What is Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)?
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) measures how satisfied people are with a specific interaction, product or service. It’s normally reported as the percentage of respondents who give a positive rating on a short satisfaction question.
CSAT is a simple, short-form metric used to track immediate satisfaction. Respondents answer a single question such as “How satisfied were you with X?” on a numeric or labeled scale (for example 1–5 or Very dissatisfied → Very satisfied). You calculate CSAT as the share of responses that fall into the “satisfied” range (commonly the top 1–2 scale points). Because it asks about a specific experience, CSAT is a snapshot rather than a long-term loyalty measure.
Usage example
After an applicant support session, you ask: “How satisfied were you with the help you received today?” on a 1–5 scale. If 80 of 100 respondents choose 4 or 5, CSAT = (80 / 100) × 100 = 80%. You can run the same single survey in multiple languages and compare CSAT by language group to spot differences in experience.
Practical application
CSAT matters because it’s fast to collect, easy to understand and directly actionable. Teams use it to monitor service quality after events, track the impact of changes, set improvement targets, and spot problems by segment (for example by service type, location or language community). In multilingual contexts CSAT is especially useful when paired with open-text responses: Hearo lets participants answer in their preferred language and translates replies back to the admin’s language, so you can trust the numbers and read context for low scores. Remember CSAT shows immediate satisfaction — combine it with qualitative feedback and other metrics for a fuller picture.
FAQ
How exactly is CSAT calculated?
Ask a short satisfaction question on a scale (commonly 1–5). Define which scores count as “satisfied” (for example 4–5). CSAT = (number of satisfied responses / total responses) × 100. Report it as a percentage.
What’s a good CSAT score?
There’s no universal threshold: ‘good’ depends on sector and context. As a rule of thumb, many teams aim for 70–90%. More important than a single number is trend: improvements or drops over time and differences between groups (for example by language or service) are what drive action.
How is CSAT different from NPS or CES?
CSAT measures immediate satisfaction with a specific interaction. NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures long-term loyalty or likelihood to recommend. CES (Customer Effort Score) measures how easy it was to complete a task. Use CSAT for quick quality checks; use NPS/CES when you want insight into loyalty or friction.
How do we make CSAT comparable across languages?
Use consistent question wording and scale across translations, and review translations where wording might change meaning. With Hearo you create one survey and translate the participant experience automatically, then review or accept participant flags to refine wording. Also compare CSAT alongside translated open-text comments to understand whether a low score reflects wording, experience or cultural differences.