CSAT, or Customer Satisfaction Score, measures how satisfied someone was with a specific interaction - a support ticket, an onboarding call, a delivery. It is usually asked as "How satisfied were you with X?" on a 1-5 scale, and reported as the percentage of respondents scoring 4 or 5.
Because CSAT is transactional, it works best when sent immediately after the interaction, while the experience is fresh - typically within an hour. That immediacy is what distinguishes it from NPS, which measures the overall relationship and is surveyed on a slower cadence.
Many teams run CSAT, NPS, and Customer Effort Score together at different touchpoints rather than choosing one: CSAT after individual interactions, NPS on a relationship cadence, and effort score after support resolutions. The surveys guide covers when each fits, and the survey builder treats CSAT as a first-class question type with scoring built in on paid plans.
Related terms
Read the full guide