CSAT calculator.
Enter how many responses you received at each rating. We compute your customer satisfaction score, show the working, and tell you how many more satisfied responses it would take to hit a target.
- Free no email, no account
- Shows the arithmetic, not a black box
- No invented benchmark
The short answer
CSAT (customer satisfaction score) is the percentage of survey respondents who selected one of the top two satisfaction ratings. On a 1-5 scale, add the 4s and 5s, divide by the total number of responses, and multiply by 100. Neutral responses remain in the denominator, so a large middle group lowers CSAT even when very few customers are dissatisfied. CSAT measures a moment; it does not explain the cause, which is what the underlying comment text is for.
What CSAT does and does not tell you.
CSAT is a good instrument for one thing: whether a specific interaction or product satisfied the people who answered. It is a poor instrument for why. A score that falls three points tells you something changed; it does not tell you that a supplier switched, a packaging revision shipped, or a firmware update broke pairing on one SKU.
Two failure modes are worth naming. The first is averaging across products: a brand-level CSAT hides the one item dragging it down, and the larger the catalogue the better it hides. The second is survey timing: ask immediately after purchase and you measure the buying experience; ask after 30 days and you measure the product. Both are valid, but they are not the same number and should not be trended together.
Reading the score honestly
Compare against yourself. Your CSAT last quarter, on the same scale, with the same wording, asked at the same point in the customer's journey, is the only fair benchmark you have. Cross-company comparisons founder on all four of those variables.
Then read the text. The most useful thing in any satisfaction survey is the free-text box, and it is the part most often left unanalysed because it does not aggregate on its own.
Analyze your free-text responses →
Related
Customer satisfaction score, defined · Customer effort score · Set up a CSAT survey in Zendesk
Frequently asked questions.
How is CSAT calculated?
CSAT is the share of respondents who chose the top two satisfaction options. On a 1-5 scale that is the 4s and 5s, divided by all responses, times 100. Neutral responses stay in the denominator, which is why a large middle pulls the score down even when very few people are unhappy.
What is a good CSAT score?
There is no universal answer, and anyone quoting one number is oversimplifying. CSAT moves with the sector, the survey wording, when you ask, and whether responding is easy. The useful comparison is your own trend over time and the difference between your products, not an external benchmark.
Should I use a 1-5 or 1-7 scale?
Either works as long as you stay consistent, because changing the scale changes the score and breaks your trend. On a 1-7 scale the top-2-box is 6 and 7. This calculator uses the common 1-5 form.
What is the difference between CSAT, NPS and CES?
CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction or product. CES measures how much effort a customer had to expend. Net Promoter Score measures stated likelihood to recommend. They answer different questions and none replaces reading what customers actually wrote.