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    Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

    Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) measures how satisfied customers are with a product, service, or interaction on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale.

    CSAT is a transactional satisfaction metric. Respondents answer: 'How satisfied were you with [interaction]?' on a 1-5 (or 1-10) scale. CSAT is usually reported as the percentage of respondents who selected the top 2 boxes (Satisfied + Very Satisfied) out of all responses. Industry benchmarks vary widely; the 2026 ACSI national average is 76.7.

    Formula

    CSAT (%) = (Top-2-box responses / Total responses) × 100

    Example

    ACSI Q1 2026: banking 80, life insurance 81, telecom 75, ISPs 72, national average 76.7.

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    Related terms

    Net Promoter Score (NPS)

    Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend a product or service on a 0-10 scale.

    Customer Effort Score (CES)

    Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how much effort a customer expended to complete a specific interaction, typically on a 7-point agree/disagree scale.

    ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index)

    The ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer satisfaction with the quality of products and services available to US household consumers.

    Top-Box Scoring

    Top-box scoring reports the percentage of respondents who selected the highest rating (top box) or top two ratings (top-2-box, T2B) on a scale.

    Survey Response Rate

    Response rate is the percentage of invited respondents who completed (or at least started) a survey.

    Survey Completion Rate

    Completion rate is the percentage of survey starters who finished all questions.