There are many different ways to measure customer satisfaction and customer experience (CX). In this post, we look at three of the most common approaches – Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES).
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
CSAT is a commonly used metric for rating customer satisfaction. A simple four or five-point scale is typically used, usually ranging from Very Dissatisfied to Very Satisfied. The CSAT score is the mean average score across all customer responses.
The CSAT score can provide a useful headline reference but provides limited insight. We encourage customers to also look at the outliers – i.e. those customers who were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied and those who were very satisfied. This can provide insight that would otherwise be missed, identifying issues that are driving dissatisfaction as well as factors and behaviours that are delighting your customers. You are then armed with the knowledge needed to tackle issues that detract from the customer experience and to drive behaviours that enhance it.
However, to do this effectively you will need to do more than ask a simple rating question; you will need to capture the Voice of the Customer to understand why they have given a specific response.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS is a customer loyalty measure that uses an index ranging from -100 to 100 to measure the likelihood of a customer recommending a company’s products or services.
Customers are asked a single question, “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this company’s product or service to a friend or a colleague?”
The customer is then classified as a detractor, a passive or a promoter based on the score given. A detractor will have scored 6 or less reflecting a lack of satisfaction with the product or service received. They won’t be an advocate for the company and may cause reputational damage through word of mouth or social media postings, for example on review websites.
Passives will have scored either 7 or 8. They will be fairly satisfied but are likely to consider switching to a competitor. However, promoters, as the names suggest, are likely to act as cheerleaders for the brand. They will have scored 9 or 10; they are not only loyal but are also evangelists out “to spread the word”.
The Net Promoter Score is simply determined by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors from the percentage who are promoters.
Customer Effort Score (CES)
The idea for CES came out of analysis that revealed that customers are much more likely to punish bad service than to reward good service. CES measures the effort taken to resolve an issue using a scale ranging from 1 (very low effort) to 7 (very high effort). The rationale for this measure is that the ease of issue resolution is a better predictor for customer behaviour (e.g. loyalty) than traditional customer satisfaction scores.
About ViewPoint customer feedback solutions
ViewPoint helps organisations to radically improve the quality of their services. Our interactive feedback technology engages with consumers, patients, employees, and any other stakeholders, to understand their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the experience they encountered.
Our unique smiley face surveys attract, engage, and encourage users to leave their thoughts. Four reasons feedback kiosks are the preferred feedback collection method:
- Lower cost customer survey solution
- Suitable for all environments
- Reliable and always on
- Highly accurate insights
Find out more about how real-time surveys can help you assess customer and staffing issues, monitor improvements, and compare departments to deliver the best service possible.
