CSAT, NPS or CES: which customer satisfaction measure should you use?

CSAT: satisfaction with one interaction

Customer satisfaction score, or CSAT, asks customers how satisfied they were, usually straight after a visit, a purchase or a service. Answers sit on a short scale, such as faces, stars or numbered points. It is commonly reported as the share of respondents who chose the top ratings, and organisations set that cut-off in different ways.

Because it describes one visit, CSAT is most useful when it is asked close to the moment. The question is also simple to answer, since it is about something that has just happened.

NPS: likelihood to recommend

Net Promoter Score, or NPS, asks how likely a customer is to recommend you to a friend or colleague, on a scale from 0 to 10. Under the standard method, people who answer 9 or 10 are promoters, those who answer 7 or 8 are passives, and those who answer 0 to 6 are detractors. The score is the share of promoters minus the share of detractors, so it can run from −100 to +100.

NPS reflects the overall relationship more than a single visit. That makes it useful for tracking loyalty over months, but less precise about what went wrong on a particular visit.

CES: how easy it was

Customer effort score, or CES, asks how easy it was to get something done, such as resolving a problem, completing a transaction or finding the right service. The question is usually tied to one task, with answers on a scale from very difficult to very easy. It is often reported as an average, or as the share of customers who found the task easy.

CES is most useful where a process has steps that can be changed, such as forms, handovers between desks or repeat visits for the same request.

Which one to use, and when

Start from the decision the result will inform. For how one visit went at one location, CSAT is the closest fit. NPS suits a longer view of loyalty, tracked over months or quarters. When the goal is to remove friction from a process, CES points at it most directly.

Combining measures works when each sits on its own question and the survey stays short. At the point of service, customers have little time, so every extra question needs a reason.

How to measure fairly

A score is useful only if comparisons are fair. Small groups produce unstable results, so set a minimum number of responses before you compare locations or services. Read the comments behind a low score before acting on it.

Nexus Surveys compares results by location, department and service, with a minimum-response threshold. Groups with too few responses are left out of comparisons, and the answers behind any score can be read. Results can be exported to CSV, Excel or PDF.

How Nexus Surveys handles CSAT, NPS and CES

In Nexus Surveys, rating-type questions can be scored as CSAT, NPS or CES, and each score is calculated by its standard method. Nexus Surveys shows the NPS result with its detractor, passive and promoter counts. Question types include rating, 0–10, numeric-scale, multiple-choice, free-text and number questions.

Nexus Surveys collects responses by kiosk, QR code and web link, with one QR code per branch. Satisfied customers get a shorter survey, and dissatisfied ones are asked what went wrong. One survey can be offered in each language you add, without a separate version for each. Kiosks reset on their own and keep responses if the connection drops.

Before you choose: a short checklist

• Write down the decision each score will inform.
• Give each measure its own question, and keep the survey short.
• Ask close to the moment of service.
• Set a minimum number of responses before comparing locations or services.
• Decide who reads the comments, and how often.
• Agree how each score is calculated before you report it.