CSAT: what is it and how do you measure it?
As a result of the growing importance of customer relations, customer satisfaction and loyalty have become key objectives for companies, along with optimizing the production and distribution of their products and services. It is therefore essential to measure customer satisfaction using several indicators, such as CSAT: in this article we'll find out what it is, how it's measured and why it's essential.
Definition of CSAT
C-SAT (acronym for Customer Satisfaction) is the indicator that enables companies to assess customer satisfaction levels directly. This KPI is used to measure emotions immediately after an action with the company, be it a purchase or an interaction with customer service.
In fact, measuring CSAT immediately after the interaction and obtaining a response on the spot is an essential step: this is when the experience is still fresh in the customer's memory, so feedback will be more accurate and reliable.
The concept of customer satisfaction may vary according to company type, business sector and certain socio-demographic criteria used to distinguish and segment survey participants (e.g. age and gender). Generally speaking, CSAT is used to determine the extent to which products, services, customer service or the brand in general meet customer expectations.
In practical terms, this involves asking consumers to express their level of satisfaction with an overall experience or with a specific interaction with the company, by means of a satisfaction questionnaire. In this way, CSAT proves to be an indispensable tool for identifying recurring problems or spotting new needs on the basis of which to develop new products or functionalities to offer.
Today, measuring customer satisfaction is an invaluable tool for identifying bottlenecks in the customer journey and understanding why certain customers are dissatisfied. The aim is to identify customer needs and frustrations, with a view to developing and implementing a customer satisfaction and loyalty strategy. Indeed, faced with a negative experience, the customer is likely to abandon the brand and turn to a similar offer from a competing company. In this context, it is essential to listen to the customer: the brand needs to know the source of his dissatisfaction, so that it can then implement actions with full knowledge of the facts.
How to measure your CSAT score
To measure customer satisfaction using CSAT, you need to submit your customer satisfaction survey immediately after the action has been carried out. The question is usually worded as follows: Are you satisfied with our products/services/responses/service provided by our staff?
The user must be put in a position to provide a clear, concise answer in a simple, intuitive and effective way. In this way, 2 types of answers can be proposed:
- Yes / No
- Response in the form of a scale, with 5 possible graduations e.g.: very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, not very satisfied, not at all satisfied.
The second type of answer is generally the most widespread, since it allows you to easily classify the answers obtained, which will then be precise enough to provide well-defined results. For this option, you can also decide to replace the above-mentioned answers with ratings from 1 to 5, stars, smileys or other.
The advantage of the CSAT measured in this way lies in its simplicity of presentation: the score obtained is easy to visualize and interpret. It's also easy to use on the fly, i.e. immediately after a brand action.
CSAT: calculation methods
There are various methods of calculation, depending on the type of answer you choose to submit to the customer. However, if we take into account the most widely used mensuration method, namely that based on a rating scale of 1 to 5 (1 corresponding to the lowest rating and 5 to the highest), the calculation is quite simple: divide the total number of positive responses by the total number of responses, then multiply the resulting figure by 100 to obtain a percentage.
Below is the exact formula:
CSAT = (Total number of positive responses / Total number of responses) x 100
Based on our scale of 1 to 5, we consider a response to be positive when it corresponds to a 4 or 5. Conversely, a response will be negative when it corresponds to 1, 2 or 3.
When the customer satisfaction percentage is above 80%, we can deduce that the result is very positive and that customers are satisfied overall. On the other hand, if the score is below 50%, the result is negative and most customers are dissatisfied.
What are the advantages of CSAT?
CSAT is quick and easy to calculate, and is a satisfaction barometer with a number of advantages. Here are just a few of them.
- Precise results: with CSAT and its simple, standardized calculation method, it's possible to obtain precise, true-to-life results. This enables companies to understand the sources of their customers' frustration, as well as their expectations of the brand.
- Simple questions and answers: CSAT forms generally feature questions that are clear, concise and easy for everyone to understand. Thanks to their unambiguity as well as ease of response, customers are encouraged to respond.
- Reliable responses : due to the simplicity of the question and the way in which it is answered, a large number of responses are obtained. As a result, this KPI is highly representative and therefore reliable.
- Questions that are valid for everyone: due to its univocality and clarity, the question can be submitted to all customers, without the need to segment its customer base.
- A versatile indicator: CSAT is an excellent tool for easily evaluating many different aspects of the same product or service.
- Immediate results: CSAT enables us to collect results in real time, so we can quickly identify cases of dissatisfied customers, who need to be dealt with quickly and action taken to avoid consequences such as negative word-of-mouth.
What are thelimits of CSAT?
However, certain aspects of CSAT can also have limitations or disadvantages. Here are a few examples:
- Partial results: CSAT measures customer satisfaction at a specific point in time. This means that certain aspects, such as the customer's overall experience of the brand or the evolution of satisfaction over time, will not be taken into account in the measurement.
- Biased responses: since responses can often also depend on customers' moods at the time or their experience of the specific interaction, the results may not always be fully representative of their actual overall satisfaction.
- A low response rate: Sometimes, post-interaction CSAT surveys can achieve quite low response scores due to the fact that customers who take the time to respond may be quite few in number. What's more, it's often the most dissatisfied customers who tend to want to revisit the questionnaire following an unsatisfactory interaction, resulting in a lower CSAT score.
- An incomplete measure: while CSAT measures customer satisfaction in relation to a specific interaction, it does not take into account other aspects such as the customer's level of commitment to the brand, or his willingness to recommend it to friends and family.
It's important to bear in mind the drawbacks of CSAT when choosing to use it to measure customer satisfaction. There are, however, other tools and indicators that can be used to complete the overall picture of the customer experience.
Other indicators for measuring customer satisfaction
The Customer Satisfaction Score is an essential satisfaction indicator for companies, but it's not the only one. There are, in fact, other performance indicators with which it is very interesting to combine it: for example, the NPS (Net Promoter Score) and the CES (Customer Effort Score). This kind of approach enables the brand to strengthen its knowledge of its own customer base, and thus gradually improve customer satisfaction.
NPS
The NPS, or Net Promoter Score, shows whether your customers recommend your products and services to their friends and family, and precisely how many of them are willing to do so.
Typically, to measure NPS, customers are asked a question like this:
"On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?
The responses will be used to list the customers surveyed by category:
- Potential detractors: those who answer between 0 and 6. Generally dissatisfied or moderately satisfied, they are likely to potentially damage the brand's image;
- Passives: those who answer 7 or 8. They are satisfied overall, but not to the point of becoming brand promoters. In fact, they could easily switch to the competition if they find it more interesting.
- Promoters: satisfied customers, between 9 and 10. They are avowed admirers, and are ready to express this by acting as brand ambassadors.
In other words, the notion of satisfaction here goes hand in hand with that of loyalty: a loyal customer will be more likely to recommend the brand to others, whereas a merely satisfied customer will not necessarily do so. To find out exactly how strong customer relationships are, we recommend combining CSAT and NPS.
CES
The Customer Effort Score (CES) measures the ease with which a customer can make a purchase from a brand. The question submitted to the customer is generally formulated as follows:
How much effort did you put into your purchase/other action?
This kind of survey is very useful for pinpointing any existing problems with customer service, the website or the payment process.
While CSAT is used to measure elements of satisfaction, CES is used to identify negative factors or sticking points that could lead customers to abandon the purchase and turn to the competition. More precisely, the notion of CES is based on the following reasoning: customer satisfaction depends in part on the level of effort the customer has to make to take action. In other words, the customer will be more satisfied if the action requires the least possible effort.
These two measurement tools are therefore complementary, and it is very interesting to combine them to obtain more complete and precise results.
CSAT is especially useful over the long term: in addition to assessing customer satisfaction levels on a regular, periodic basis, it is important to constantly record and compare results over time, in order to monitor satisfaction and actions taken, and to identify the most effective solutions.
What to do after measuring CSAT?
1. Analysis of results
For a more in-depth analysis of customer satisfaction on a specific aspect of the relationship, it is possible to submit an additional question to the customer: "Why?" In this way, the customer is asked to fill in a free text field, with the aim of obtaining more details and being able to make deductions on the basis of qualitative data. This feedback is known as verbatim, and it enables us to listen more closely to the customer, gathering essential information to pinpoint the reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Verbatim analysis thus becomes as essential as the satisfaction score itself. Specific semantic analysis tools, such as Batvoice's AI, can be used to highlight recurring words, concepts and major expressions in customer verbatim. These solutions then classify the responses by theme and convert the number of verbatims concerning each theme into a percentage, so that the results can be better interpreted and more meaningful conclusions drawn. While on the one hand the brand is thus able to know the extent to which its actions have had an impact on customer satisfaction levels, on the other hand it will also be able to detect recurring problems more quickly and put in place the necessary corrective measures.
2. Automated actions
Based on the customer scores obtained via the CSAT survey, it is possible to understand the customer's feelings and set up automated actions to be deployed towards those who have expressed dissatisfaction, in order to correct the situation.
For example, if the rating is negative (1 or 2/5), it is possible to send an automatic notification to customer service, so that an operator can contact the customer in question to investigate the problem further and apply the appropriate corrective measures. The aim is to be reactive and offer a solution to make up for a negative experience, thus preserving the brand's image.
There are automatic actions to be taken even in the event of a positive rating (4 or 5/5), designed to maximize satisfaction: for example, it is possible to send an automatic message to the customer offering to reward them via a loyalty program, or asking them to share their positive experience by recommending the brand on the Internet.
Thanks to these actions, the company will strengthen the bond with its customers, increase their satisfaction and build their loyalty.
3. CSAT as a marketing tool
The CSAT score resulting from responses to questionnaires can be used by the brand in its marketing actions. Indeed, it is often quoted by the brand during promotional campaigns, interviews or public appearances to praise their products/services or the satisfaction generated by their customer service.
It's also possible to use the content of positive verbatims as a slogan in an advertising campaign or on the home page of your website.
How can Batvoice help you?
The Artificial Intelligence designed by Batvoice gathers essential information about customer satisfaction from the analysis of exchanges between agents and customers. Our solution integrates the CSAT score obtained by the brand through third-party solutions immediately after an interaction with the after-sales service. Analysis of the CSAT score and customer verbatims during calls enables responses to questionnaires to be aligned with the mood of the call.
Thanks to this analysis, the solution proposes to implement corrective action quickly, for example in the event of a negative score and strong anger detected in the call. By analyzing the customer's voice, our technology can pinpoint recurring words in the customer's vocabulary and identify the strong points of the call. This makes it possible to classify calls by theme and more easily pinpoint the problems associated with each theme. So, for example, we can detect customer calls that start with a strong anger and whose CSAT score is higher than 3.
To find out more about our solution, please contact us.