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Customer satisfaction is a measure of how happy customers are with a company, its products and/or services. Often abbreviated CSAT, customer satisfaction provides a benchmark for how a company’s offerings meet, exceed or fall short of customer expectations.
Companies often rely on customer satisfaction (i.e. Voice of the Customer) surveys and other feedback methods to gauge their CSAT level. Customer satisfaction surveys typically ask customers to rate various aspects of their experience with the company on a scale of 1 to 10. The results are then calculated and aggregated to produce a comprehensive CSAT score. While CSAT scores can vary by industry, having a score of 75% or higher is generally considered to be good (meaning three out of four customers reported having a positive experience).
While many things can impact customer satisfaction (such as product quality, reliability, etc.), customer experience consistently ranks among the top factors. For customer service, and contact centers in particular, long hold times, nonresolution of a customer’s issue and unfulfilled follow-up actions (i.e. promise management) are key CSAT detractors.