What is CSAT and why is it important?

If you want to work with customer satisfaction in your company, the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a simple and clear metric that you can use. But what is CSAT, how do you use it, and why is it important for your company? We will explore these questions here.  

What is CSAT?

CSAT is short for Customer Satisfaction. CSAT is a key figure that your company can use to measure the degree of customer satisfaction associated with your company, a specific purchase experience, an interaction, some other customer-related touchpoint in the customer journey, etc.

Why Is CSAT Important?

Your customers are a major part of your company’s development, growth, and success. Therefore, it is relevant for you and your company to know how satisfied your customers are. CSAT is a simple metric to implement, and it can lead to initiatives that will quickly be visible in your KPIs.

How Do You Measure Your CSAT?

To determine how satisfied your customers are, you have to ask them. If you want to measure your CSAT score, you can ask your customers questions like:  

“How satisfied are you with X, which you have just tried/received/seen?”

You define the scale that your customers will use to answer the above questions. However, we recommend that you use a 1–10 scale since this is the most common and still offers enough variation for making relevant analyses.

You can also measure your CSAT using a large customer survey, e.g. a relational customer measurement where the above question is included as a key question. In such cases, you should consider where in the survey you want to place your CSAT question. At the beginning of the questionnaire, in the middle, or at the end?

Placement of Your CSAT Question in the Survey

If your CSAT question is a key question, we recommend that you always place it as the very first one in the questionnaire (right after the introduction). This way, you get your customers’ immediate “up front” opinion and assessment, without having influenced or steered the customer in a certain direction first.

The placement of the question is important. We have seen examples of differences of up to 5 index points for the CSAT question in the same survey, where the survey was run in two parallel setups, with the key question appearing first or last in the questionnaire. It is therefore important that you are aware of the potential consequences of the placement of the question.

Improving your CSAT

You will find that you can improve your CSAT relatively quickly at various contact points by implementing several “low-hanging fruit”.

CSAT can therefore also be a good start-up metric since it is easy to understand and implement. You will also quickly see the effect that initiatives have on the KPI, which for most people will motivate further action.

This may also interest you: A guide on the 3 key elements of a successful customer survey.

CSAT: Advantages and Disadvantages 

It is always important that you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the metric you want to use so that it can contribute to the insight you want.

Advantages of CSAT

1. CSAT is a simple and easy metric to measure, so getting started is straightforward. You will quickly be able to perform adjustments based on your score.  
   
   
2. CSAT is a well-known metric, which many companies use. You will therefore most likely be able to benchmark your CSAT within the relevant industry or use your score in your marketing strategy.
   
   
3. CSAT is easy to communicate in your organization and will therefore be a suitable KPI for understanding the customer experience.

Disadvantages of CSAT

1. CSAT tells you the overall satisfaction, but not the reason behind your score. Therefore, it is usually followed up with open comments or other metrics to assess the cause.
   
   
2. CSAT “competes” with other very commonly used key metrics, such as NPS and CES (Customer Effort Score). Opinions on what works best and in which contexts are almost religious in nature.
   
   

Guide: 7 most important questions to include in your customer survey 

How do you find out what your customers think about you? Conduct a customer survey and be sure you include the best customer survey questions. The questions in your customer survey are essential for you to get insights that will increase your customer satisfaction and loyalty. Download the guide now.