What is CSAT (customer satisfaction score)?
CSAT, or customer satisfaction score, measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction, product or purchase. It is usually collected with a one-question survey on a 1 to 5 scale straight after the interaction, and reported either as the percentage of satisfied responses or as an average score.
Also called: customer satisfaction score, CSAT score, satisfaction rating
Why CSAT matters
CSAT is the most widely used measure of how a single customer service interaction went. It differs from Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures loyalty to the brand, and from customer effort score (CES), which measures how hard the customer had to work.
The same name can describe different numbers. Some platforms report CSAT as a percentage and label it "average CSAT", so check the formula before comparing scores. CSAT also shows whether the customer is happy, which is not always the same as whether the agent did a good job. Customers who are told "no", for example to a refund outside the return window, tend to score lower even when the answer was correct.
How it's calculated
There are two common formulas:
Percentage of satisfied customers: (number of 4 and 5 ratings ÷ total responses) × 100
Mean score: sum of all ratings ÷ total responses
Worked example: 200 customers respond. 120 give a 5, 40 give a 4, 20 give a 3, 10 give a 2 and 10 give a 1. The percentage of satisfied customers is 160 ÷ 200 = 80%. The mean score is 850 ÷ 200 = 4.25 out of 5. Both are valid, so state which one you report.
Example
In DigitalGenius data published in June 2026, AI agents averaged a CSAT of 8.6 out of 10 across all tickets, against 8.4 for human agents. When the outcome for the customer was negative, human agents scored higher than the AI. Abbott Lyon reports 85% CSAT on its email automations, matching its human team's scores.
CSAT and DigitalGenius
DigitalGenius tracks CSAT in its dashboard, and teams can ask in plain English how CSAT is trending and what is driving it.
Related terms
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FAQ
Is CSAT a percentage or an average?
It can be either. Many helpdesks report the percentage of ratings that are 4 or 5 out of 5. Others report the mean score. The two numbers are not interchangeable, so check which one a figure uses.
What's the difference between CSAT and NPS?
CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction or purchase, asked straight afterward. NPS asks how likely the customer is to recommend the brand, which measures loyalty to the business as a whole.
What scale does CSAT use?
Most CSAT surveys use a 1 to 5 scale, sometimes shown as stars or faces. Some tools use 1 to 10. When comparing scores, convert them to the same scale and the same formula.
· By Iain Moss