Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) is a widely used customer experience metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a specific product, service, or interaction. It is typically collected through short surveys and is essential for tracking loyalty, reducing churn, and improving customer support and onboarding experiences in SaaS and B2B environments.
What Is CSAT?
CSAT is typically gathered by asking customers a single question immediately after a key event (support ticket, onboarding, purchase, etc.):
“How satisfied were you with your experience?”
Respondents rate their satisfaction on a scale, usually:
- 1 to 5
- 1 to 7
- 1 to 10
The most common scale is 1 to 5, where 1 = Very Dissatisfied and 5 = Very Satisfied.
CSAT Score Formula
CSAT (%) = (Number of Satisfied Customers ÷ Total Responses) × 100
“Satisfied customers” = those who select 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale.
Example:
- 100 responses
- 78 answered 4 or 5
→ CSAT = (78 ÷ 100) × 100 = 78%
Why CSAT Matters in B2B SaaS
- 📉 Predicts Churn Risk – Dissatisfied users are likely to leave
- 📈 Improves Onboarding & Support – Collect feedback per interaction
- 💬 Gives Voice to the Customer – Reveals usability and friction issues
- 💡 Guides Product Improvements – Correlate low scores with feature use
- 📊 Aligns Teams on Customer-Centric Metrics – Sales, CS, and product
When to Use CSAT Surveys
| Scenario | Purpose |
|---|---|
| After Support Resolution | Evaluate support quality |
| After Onboarding Completion | Identify onboarding gaps |
| Post-Webinar or Demo | Gauge event effectiveness |
| After Product Milestones | Understand feature satisfaction |
| Quarterly Pulse Check | Track trends over time |
CSAT Benchmarks
| Industry | Average CSAT Score |
|---|---|
| SaaS & Software | 75–85% |
| B2B Tech | 70–80% |
| Customer Support | 80–90% |
| E-commerce | 80–85% |
A score of 80% or higher is considered healthy. Scores under 70% may signal systemic issues.
CSAT vs NPS vs CES
| Metric | Focus | Question Type |
|---|---|---|
| CSAT | Specific experience | “How satisfied were you?” |
| NPS | Loyalty & advocacy | “Would you recommend us?” |
| CES | Ease of experience | “How easy was it to…?” |
✅ CSAT is most useful immediately after a single experience.
How to Improve CSAT
- 🤝 Train your support team for empathy and resolution
- 🎯 Optimize onboarding for faster time-to-value
- 🔁 Follow up on low-scoring feedback immediately
- 🧠 Use in-app guidance to reduce confusion
- 📊 Segment CSAT by persona, feature, or stage
- 🧪 A/B test support flows and onboarding changes
CSAT with CUFinder
CUFinder improves CSAT by enabling personalized outreach, segmentation, and customer success targeting with enriched user data:
- 🧠 Segment surveys by job title, industry, or company size
- 📬 Personalize follow-up messages to low scorers
- 📊 Identify high-ACV accounts with declining satisfaction
- 🔁 Use CSAT trends to trigger success team interventions
Cited Sources
- Wikipedia: Customer satisfaction
- Wikipedia: Customer service
- Wikipedia: Customer relationship management
- Wikipedia: Customer experience