Customer Satisfaction
CRM & RetentionAlso: CSAT · customer sat
Quick definition
A measure of how well your product, service or experience met customer expectations. Typically captured via a simple rating question immediately after a key interaction. Expressed as a percentage of satisfied responses.
Where it shows up in the data
CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction (this purchase, this support ticket). NPS measures overall relationship health and likelihood to recommend. Use CSAT for operational feedback, NPS for strategic relationship health.
CSAT surveys work best immediately after the interaction (within 24 hours). Delayed surveys measure memory of satisfaction, not satisfaction itself. The gap between the two is often large.
CSAT response rates average 15-25%. Who responds matters — customers who had strong experiences (positive or negative) over-respond. Happy middle-of-the-road customers under-respond. Your CSAT data skews toward extremes.
Following up with dissatisfied customers to understand and resolve their issue. The most valuable CSAT use is not the metric itself — it is the process of closing the loop on negative responses.
What it actually means
Customer satisfaction measures whether you delivered on what customers expected. It is transactional and contextual — you can have high satisfaction on the product and low satisfaction on delivery, or excellent in-store satisfaction and poor post-purchase support. CSAT is a leading indicator of loyalty, churn and word-of-mouth. Businesses that systematically measure and act on CSAT outperform those that treat customer experience as qualitative.
CSAT is not a score to report. It is a diagnostic tool for finding where the experience breaks.
How to calculate it
CSAT = (Number of Satisfied Responses / Total Responses) × 100
Worked example. You send a post-purchase CSAT survey to 400 customers. 310 respond with a score of 4 or 5 out of 5 (satisfied). CSAT = (310/400) × 100 = 77.5%. Of the 90 unsatisfied responses, 40 mention slow delivery. That is a specific, actionable finding.
The Australian context
Australian consumers have relatively high service expectations compared to global averages but are less likely to complain directly than US consumers. This means your CSAT survey is often the only place you'll capture dissatisfaction — it doesn't surface organically in conversations or reviews. Proactive CSAT measurement is especially important in AU because silent dissatisfaction (customers who leave without saying why) is higher here than in complaint-prone markets.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
What is a good CSAT score in Australia?
Industry varies significantly but as a general benchmark, scores above 75% are considered good, above 85% are excellent. Hospitality and retail tend to score higher than utilities and telco. More important than the absolute score is your trend over time and how you compare against your own historical performance.
How often should I measure CSAT?
For transactional CSAT (after each purchase, support ticket or delivery), measure at every interaction. For relationship CSAT, quarterly or bi-annual surveys work well. The more frequently you measure, the more granular your feedback loop — but survey fatigue becomes a factor if you over-survey the same customers.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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