring the customer experience, there isn’t just one metric that will give you a pulse on how things are going. You need to take a comprehensive look at how your customers engage with your business throughout their journey. Now that you understand CSAT’s meaning and how to integrate it into your business practices, you can start delivering exceptional customer experiences.

However, customer satisfaction metrics are key because they offer immediacy, specificity, and simplicity in revealing customer sentiment about your business.

With an AI-driven customer experience management solution like Nextiva, you have the power of data at your fingertips. You can confidently manage your customer experience and innovate with a centralized dashboard and data-driven insights.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

CSAT FAQs

Still have questions about CSAT scores? To learn more about customer satisfaction and CSAT scores, read these frequently asked questions.