CSAT means customer satisfaction score, a common way to measure how satisfied customers are with a product, a service or one specific interaction. You ask people to rate their satisfaction from 1 to 5, and the score is the share who chose 4 or 5, shown as a percentage.
It's one of the simplest customer metrics you can run, which is a big part of its appeal. One question, one number, and anyone in the business can follow it.
Working out a CSAT score
The maths takes seconds. Qualtrics, which sells survey software, sets it out in three steps:
- Count the responses that scored 4 or 5.
- Divide that by the total number of responses.
- Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.
Here's a made-up example to show the steps. If 200 customers answer and 150 of them choose 4 or 5, your CSAT is 150 divided by 200, times 100, which is 75 percent. The 1s, 2s and 3s still count in the total; they just don't count as satisfied.
The one question behind it
A typical CSAT survey asks customers to rate their overall satisfaction with the product or service they received. Answers run on a 1 to 5 scale, from very unsatisfied at one end to very satisfied at the other. If you're choosing software to send it, this roundup of NPS survey tools is a useful place to compare options.
Right here, right now
This is the part people tend to miss. Qualtrics calls CSAT a "right here, right now" metric: it tells you how someone felt about one specific experience, not about their whole relationship with you. So a customer could rate a support call 5 and still feel lukewarm about your business overall. Treat CSAT as a reading on a moment, and look at loyalty separately; this piece on customer feedback and long-term loyalty covers that side.
When to send the survey
Timing changes the answer. For a one-off interaction such as a support call, Qualtrics suggests asking straight afterwards. For something people use over time, like software or a subscription, it suggests waiting days or weeks so they've had a chance to use it.
What counts as a good score?
I won't give you a number, because I haven't seen one I'd trust. Qualtrics says benchmarking isn't an exact science because every business is different, and it points to the ACSI for industry scores. In my view, your own trend over time tells you more than someone else's average.
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CSAT, answered
How do you calculate CSAT?
Divide the number of 4 and 5 ratings by the total number of survey responses, then multiply by 100.
What question does a CSAT survey ask?
Usually how satisfied the customer is overall with what they received, answered from very unsatisfied to very satisfied.
When should you send a CSAT survey?
Straight after a one-off interaction like a support call; allow days or weeks for a product people use over time.
What is a good CSAT score?
Qualtrics gives no single number. It says scores vary by business and suggests comparing with industry benchmarks such as the ACSI.
Where CSAT fits in your reporting
CSAT is a quick pulse check, and that's its strength and its limit. It's cheap to run and easy to explain, but it only tells you about the moment you asked. Use it to spot a bad week in support or a clunky checkout, and keep it next to your other KPIs rather than treating it as the whole story.
