How to Calculate Your Customer Satisfaction Score and Use It to Improve Your Business

Having happy customers is the key to running a successful business. But how can you accurately measure how satisfied your customers are? One of the best ways is by calculating your customer satisfaction score also known as your CSAT score.

In this article, I’ll explain exactly what a CSAT score is, why it’s important, and provide a step-by-step guide on how to calculate it for your own business using clear examples. I’ll also give tips on how to analyze your score and use it to make data-driven decisions that will improve your customer experience.

What is a Customer Satisfaction Score?

A customer satisfaction or CSAT score is a metric that measures how happy or satisfied customers are with a specific interaction or overall experience with your business.

It’s calculated by asking customers to rate various touchpoints like purchases, support tickets, phone calls, etc. on a scale and then averaging all the scores. The result is a percentage that gives you a high-level view of customer sentiment.

CSAT scores are commonly based on scales of 1-5, 1-10, or using emoticons like:

• Very satisfied
• Satisfied
• Neutral
• Dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

Or

• Very happy
• Happy
• Neutral
• Unhappy
• Very unhappy

The average CSAT score for most industries ranges between 75-85%, Anything above 90% is considered excellent

Why Calculate a CSAT Score?

There are several key reasons why periodically measuring CSAT is crucial:

• Identify issues – Low scores pinpoint problems so you can fix pain points. This reduces customer churn.

• Track sentiment over time – Monitoring CSAT shows if changes you’ve made are improving or worsening experiences.

• Benchmark success – CSAT allows you to gauge satisfaction levels against competitors and within your industry.

• Improve products/services – Customer feedback gives insights into how to evolve offerings to better meet needs.

• Enhance support – You can refine helpdesk processes and agent training based on responses.

• Increase loyalty – Satisfied customers are much more likely to repurchase and refer others.

As you can see, CSAT provides the voice of the customer to guide impactful business decisions. Now let’s go over exactly how to calculate this important metric.

How to Calculate Your Customer Satisfaction Score

Figuring out your overall CSAT score takes just 3 easy steps:

1. Survey Customers

First, you need to collect data by surveying customers about a specific transaction or touchpoint.

The best way is to use survey software that allows you to:

• Send automatic email surveys after purchases, support tickets, phone calls, etc.
• Add surveys directly into your product for real-time feedback.
• Create different surveys for different touchpoints to get more granular data.

Here are some sample CSAT survey questions you can use:

• On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied were you with [X]?
• How would you rate your satisfaction with [X] experience?
• How happy were you with the customer service you received today?

2. Gather Responses

Once you start collecting responses, you’ll want to organize the data by assigning a numeric value to each rating:

• Very satisfied = 5
• Satisfied = 4
• Neutral = 3
• Dissatisfied = 2
• Very dissatisfied = 1

3. Plug Into CSAT Formula

Finally, calculate your overall CSAT score using this simple formula:

(Total Points Earned ÷ Total Points Possible) x 100 = CSAT Score %

Let’s walk through an example:

You survey 50 customers about a recent purchase experience. Their responses are:

• Very satisfied – 12 people
• Satisfied – 23 people
• Neutral – 10 people
• Dissatisfied – 3 people
• Very dissatisfied – 2 people

To find the total points earned:

• 12 people x 5 points each for very satisfied = 60 points
• 23 people x 4 points each for satisfied = 92 points
• 10 people x 3 points each for neutral = 30 points
• 3 people x 2 points for dissatisfied = 6 points
• 2 people x 1 point each for very dissatisfied = 2 points

That’s 60 + 92 + 30 + 6 + 2 = 190 total points earned

The maximum total points possible if everyone was very satisfied is:

50 people x 5 points each = 250 maximum points

Plug this into the formula:

(190 total points earned ÷ 250 maximum points possible) x 100 = 76% CSAT score

Based on this example, an overall CSAT score of 76% is pretty good. As mentioned earlier, anything between 75-85% is solid for most businesses.

Now let’s go over some ways to break down and analyze your CSAT data more closely.

How to Analyze Your CSAT Score

While your overall CSAT percentage gives you a high-level view, you can slice and dice the data in different ways to uncover more insights. Here are some tips:

• Segment scores – Calculate individual CSAT scores for different customer segments like repeat vs. new customers, geographic regions, purchase amounts, etc. See if satisfaction levels vary.

• Isolate touchpoints – Are customers happier with certain interactions like chat support vs. phone? Calculating separate scores for each touchpoint helps you focus improvements.

• Track changes over time – Monitor your CSAT score week-over-week or month-over-month. Improving scores indicate your changes are working.

• Compare departments – Calculate and compare CSAT scores across departments like sales, accounts, customer service, etc. Identify areas to focus on.

• Review open-ended feedback – Reading additional comments customers leave gives more qualitative context about what’s driving satisfaction levels.

• Set goals – Establish specific CSAT benchmarks you want to reach over time like 80% for sales interactions or 90% for support tickets.

Looking at your data from different perspectives helps reveal more actionable insights you can use to improve.

How to Improve Your Customer Satisfaction Score

Here are some proven tactics for boosting CSAT scores:

• Improve support quality – Invest in more training for customer service teams on communication, troubleshooting, product knowledge, etc.

• Add self-service options – FAQs, help centers with tutorials, chatbots, and community forums give customers faster resolutions.

• Set proper expectations – Avoid overpromising things like delivery times which lead to disappointment. Underpromise and overdeliver.

• Resolve issues quickly – Speedy resolution leaves customers much happier. Empower agents to fix problems themselves without escalation.

• Close feedback loops – Follow up with unhappy customers addressing their issues. Just showing you listen and care can greatly increase satisfaction.

• Incentivize surveys – Increase response rates and get more feedback by offering a discount, coupon, or entry into a giveaway for completing surveys.

• Thank happy customers – Show extra appreciation to very satisfied customers with a thank you email or small gift. They’re more likely to stay loyal and refer others.

The key is using insights from CSAT surveys to implement meaningful changes that make customers happier. Don’t just collect data and ignore it.

CSAT Score FAQs

Here are answers to some common questions about CSAT scores:

How often should you measure CSAT?

Ideally, send short surveys after any major customer touchpoint. For most businesses, monthly works well. Avoid less than quarterly though or you risk missing emerging issues.

What is a good CSAT score?

75-85% is considered respectable for most industries. 85-90% is excellent. Anything below 60% indicates major issues.

Is CSAT the same as NPS?

No, Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty – how likely they are to recommend your brand. CSAT gauges satisfaction with a specific interaction or transaction only.

What’s the difference between CSAT and CES?

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures ease of use – how much effort a customer has to exert. CSAT measures broader satisfaction beyond just ease of use.

Can CSAT be negative?

Yes, if total points earned are lower than half of total possible, your CSAT score will be below 50% meaning more customers are unsatisfied than satisfied.

Conclusion

The key takeaways are:

• CSAT measures broad customer happiness with a transaction or experience.

• It’s calculated by surveying customers on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale and averaging the points.

• A score between 75