Software Growth

CSAT (Customer satisfaction score)

CSAT is the percentage of customers who say they were satisfied with a specific interaction, product or purchase on a short rating scale, usually 1 to 5.

CSAT measures how satisfied someone is with one specific thing: a support chat, an onboarding call, a feature, a purchase. You ask right after the moment, so the answer is fresh. It is the most direct of the customer survey metrics and the simplest to run, which makes it a good first survey for a small team.

How to calculate CSAT

Ask a question such as "How satisfied were you with your support experience?" on a 1 to 5 scale. Count only the top two answers (4 and 5) as satisfied.

Example: after support conversations, 60 customers respond. 39 give a 5, 9 give a 4, 7 give a 3, 3 give a 2 and 2 give a 1. Satisfied responses are 39 + 9 = 48.

CSAT is 80%. Note this is not the same as the average rating. The average here would be (39x5 + 9x4 + 7x3 + 3x2 + 2x1) / 60 = 260 / 60, about 4.3. The percentage ignores how far above or below the cutoff each answer is, so report which one you use.

What good looks like

It depends on the scale, the industry and when you ask. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, a long-running survey of consumer sectors, shows a US national average around 76 and sector scores in the high 70s to low 80s, though that is a different measurement from a 1 to 5 in-app survey. For your product, the trend and the split by interaction type matter more than comparing with an outside number.

CSAT, NPS and CES

  • CSAT: how satisfied were you with this interaction? Short term and transactional.
  • NPS: how likely are you to recommend us? Relationship level, asked less often.
  • CES: how easy was it to get what you wanted? Focused on friction.

Common mistakes

  • Asking too long after the event, so people remember little.
  • Low response rates that only capture the angry and the delighted. Keep it to one question plus an optional comment.
  • Changing the scale midstream and comparing before and after.
  • Treating satisfaction as loyalty. Satisfied customers still leave if a competitor is cheaper or easier.

For small SaaS

Add a one-click rating at the bottom of each support reply and reply personally to every 1 and 2. Review the score in your monthly customer success check-in alongside churn.

Sources

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