Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Technical explanation

CSAT typically asks respondents to rate satisfaction on an ordered scale. A common calculation divides favourable responses—such as 4 or 5 on a five-point scale—by all valid responses and multiplies by 100; teams must document the question, scale, threshold, timing and treatment of missing data.

Business relevance

CSAT provides a direct, touchpoint-level signal for monitoring experience quality, comparing operational areas and identifying where investigation or service recovery is needed.

Implementation example

After onboarding, 164 of 200 valid respondents choose ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’, producing a CSAT of 82%. The team segments comments by onboarding stage before changing the process.

Limitations and common misconceptions

CSAT is sensitive to survey timing, wording, response bias and cultural scale use. It captures reported satisfaction rather than loyalty or causation, and scores from different questions, thresholds or populations are not directly comparable.

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