Welcome to the world of KPIs used in the outsourcing industry. This article offers you a closer look at the CSAT KPI. Customer Satisfaction or CSAT is one of the most used KPIs by businesses across the globe to monitor customer satisfaction. Continue reading to find out more.

• What is CSAT?
• What are the benefits offered by CSAT?
• How is CSAT calculated?
• What is a good CSAT score?
• How to Use the CSAT Metric?
• How Does CSAT Differ From Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
• How to optimize CSAT?

What is CSAT?

CSAT or Customer Satisfaction is one of the core KPIs used by businesses and outsourcing firms. It measures customer satisfaction with a brand or firm during a purchase, interaction, and so on.

Customer satisfaction can be measured in two ways. Either the direct method or the indirect method. The direct method uses data offered by the customer directly. For instance, information is collected through customer surveys. Scale rating is the most common method used to rate customer satisfaction.

The indirect method uses data from sales numbers, app engagement, and so on.

Most firms prefer using surveys to measure exactly what the customers are thinking. These surveys often a simple question:

How satisfied were you with your experience?

This question is often followed by a rating scale, usually from 1 -10 or 1-5. After collecting the scores from customers, the CSAT score is calculated.

The CSAT KPI is responsible for monitoring whether the customer expectation matched the service they received.

A low CSAT score is a clear indication that the business needs to work on its customer approach. Some of the other KPIs used to measure customer satisfaction include NPS, ART, FCR, and so on.

What are the benefits offered by CSAT?

Businesses benefit from the CSAT score in several ways. In fact, successful companies keep a close eye on their CSAT scores. It helps ensure customer satisfaction

does not dip unexpectedly. Since customer satisfaction plays a key role in the growth of a business in any sector, CSAT is a critical KPI. Let’s take a look at the advantages it offers :

• Improved customer engagement

  The CSAT scores offer a look at the satisfaction of each customer. This helps them improve their customer engagement strategies. It also helps build relationships with potential customers and even extract extra value from satisfied customers.
• Learn more about the customers

  The CSAT scores are a great way for any business to learn more about its customers. After all, a low CSAT score indicates that the customer expectation did not match what the brand offered. Businesses keen on understanding the customers’ perspective benefit greatly from monitoring the CSAT score.
• Reduce customer attrition

  Another key benefit of monitoring CSAT scores is that firms are able to bring down their customer attrition rates. In other words, it helps keep an eye out for customers who are unlikely to become repeat customers. Adding open-ended questions to the survey also helps pinpoint the exact reason behind their dissatisfaction.
• Advertise CSAT scores
  If you have a good CSAT score, you can advertise it to set your business apart from the competition. This will help bring in more potential customers as well.

  Besides the benefits mentioned above, CSAT scores help inspire brand loyalty. This leads to improved customer retention as well.

How is CSAT calculated?

Everyone comes across CSAT surveys at one point or another. It appears in emails, apps, or even after a customer service interaction. Additionally, these surveys also pop up during specific circumstances like after purchase, during onboarding, and so on.

Regardless of how the CSAT data is collected, firms use one of the following methods to calculate the CSAT score:

• Average method

  This method comprises of asking a question similar to the one below:

  On a scale of 1-10 (or 1-5), how satisfied were you with your experience?

  After the responses are collected, the CSAT score is calculated as seen below:

  

  Besides calculating the overall CSAT score, firms can also calculate individual scores. This comes in handy while operating a customer support team. In fact, outsourcing firms like Bobcares rely on KPIs like CSAT to ensure they deliver on their promises.
• Positive Experience Method

  Some firms prefer to monitor customer satisfaction by focusing only on positive scores. This enables the firms to establish the percentage of customers who had a pleasant experience. For instance, suppose 75 customers replied with scores 6 to 10 on a scale of 1-10. In this scenario, the CSAT score would be 60% if there were a total of 124 respondents.
• Visual Representation Method

  Many popular websites like Amazon, Uber, and Google use the star rating system. This allows the customer to review as well as rate a service or a product on a scale of 1 to 5.

  

  This method helps customers make informed decisions.

Regardless of which method is used by businesses to collect CSAT data, it helps identify customer satisfaction. It enables firms to take actions to improve scores in case they are too low or there is an unexpected dip.

What is a good CSAT KPI score?

CSAT scores often differ from industry to industry. However, a score between 60% to 80% is considered a good CSAT score. According to industry experts, the CSAT scores can be categorized as seen below:

The scores above are a good indication of customer satisfaction. However, it is always a good idea to check industry benchmarks before setting a baseline score. Furthermore, direct competitors’ scores offer a better idea of how your CSAT score is doing.

The CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with their interaction with the company. Since CSAT scores are averaged over a period of time, it can be used to monitor how well a product or service is doing as well.

In fact, many businesses monitor CSAT scores carefully during the soft launch of a new product or service. This helps them anticipate any issues and get ready with the solutions before the actual launch.

By gathering feedback constantly, businesses can come up with new ways to improve their customer service. This is why companies focusing on customers have better growth and success.

Companies that score between 50 to 70 are considered to be in the safe zone. However, these companies can boost their scores by improving the customer experience. Outsourcing firms like Bobcares help companies score above 80% CSAT scores. It’s no wonder that most businesses prefer to outsource support services.

By including open-ended questions in the survey, businesses will be able to find out why certain customers are unhappy. If there is a pattern of repetitive answers from unhappy customers, it is time to make changes to the customer support strategy.

In fact, studying the patterns of the CSAT scores enables businesses to set result-based goals.

How to Use the CSAT KPI?

Once we calculate the CSAT KPI score, the next step is to put it to good use. This is where businesses need to excel. Here are a few tips from industry experts to help you get started:

• Understand customer expectations:

  CSAT scores help businesses understand more about customer expectations. If the brand is not able to meet customer expectations, CSAT scores will decline. In other words, we can use this metric to understand customer expectations better. It also reveals pain points in the consumer’s journey.
• Close the loop:

  CSAT scores help close the loop as soon as a negative review or complaint is received. The support team can follow up with the respondent to find out the reason behind the negative review. This new information can come in handy in improving the CSAT score and overall customer satisfaction.
• Share the results

  Many businesses make the mistake of not sharing the CSAT scores with the support team. This can backfire while attempting to strengthen customer relations. The support team has to be aware of the CSAT scores in order to understand how they compare to industry standards.

  In fact, the CSATs cores can be sued to coach and improve the support team. This helps improve their performance thereby increasing CSAT scores.

How Does CSAT Differ From Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

Many people tend to interchange the NPS and CSAT metrics. However, both these key performance indicators are different from one another.

While CSAT measures customer satisfaction, NPS measures customer loyalty to the business.

CSAT measures the current customer satisfaction level based on the latest interaction or experience with the brand. In other words, it measures the customer’s satisfaction in the “ here and now” scenario. However, it is difficult to measure the ongoing customer relationship with the company via the CSAT score. This is where the NPS score shines.

Despite this, CSAT employs a number of questions to focus on various aspects of the customer experience. This helps break down the customer experience for the brand. In fact, this helps improve customer service.

NPS relies on a single question:

How likely is it that you would recommend this service/ brand / product to a friend or colleague?

This question pushes consumers to take a bigger look at the picture. In other words, it forces them to take a much wider view of the product or brand. The NPS score assesses overall customer loyalty to a brand.

It is important to note that CSAT and NPS surveys are sent at different points of the consumer’s journey. For instance, CSAT surveys are sent out after important milestones. For example: finishing a trial period, closing a ticket, making a purchase, and so on.

CSAT surveys are designed to measure customer satisfaction in specific areas like the onboarding process, a new feature, and so on. This helps brands pinpoint which areas need improvement and which ones are performing well.

Although CSAT and NPS measure different aspects of customer satisfaction, both are core KPIs. In fact, these KPIs play a critical role in helping businesses improve their customer service and brand loyalty.

How to optimize CSAT KPI?

In order to ensure the customer audience is happy and loyal to the brand, we have to understand how to give the CSAT score a boost. Here are the top tips off to ensure the CSAT score is off to a great start from day one.

1. Treat customers well

   The golden rule for achieving top customer satisfaction is to treat customers how you would like to be treated.
2. Reduce wait times

   One of the primary ways to ensure happy customers is by making sure that they do not have to wait too long for a response to their query. In fact, this involves improving core KPI scores like Average Resolution Time, First Contact Resolution, and so on.
3. Outsourcing

   A popular way to boost your CSAT scores is by bringing in an outsourced support team. They have the necessary skills to improve customer satisfaction and raise brand loyalty as a result. It also helps reduce overhead costs, making it a great business strategy for modern times.
4. Follow up on survey data

   An essential way to improve CSAT scores is to ensure that the data collected via the surveys are analyzed and put to good use. It helps identify which areas need improvement.
5. Set a goal

   Industry experts recommend measuring the current CSAT scores and setting a goal. Remember to keep it realistic and ambitious at the same time. Keeping an unachievable goal can demotivate the team leading to a dip in CSAT scores.

Final Thoughts

To sum things up CSAT or Customer Satisfaction is a primary KPI. It helps businesses monitor and focuses on boosting customer satisfaction. In the long run, it helps reduce customer churn, improve branding as well as increase customer retention at the same time.

In today’s competitive world, businesses cannot risk ignoring this key metric. Businesses use CSAT to determine what’s working and what is not working. This helps make informed business decisions in the long run.

As customer expectations grow, it is time for businesses to embrace KPIs like CSAT to drive up customer satisfaction. This ensures customers keep coming back for more. With higher customer satisfaction being linked to increased business revenue, CSAT KPI is here to stay. Partnering with a reliable outsourcing firm is a great way to ensure top CSAT scores.