What do your customers REALLY think? Find out with these 4 customer satisfaction indicators
Every company must devote maximum energy to customer satisfaction. And for good reason: happy customers are customers who come back, or even become true ambassadors for your brand.
But to identify the levers you need to activate in this direction, you need to know where you stand. You may have the impression that your customers are very happy with you, but the reality is quite different.
That's why we recommend setting up and regularly monitoring customer satisfaction indicators.
But between CSAT, NPS and CES, which indicators should you choose to measure customer satisfaction ? This article reviews the four main ones.
What is the purpose of customer satisfaction indicators?
Customer satisfaction is a key objective for any business, because if your customers are delighted :
- they'll be more likely to call on your services again when the need arises (remember, retaining an existing customer costs less than acquiring a new one!) ;
- they're less likely to turn to the competition;
- they' ll recommend you to their friends and family.
And all this is good for your sales and the long-term future of your business 💵!
But to find out what your customers really think, it's out of the question to go in "with a wet finger". On the contrary, it's important to precisely define your margin for progress. Hence the importance of determining how to measure satisfaction using reliable indicators.
Focus now on 4 of them:
- CSAT(Customer Satisfaction Score),
- NPS(Net Promoter Score),
- CES(Customer Effort Score),
- re-purchase rate.
☝️Le calculating most of these indicators involves collecting data beforehand, and therefore distributing questionnaires to your customers.
CSAT, or Customer Satisfaction Score
What is CSAT?
CSAT, for Customer Satisfaction Score, is the most basic indicator. It consists of answering a simple question such as:
"How satisfied are you with our product/service?"
To express their opinion, customers are asked to select their answer from a multiple choice:
- very satisfied,
- fairly satisfied
- not very satisfied,
- not at all satisfied.
The benefits of CSAT
CSAT is highly appreciated by companies, as it measures a wide range of parameters, including product and service quality, of course, but also customer support, ease of use, value for money... in short, anything you like.
What's more, it's an accessible indicator, based on an easy-to-understand question that encourages customers to respond.
How do you calculate the Customer Satisfaction Score?
The Customer Satisfaction Score formula is as follows:
| CSAT = Number of positive responses/Total number of responses x 100 |
👉 For example, if in your campaign, among the 1000 respondents to your questionnaire, 200 say they are very satisfied and 500 say they are satisfied, then your result is 70.
| 700/1000 x 100 = 70 |
But what is the average customer satisfaction rate to aim for? As a general rule, if you score over 80%, that's a very good sign. Conversely, a score of less than 50% doesn't bode well.
💡 Tip: customer satisfaction research can be greatly facilitated by the use of technology. CRM software such as Salesforce Starter comes to mind. The latter has the particularity of tracking customers from the prospecting phase through to customer service, and centralizes all associated data within a single interface. It's a handy tool for evaluating customer satisfaction and monitoring changes over time!
NPS, or Net Promoter Score
What is NPS?
NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is another example of a customer satisfaction KPI. Here, the question to ask is:
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely would you be to recommend our brand to your friends and family?"
Respondents are then divided as follows:
- from 10 to 9: here are the ambassadors, very happy with the company and willing to actively contribute to its reputation;
- from 8 to 7: the passives, who are much more neutral, and would not recommend you systematically;
- 0 to 6: detractors, who are likely to make negative comments about you.
The benefits of NPS
By measuring the propensity of customers to recommend a company or not, the Net Promoter Score enables us to anticipate their loyalty and commitment. Far more so than CSAT, in any case...
At the same time, by clearly identifying your detractors, you can focus on solving the problems that are causing their dissatisfaction.
How do I calculate the Net Promoter Score?
When calculating, focus on ambassadors and detractors, i.e. the profiles that have a real impact on your brand.
Here's the formula to apply:
| NPS = % of promoters - % of detractors |
👉 For example, if out of 1000 respondents, you count 600 ambassadors and 200 detractors, your NPS corresponds to 40.
| 60 - 20 = 40 |
The higher your score, the more promoters you have than detractors. However, an average NPS, between 0 and 50, indicates a certain margin for improvement.
☝️ Be careful, always relate this result to your field and compare it with the average to evaluate yourself. Some sectors, such as banking, are generally worse off when it comes to customer satisfaction.
CES, or Customer Effort Score
What is the CES?
This fairly recent indicator reflects the effort made by the consumer to obtain satisfaction, in various areas: purchasing experience, customer service, etc. It is therefore a measure of the customer' s satisfaction with the product or service.
It's therefore a highly relevant metric, since it's not just used to judge whether a given product or service meets consumer expectations: it evaluates the consumer's overall experience and relationship with your brand.
Once again, start by asking the consumer a question like this:
"On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the effort involved in contacting customer service?"
The benefits of CES
First and foremost, CES focuses on the effort made by customers to achieve their objectives. It therefore directly targets obstacles, with the aim of improving the situation.
In addition, this indicator helps evaluate certain interactions (with support services, for example) and provides precise information on the customer experience at any given moment.
How do I calculate the Customer Effort Score?
To calculate the Customer Effort Score, apply the following formula:
| CES = Total responses/Number of respondents |
In short, you need to average out all the answers you get.
👉 For example, if you sent the survey to 100 people and the total score obtained is 580, your ESC is 5.8.
| 580/100 = 5,8 |
As a general rule, a Customer Effort Score above 5 is considered a very positive result.
Repurchase rate
What is the re-purchase rate?
Also known as the customer retention rate, this indicator differs from the previous three in that it is not based on answers obtained via a questionnaire.
More precisely, this KPI evaluates the frequency with which your customers return to make an additional purchase over a given period. As you can see, it's used to understand customer loyalty.
The benefits of the repurchase rate
Unlike other indicators, the repurchase rate directly measures the level of active customer loyalty. When a customer decides to buy from you again, they are demonstrating their trust in you.
This is concrete behavior, which goes beyond intentions (as with NPS) or one-off perceptions (as with CSAT).
How do I calculate the repurchase rate?
Before starting the calculation, choose the period for which you wish to obtain the result, e.g. a month, a quarter or a year.
Then apply the following formula:
| Repurchase rate = (Number of customers making an additional purchase/Total number of customers) x 100 |
👉 For example, if among your 500 customers, 300 made an additional purchase during the period, your repurchase rate is 60%.
| Repurchase rate = (300/500) x 100 = 60%. |
A good re-purchase rate varies from one industry or business sector to another. But when it exceeds 20-30%, the result is considered very encouraging.
What can we learn from customer satisfaction indicators?
Every company needs to set up and monitor customer satisfaction indicators, the best way of finding out what customers really think of you. Without these KPIs, it's impossible to implement the necessary corrective measures.
So there's no need to dwell on dozens and dozens of metrics. Monitoring just three or four indicators is enough, including CSAT, NPS, CES and re-purchase rate.
Of course, you need to keep a regular eye on these KPIs and their progress over time: that way, you'll understand whether your efforts are bearing fruit (or not) and whether you need to stay the course in the same direction.
Article translated from French