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Get free accessAccording to a Helpscout study, 95% of consumers say that customer service is essential for brand loyalty, and 60% of consumers say they've left a brand and switched to a competitor because of poor customer service. So, it's crucial for businesses to measure customer satisfaction. Without a clear understanding of your customers' happiness, you can't accurately gauge loyalty, which is bad news for any business.
Thankfully, you can measure customer service satisfaction with more precision than you might think. Let's explore the essentials of customer satisfaction. We'll cover what it is, why it's so important for business growth, and break down the three key metrics you need to measure it:
CSAT: measures customer approval after interactions by collecting immediate feedback.
NPS: gauges loyalty via product/service recommendation on a 1–10 scale.
CES: evaluates loyalty by measuring the effort required to resolve issues, emphasizing time saved.
We'll also look at the different methods for collecting this valuable feedback, both directly and indirectly.
TL;DR
Customer satisfaction is a measure of how happy customers are with your products, services, and overall experience. High satisfaction leads to greater loyalty and retention.
Measuring customer satisfaction boosts loyalty, improves retention, increases customer lifetime value, helps improve agent performance, and drives revenue.
There are three main ways to measure satisfaction:
CSAT measures short-term happiness after a specific interaction, asking customers to rate their experience.
NPS measures long-term loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your brand to others.
CES measures the ease of a customer's experience by asking how much effort it took to resolve their issue.
You can collect feedback directly through surveys (in-app, post-service, email) or indirectly by analyzing website behavior and monitoring social media.
What is customer satisfaction?
Customer satisfaction is a measurement that determines how happy customers are with a company's products, services, and overall capabilities. It reflects the gap between what a customer expects and what they actually receive. When you meet or exceed expectations, you create satisfied customers.
This isn't just about feeling good; it's a critical driver of business performance. High customer satisfaction is directly linked to increased customer loyalty, better retention rates, and a stronger bottom line. Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, recommend your brand to others, and remain loyal even when competitors try to win them over.
The three key customer satisfaction metrics
Measuring customer satisfaction isn't a guessing game. It relies on specific, proven metrics that provide clear insights into how your customers feel. While each metric offers a different perspective, they all work toward the same goal: understanding and improving the customer experience.
CSAT: measures customer approval after interactions by collecting immediate feedback.
NPS: gauges loyalty via product/service recommendation on a 1–10 scale.
CES: evaluates loyalty by measuring the effort required to resolve issues, emphasizing time saved.
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
The customer satisfaction score, or CSAT score, is a time-tested KPI that measures customer happiness right after a specific interaction. A typical customer satisfaction survey will ask a simple question: "how would you rate your experience interacting with our sales/customer service/support department?"
Customers can then rank their experience on a rating scale, which usually ranges from 1 to 5:
1: very unsatisfactory
2: unsatisfactory
3: neutral
4: satisfactory
5: very satisfactory
The more positive answers you receive, the higher your score. It’s that simple.
The CSAT is versatile and can be applied to almost any interaction a customer has with your business. Because you receive immediate feedback, you get precise insights into specific moments of the customer experience. CSAT is most useful for tracking short-term changes in customer approval, such as before and after a new feature launch. If the score shifts, you'll have an idea of what did or didn't work.
However, CSAT doesn't capture a customer's overall impression of your company across their entire journey. Its results can also be biased, as customers who are only mildly satisfied or dissatisfied often don't respond. Finally, it’s not a strong predictor of future behavior or business growth. While the CSAT is a vital metric, it can't provide a complete picture of customer satisfaction on its own.
Net promoter score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score was developed to address the CSAT's lack of predictive power when it comes to long-term customer loyalty. Unlike CSAT, which focuses on short-term satisfaction, NPS aims to gauge a customer's overall relationship with your brand. Customers are typically asked one key question:
"On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend?"
Based on their answers, respondents are categorized into three groups:
Promoters (9–10): your most enthusiastic and loyal customers.
Passives (7–8): satisfied but not enthusiastic, and vulnerable to competitors.
Detractors (0–6): unhappy customers who can damage your brand through negative word-of-mouth.
To calculate your NPS, you subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The higher your score, the better.
The single question is straightforward and easy for customers to answer. However, results can sometimes be skewed, as unhappy customers tend to respond more often than satisfied ones. While this might seem daunting, it's also a valuable opportunity to identify areas for improvement and win back a dissatisfied customer.
The main limitation is that NPS is a one-dimensional measure. And without an incentive, there's no guarantee that promoters will actually follow through and recommend your brand. To truly improve the NPS score, you need to dig deeper into the "why" behind the rating.
Customer effort score (CES)
The Customer Effort Score takes a different approach. Instead of asking about satisfaction or loyalty directly, it measures the ease of the customer's experience. Customers are asked: "how hard did you have to work to get a problem fixed / query answered / service rendered?"
The score generally ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being very easy and 5 being very difficult. The lower your CES score, the better.
In a now-famous article, Harvard Business Review found that reducing customer effort was a much stronger driver of loyalty than delighting them. CES is a great indicator of customer loyalty because it focuses on saving customers time and energy.
Since the question is close-ended, it's helpful to add an open-answer box for additional context. A response like, "the support team was helpful, but if the FAQs had been easier to navigate, I wouldn't have had to call" is invaluable. CES allows you to pinpoint friction points in your service that need improvement.
Like the other metrics, CES on its own isn't enough. It measures a very important factor for customer loyalty, but it doesn't encompass the whole picture.
Metric | What it measures | How it's measured | Purpose |
CSAT | Short-term customer satisfaction after a specific interaction. | Customers rate their experience, usually on a scale of 1–5, immediately after an interaction. | To identify immediate satisfaction levels and find quick fixes for specific service touchpoints. |
NPS | Long-term customer loyalty and willingness to recommend the brand. | Customers rate their likelihood to recommend the product or service on a scale of 0–10. | To gauge overall brand loyalty and predict business growth. |
CES | The ease of a customer's experience and the effort required to get an issue resolved. | Customers rate how easy it was to handle their request, typically on a scale from "very easy" to "very difficult." | To identify and reduce friction in the customer journey, which is a strong driver of loyalty. |
How customer satisfaction is measured
Now that we understand the key metrics, let's look at how to collect the data. Measuring customer satisfaction relies on gathering feedback, which can be done through both direct and indirect methods. Direct methods involve asking customers for their opinions, while indirect methods involve analyzing their behavior.
Direct feedback and customer satisfaction
The most straightforward way to understand what your customers want is to ask them directly through customer satisfaction surveys. These surveys are powerful tools for collecting data for CSAT, NPS, and CES. Different types of surveys target different moments in the customer journey and yield different insights.
In-app customer surveys
These surveys appear while a customer is actively using your product or service. This timing leads to an immediate reaction and a potentially high response rate, making it ideal for capturing contextual feedback.
However, in-app surveys must be integrated seamlessly so they don't disrupt the user experience. A subtle feedback bar or a small pop-up works best. Because of this, you usually only have room for one or two questions. Keep them concise and to the point.
Post-service customer surveys
These surveys are sent immediately after a service interaction, like a support call or live chat session. The key is to ask for feedback right after solving a customer's issue or while introducing a new feature, so it doesn't feel like an extra burden.
While these surveys might take slightly more time for the customer than an in-app survey, they provide valuable feedback on specific service experiences. Tools like Aircall’s Surveys feature make it easy to automate these surveys directly after a call, streamlining the process for your team and your customers.
Turn feedback into insights. Automate post-call CSAT and NPS surveys with Aircall's Surveys to measure satisfaction and improve your customer experience.
Email customer surveys
If you need to ask broader questions about the entire customer experience, email is the way to go. You can also segment your customer base to ask in-depth questions about their specific situations or use cases.
While email surveys typically have the lowest response rates, they allow willing customers to provide more detailed, constructive feedback. This in-depth information can be used to improve customer satisfaction across the board.
Volunteered feedback
While encouraging feedback through surveys is valuable, it's just as important to provide channels for customers to share their thoughts voluntarily.
Dedicating a feedback box on your website or a specific email address for suggestions is a great way to start the conversation. Make sure you explicitly promise speedy follow-up actions and, more importantly, deliver on them. A non-automated, personal response shows customers you're listening. When you successfully act on their feedback, you can even turn it into a success story for your website.
Survey best practices
Surveys deliver the best insights when they are designed thoughtfully. A poorly designed survey can frustrate customers and yield low-quality data.
Here are a few ways to create effective, non-invasive surveys:
Respect your customer's time. Keep surveys as short and relevant as possible.
Craft precise questions. Avoid vague or irrelevant questions that don't serve your goal.
Stay unbiased. Don't use leading questions that might influence the customer's answer. This makes your business seem untrustworthy and will skew your results.
Keep rating scales consistent. Don't mix stars and smiley faces, or switch between numbered and lettered scales within the same survey.
By designing clear and concise surveys, you not only improve the customer experience but also ensure the quality of the data you collect.
Indirect feedback and customer satisfaction
Beyond asking customers for feedback directly, you can also gauge satisfaction by observing their behavior. These indirect methods are less intrusive and can reveal unspoken truths about how customers feel.
Basic analytics
Your website and app analytics are a goldmine of information about customer satisfaction. By analyzing user behavior, such as page views, bounce rates, and time spent on certain pages, you can uncover valuable insights. For example, high traffic on your pricing page might indicate interest, but a high bounce rate could signal that your pricing is unclear or uncompetitive.
Similarly, analyzing customer service interactions can reveal common problems and overall sentiment. If you notice a spike in support tickets related to a specific feature, it's a clear sign that something needs to be fixed. By aligning this behavioral data with your customer service goals, you can proactively improve customer satisfaction over time.
Social media monitoring
Social media platforms are valuable channels for measuring customer satisfaction. Monitoring comments, mentions, and engagement can reveal satisfaction trends in real time. The immediacy and informal nature of social media allow customers to share their thoughts easily and spontaneously.
By keeping track of fluctuations in followers, shares, and likes, you can get a good idea of customer loyalty and overall satisfaction. When customers reach out with issues, you can provide timely support, turning a negative experience into a positive one. Diversifying the channels where you measure satisfaction gives you a more complete view of the customer experience.
Benefits of measuring customer satisfaction
Understanding and improving customer satisfaction isn't just a feel-good exercise; it's a strategic imperative that delivers tangible business results. When you consistently measure and act on customer feedback, you create a positive cycle that fuels growth.
Here are the key benefits of measuring customer satisfaction:
Boosts customer loyalty
Improves customer retention rates
Increases customer lifetime value
Helps improve agent performance
Increases revenue
1. Boosts customer loyalty
Measuring customer satisfaction helps you identify weak spots in your customer service. When you act on this feedback to resolve issues, you show customers that you value their opinion, which drives loyalty. Happy, loyal customers often become your biggest advocates, turning into brand promoters who spread positive word-of-mouth and help attract new business.
2. Improves customer retention rates
Monitoring satisfaction levels allows you to spot at-risk customers and resolve their issues before they decide to leave. By proactively addressing problems, you can significantly reduce churn and improve customer retention. It's far more cost-effective to keep an existing customer than to acquire a new one, making retention a crucial driver of profitability.
3. Increases customer lifetime value
Happy customers don't just stay longer—they also spend more. Satisfied customers are more likely to upgrade their plans, try new offerings, and make repeat purchases. By focusing on satisfaction, you increase the lifetime value (LTV) of each customer, maximizing the return on your acquisition efforts.
4. Helps improve agent performance
Customer satisfaction data provides direct feedback on your support team's performance. You can use this information to identify top-performing agents and recognize their efforts. At the same time, you can pinpoint areas where agents may need additional training or coaching. This data-driven approach helps you build a stronger, more effective customer support team.
5. Increases revenue
Ultimately, all of these benefits lead to one thing: increased revenue. Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and are more receptive to new products and services. By boosting loyalty, retention, and lifetime value, a strong focus on customer satisfaction directly contributes to your company's bottom-line growth.
From feedback to growth
Measuring customer satisfaction is not a one-time task but an ongoing process that fuels loyalty, retention, and sustainable business growth. By using a mix of metrics like CSAT, NPS, and CES, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how your customers feel at every stage of their journey.
You'll need to be creative to stay relevant and draw meaningful conclusions from the information you collect. No single customer satisfaction metric is perfect, but by leveraging the data from multiple sources, you can get an accurate and actionable measurement.
Tools like Aircall’s Surveys can automate the feedback collection process, making it easier for your team to track, analyze, and act on insights. By continuously listening to your customers, you empower your team to improve the customer experience and drive your business forward.
Measuring and analyzing customer satisfaction can be straightforward and insightful. Try it today, with Aircall.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer satisfaction?
Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well a company's products, services, and overall experience meet or exceed customer expectations. It's a key indicator of customer loyalty and retention, reflecting how happy a customer is with their interactions with your brand.
How do I measure customer satisfaction?
You can measure customer satisfaction by collecting feedback through various methods. The most common approaches include using key metrics like Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Effort Score (CES), which are typically measured through surveys sent via email, in-app messages, or after a service interaction.
What are the three key customer satisfaction metrics?
The three key customer satisfaction metrics are:
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): measures short-term happiness after a specific interaction.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): gauges long-term loyalty by asking how likely a customer is to recommend your brand.
Customer Effort Score (CES): assesses the ease of a customer's experience.
Why is customer satisfaction important?
Customer satisfaction is important because it directly impacts business growth and profitability. Satisfied customers are more loyal, have higher retention rates, and are more likely to make repeat purchases. Measuring satisfaction helps businesses identify areas for improvement, reduce churn, and increase revenue.
Published on October 21, 2016.
