Sentiment

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Also known as: Customer Satisfaction

A measure of customer satisfaction with a specific interaction or experience, typically scored on a 1–5 or 1–7 scale. Best read at the touchpoint level (post-onboarding, post-support), not as a single account-wide number.

Formula

(Number of satisfied responses [4-5 on a 5-point scale] / Total responses) × 100

Who Is This Metric For?

CSM

Review after key interactions (onboarding, QBRs) to gauge satisfaction and course-correct quickly.

CS Manager

Aggregate across the team to identify CSMs or segments with consistently low satisfaction.

Product Manager

Use CSAT trends to prioritize product improvements that directly impact customer experience.

Priority by Stage

Crawl medium

Useful as a quick pulse check, especially post-onboarding. Easy to implement.

Walk medium

Track CSAT at key lifecycle touchpoints. Use it as one input to health scores.

Run medium

CSAT is useful but limited. Supplement with CES and outcome-based metrics.

Benchmarks

Segment	Good	Great	World Class
All Segments	75-80%	80-90%	90%+

Common Mistakes

Using CSAT as your primary CS metric. Satisfaction doesn't predict retention as strongly as you'd think
Survey fatigue: too many CSAT surveys reduce response rates and data quality
Not acting on low CSAT scores. Collecting data without a response loop makes customers feel ignored
Conflating CSAT with NPS or CES. Each measures something different (satisfaction with an event, loyalty, perceived effort), and mixing them in one dashboard hides the signal each is best at

Used in Playbooks

Crawl Build Your First Customer Segmentation Walk Operationalize QBR/EBR Cadence Walk Build the CS Cross-Functional Operating Model Walk Stand Up a Voice of Customer Program Walk Design Your CS Team Structure and Capacity Model Run Formalize Expansion Motion with CS