CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)

CSAT, or Customer Satisfaction Score, is a metric that measures how satisfied a customer was with one specific interaction or transaction, typically rated on a simple scale immediately after that interaction happens.

CSAT is usually collected right after a support conversation, a delivery, or a purchase, using a question like “how satisfied were you with this interaction,” rated on a 1 to 5 scale. The score is calculated as the percentage of respondents who chose a top rating, commonly a 4 or 5, out of everyone who responded.

This makes CSAT different from NPS, which asks about loyalty toward the business as a whole on a recurring basis rather than reaction to a single moment. Because it targets one specific touchpoint, CSAT is especially useful for evaluating a particular channel, such as live chat, rather than the broader customer experience that NPS is better suited to track.

Example

A store sends a one-question CSAT survey immediately after every live chat conversation closes. Out of 500 responses in a month, 380 rate the interaction 4 or 5 out of 5, giving a CSAT of 76%. The store tracks this score weekly to spot any sudden drop tied to a specific agent or a change in response time.

Key characteristics

• Transaction-specific: CSAT measures satisfaction with one interaction, not overall loyalty toward the business.
• Collected immediately: The survey is typically sent right after the interaction, while it is still fresh for the customer.
• Simple scale: Most CSAT surveys use a 1 to 5 rating, keeping the question quick enough to earn a high response rate.
• Top-box scoring: The score is the percentage of respondents choosing the highest rating or two, not an average of all responses.

Related terms

• NPS – a related metric measuring overall loyalty to the business, collected periodically rather than after a single interaction.
• Customer feedback – the broader category of customer input that a structured CSAT survey is one specific format of.
• Customer experience – the cumulative impression a customer forms, which individual CSAT scores across touchpoints help build a picture of.
• Live chat – a support channel commonly measured with a CSAT survey immediately after each conversation.

Frequently asked questions

How is CSAT different from NPS?

CSAT measures satisfaction with a single interaction right after it happens, while NPS measures overall loyalty toward the business on a recurring basis.

What counts as a good CSAT score?

It varies by industry and channel, but a score above 80% is generally considered strong, while anything below 60% usually signals a problem worth investigating.

Why is CSAT calculated as a percentage instead of an average?

Top-box scoring focuses on customers who were genuinely satisfied rather than letting a few neutral ratings pull the average toward the middle.

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