Glossary
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
A survey metric that asks customers to rate how satisfied they were with a specific interaction, product or purchase.
Also called: csat
CSAT asks a customer a direct satisfaction question, often "How satisfied were you with [interaction]?", on a scale such as 1–5, right after a support ticket, purchase or other specific touchpoint. It is one of the oldest and most widely used voice of the customer metrics because the question is simple and the response window is short.
CSAT is usually reported as the percentage of respondents who chose the top one or two options on the scale, rather than a raw average, which makes it comparable across teams using slightly different scale lengths. It differs from Net Promoter Score, which measures loyalty and likelihood to recommend at a relationship level, and from customer effort score, which measures friction rather than happiness; a customer can be satisfied with an outcome while still reporting the process took real effort.
CSAT is used to monitor specific touchpoints, such as a support interaction or checkout flow, and is often tracked alongside first contact resolution as a pair of quality signals for support teams. Its main weakness is low and self-selected response rates, typically from customers with strong opinions in either direction, and comparing CSAT across teams that survey different moments in the customer health score lifecycle can be misleading.
Last reviewed September 22, 2026