CSAT Projects

In this article:

• Introducing CSAT.
• The CSAT survey flow.
• How the CSAT score is calculated.
• Testing and previewing a CSAT question vs. a full questionnaire.

FAQs

• Who are CSAT surveys for?
• When should I send CSAT surveys?
• What are some best practices for CSAT surveys?

Suggested next section: 3. Distribution Platforms & Sending

Introducing CSAT

CSAT stands for Customer Satisfaction, a metric that measures customer sentiment with your brand, product, or service.

CSAT offers granular insight into specific transactions or experiences. Rather than surveying about a brand overall, CSAT drills down to provide actionable, real-time feedback regarding how you’re meeting — or missing — customer expectations.

CSAT surveys are proven to generate actionable metrics and responses — allowing your team to "close the loop" by addressing problems and presenting solutions to ease customer sentiment.

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The CSAT survey flow

CSAT surveys start with some variation of the question:

“How satisfied are you with [brand/product/interaction]?”

Customers provide a score on a scale from 1 to 5:

• 5: Very satisfied
• 4: Somewhat satisfied
• 3: Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
• 2: Somewhat dissatisfied
• 1: Very dissatisfied

Alternatively, you can opt for a 1 to 3 scale, with each number represented by a smiley:

After providing a score, customers answer an open-ended comment question to explain their responses. They’ll then respond to any Additional Questions you’ve configured before being presented with a customized Thank You page.

Sample 5-point CSAT question

Sample CSAT comment page

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How the CSAT score is calculated

CSAT is calculated with the following equation:

( Total number of satisfied responses / Total number of responses ) x 100 = CSAT

Let’s break that down piece by piece:

• Total number of satisfied responses: Any response where the score was a 4 or a 5 (for the 5-point scale survey), or a 3 (for the 3-point scale survey)
• Total number of responses: Your overall number of responses
• “x 100”: Multiply the result from the division equation to get a whole number

CSAT rounds to a whole number.

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Testing and previewing a CSAT question vs. a full questionnaire

There are two—very different—preview options to consider. You can:

1.  Preview a CSAT question in customization mode

Visualize how your CSAT question will appear (with the Desktop and Mobile preview options) as you customize the look and feel of your survey. Preview the changes you make to the color scheme, logo, and text elements of your CSAT question in real time. (See CX Customization Basics.) You can also add Additional questions and tweak your Thank you page all in one place.

2. Preview an entire CSAT metric project in a platform testing environment

Previewing how respondents will experience your full CSAT project (particularly if you've added Additional Questions to your questionnaire) requires testing at the platform level.

To learn how to test and preview you entire survey questionnaire, click and explore each of the distribution platform(s) that you have deployed from this list:

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Who are CSAT surveys for?

CSAT is ideal for businesses looking for a snapshot of customer satisfaction at a single point in time. Whether capturing feedback related to a support interaction, or measuring satisfaction with a recent purchase event or subscription, CSAT provides key insight into customer sentiment at that exact moment.

By surveying customers about a specific interaction, you have a definitive point where you can set benchmarks and goals for improvement, and define clear action items explicitly tied to areas impacting customer satisfaction.

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When should I send CSAT surveys?

CSAT surveys are most effective when used to measure satisfaction after a specific interaction. Keep these surveys scoped to specific moments in the customer lifecycle by deploying anywhere between one minute and one week after your customer touchpoint. Choose this timing to make sure that the feedback is fresh on your customer’s mind, while avoiding sending before they’ve had time to digest and reflect on the experience.

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What are some best practices for CSAT surveys?

Focus on customer satisfaction

CSAT is a versatile survey method. While many use CSAT solely to follow up after support interactions, it can also be applied to products, experiences, and more. However, be sure to keep the question centered around the measurement of satisfaction.

To develop your satisfaction question:

• Keep the question as short as possible
• Avoid any potential survey bias (ex: “How satisfied were you with our AMAZING new feature?”)
• Be specific (ex: “How satisfied were you with your recent chat with Delighted?” rather than “How satisfied are you with Delighted support?”)

Choose the right scale

When first creating your CSAT project, you’ll have the choice between a traditional 5-point scale question and a shorter 3-point scale question. Both are ideal in different situations! 

• The 5-point scale is better when you want a bit more nuance from your customers about the experience. 
• The 3-point scale is ideal if you’re looking for a quick response. Since the 3-point scale utilizes smiley faces for the scale, you may capture a bit more emotion with this option.

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