What is customer satisfaction (CSAT)?
CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with one experience, such as a purchase, a delivery or a support chat, from a single rating question. The score is the share of customers who pick one of the top two ratings, usually 4 or 5 on a 1 to 5 scale.
CSAT in one rating
Customer satisfaction, or CSAT, comes from one question asked right after something happens, such as “How satisfied are you with your delivery?” Customers answer on a short scale, most often 1 to 5, from “Very dissatisfied” to “Very satisfied”. The CSAT score is the share of answers in the top two ratings.
Because the question names one moment, CSAT tells you which parts of the experience work and which let customers down. A low score after checkout calls for a different fix than a low score after a support chat, so teams often ask one CSAT question per touchpoint and follow each one on its own.
CSAT sits beside two other common scores. Net Promoter Score (NPS) follows loyalty to the whole relationship, and customer effort (CES) measures how easy a task was. Reach for CSAT when you want to know how a single experience felt.
- Measures
- Satisfaction with one purchase, visit or interaction
- Scale
- Usually 1 to 5, from Very dissatisfied to Very satisfied
- Score
- The share of answers rated 4 or 5
- Asked when
- Right after the moment it is about
- Also called
- Customer satisfaction score
How to calculate CSAT
Count the answers rated 4 or 5, divide by the number of all answers and multiply by 100. The result is your CSAT score, written as a percentage such as 75%.
Every answer counts toward the total, the 1, 2 and 3 ratings included, so unhappy customers pull the score down even though they add nothing to the top. On a 1 to 7 scale, the top two ratings are 6 and 7.
CSAT = answers rated 4 or 5 ÷ all answers × 100
On a 1 to 5 scale. With only 4 and 5 answers the score is 100%, and with none it is 0%.
A CSAT example
Say 300 customers rate a support chat in a month. 120 give a 5, 105 give a 4, and 75 give a 3 or lower: 45 give a 3, 18 a 2 and 12 a 1.
The top two ratings hold 225 of the 300 answers, so the CSAT score is 75%. The average rating of the same answers is about 4.0, which looks fine on its own and hides the 75 customers who left less than satisfied.
- Rated 5
- 120 answers
- Rated 4
- 105 answers
- Rated 1 to 3
- 75 answers
- CSAT
- 225 ÷ 300 = 75%
CSAT survey question examples
Name the moment in the question, keep the scale the same every time you ask, and label both ends so customers read the scale the same way. One open follow-up, such as “What could have been better?”, turns each rating into something you can act on.
- “How satisfied are you with your delivery?”
- “Overall, how satisfied are you with your stay?”
- “How satisfied are you with the checkout?”
- “How satisfied are you with the course so far?”
When to send a CSAT survey
Ask while the experience is still fresh: on the page right after it happens, or by email within a day. The further the question sits from the moment, the more the answer mixes in everything else the customer remembers.
- Right after a purchase, on the order confirmation page
- When a parcel arrives or a booking ends
- When a support chat or ticket is closed
- After a visit, a class or an event
- After someone uses a new feature for the first time
What is a good CSAT score?
A higher share is better, but the number depends a great deal on what you ask about, the scale, the channel and the customers, so a score from another company tells you little about yours.
Compare your score with your own past periods and between your own touchpoints, devices and countries. Check how many answers sit behind each score, and read the comments from the 1 to 3 ratings, since they show what to fix first.
CSAT vs NPS
Both scores come from one question, but they look at different things. CSAT asks about one moment and NPS about the relationship as a whole, so many teams ask CSAT at each touchpoint and NPS a few times a year.
| CSAT | NPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Asks | How satisfied with one experience | How likely to recommend |
| Scale | Usually 1 to 5 | 0 to 10 |
| Score | Share of 4 and 5 answers | % promoters − % detractors |
| Asked | Right after the moment | A few times a year |
| Shows | Which touchpoints work | How loyal customers feel |
Measuring CSAT in Usertick
Ask CSAT with a Stars question, drawn as stars, hearts, thumbs or numbers, or start from the Customer satisfaction (CSAT) template, which pairs the rating with “What could we have done better?”. Run it on your website, by email, by link and QR code, or as a chat. In an email, customers pick their rating in the message itself, and the survey opens with that rating filled in.
Results computes CSAT from the survey's first Stars question as the share of answers at or above 80% of the scale: 4 or 5 of 5, or 6 or 7 of 7. The question's card shows the average, a bar per rating and the share rated 4 or higher, compared with the period before, and filters narrow it to a date range, a device, a country or a page. The Audience tab shows each country, device, language and page with its own score.
Usertick reads every written answer to the follow-up and files it by theme and sentiment, so the reasons behind low ratings are grouped for you. On every plan, an alert can post to Slack or Microsoft Teams when the average score falls below a line you set.
Mistakes to avoid with CSAT
Small choices that keep the results useful.
- 01
Changing the scale between surveys
A score from a 1 to 5 scale and one from a 1 to 7 scale can't be compared. Pick one scale and one wording, and keep them for every survey you want to compare.
- 02
Asking long after the moment
A week later, customers rate everything they remember. Ask on the page or within a day, while the experience is fresh.
- 03
Reporting only the average
An average of 4.0 can hide a large group of unhappy customers. Track the share of 4 and 5 answers, and read the low ratings on their own.
- 04
Rating two things at once
“How satisfied are you with the price and the delivery?” mixes two answers into one number. Ask about one thing per question.
Frequently asked questions
Most teams report CSAT as a percentage: the share of answers rated 4 or 5. Some report the average rating instead. The Stars card in Usertick shows both, so you can follow either.
Either works if you keep it the same over time. A 1 to 5 scale is the most common and the quickest to answer on a phone. With 7 points, Usertick counts 6 and 7 as the top ratings.
The more the better, since a few answers can move a small score by many points. In Usertick, a score built on fewer than 30 answers says how many it has, so you know when to wait for more.
Yes. Usertick can put a Stars question in the email it sends to a contact list. Picking a rating opens the survey's page with that rating filled in, and the answer is stored when the customer sends it.
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