TL;DR

CSAT is the percentage of customers who say they were satisfied right after an interaction, asked with a quick 1-to-5 survey.

Key Points

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CSAT gauges satisfaction with a single, discrete experience such as one [[conversation]] or purchase, not overall loyalty. [1][2]

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The standard formula is (satisfied responses / total responses) x 100 — for example, 50 satisfied out of 70 replies is a 71% score. [2][3]

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Surveys typically use a 1-to-5 scale from very dissatisfied to very satisfied, sometimes shown as stars, emoji, or thumbs up/down. [2][3]

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Many industries treat 75-85% as good and above 90% as exemplary, though benchmarks vary widely by sector. [1][3]

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CSAT is sent right after a trigger like a closed [[support-ticket]] or [[live-chat]] session, while [[net-promoter-score]] measures loyalty and [[customer-effort-score]] measures ease. [1][2]

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It is a perception metric, so it complements operational numbers like [[first-contact-resolution]], [[first-response-time]], and [[resolution-time]] rather than replacing them. [2]

What CSAT measures and how to calculate it

CSAT captures how satisfied a customer felt about one specific touchpoint, such as a single Conversation with a Support Operator or a recent purchase. ^[1] The customer answers a short question like "How would you rate your overall satisfaction?" on a 1-to-5 scale, and you count anyone choosing the top one or two options as satisfied. ^[2] The score is the count of satisfied responses divided by total responses, times 100: 50 satisfied out of 70 replies yields a 71% CSAT. ^[2]^[3] Because it asks about a moment rather than the whole relationship, CSAT is the most immediate of the experience metrics, sitting alongside NPS for loyalty and CES for effort. ^[2]

Benchmarks and how to read the number

There is no universal target, but vendors commonly call 75-85% a good CSAT and above 90% exemplary, with anything below 50% a clear warning sign. ^[1]^[3] Scores swing hard by industry, so the trend over time on your own data matters more than any absolute figure. ^[2]^[3] CSAT is also a perception metric and only reflects the people who bothered to respond, which skews toward the very happy and the very angry. ^[2] That is why it should be read next to operational metrics such as First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Resolution Time: a fast reply that did not actually solve the problem will show up as a low CSAT even when your speed numbers look strong.

CSAT and lightweight tools like Eloqra

A formal CSAT program needs survey delivery, a rating scale, and reporting — features that heavier Help Desk and Ticketing System platforms automate after each closed Conversation. ^[1] Eloqra is a lightweight live-chat tool and does not ship a built-in CSAT survey, scoring, or analytics dashboard, so it cannot calculate a score for you. A founder running Eloqra who wants satisfaction signal can ask a simple rating question in the Chat Transcript before closing a chat, or send a one-question survey by email afterward, then tally satisfied replies by hand. The plus side of a small tool is fast, personal replies from Telegram, which is exactly the kind of attentive service that tends to lift CSAT in the first place.

Sources & References

What is customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and how to measure it - Zendesk ↗

What is CSAT and How Do You Measure It? - Qualtrics ↗

CSAT: Definition, Calculation & Benchmarks - Retently ↗

Last updated: June 25, 2026

Related Terms

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer-loyalty metric derived from a single survey question that asks how likely a customer is to recommend a company, product, or service to a friend or colleague, scored from 0 to 10. The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, yielding a number between -100 and +100.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a single-question survey metric that measures how much effort a customer had to expend to get an issue resolved, a question answered, or a task completed. The premise is that lower-effort interactions drive higher loyalty and retention.

First Contact Resolution (FCR)

First Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues fully resolved in a single interaction, with no transfer, callback, or follow-up needed. It measures how often a support team solves a problem the first time the customer reaches out.

Resolution Time

Resolution time is the elapsed time from when a customer first raises an issue until that issue is fully resolved and the conversation or ticket is closed. It is also called time to resolution (TTR) or mean time to resolution (MTTR) when averaged across many cases.

Customer Support

Customer support is the set of services and people that help customers use a product effectively and resolve the specific problems they run into, covering everything from installation and troubleshooting to maintenance and upgrades. It is the reactive, product-focused subset of the broader discipline of [[customer-service]].

Support Ticket

A support ticket is a tracked record of a single customer request, capturing the customer's message, their contact details, and internal metadata so a support team can route, prioritize, and resolve the issue. [1] Each ticket carries a unique identifier and a status that reflects where it sits in its lifecycle. [3]

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Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)