Net Promoter Score (NPS) vs Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
NPS measures long-term customer loyalty and willingness to recommend; CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction or experience. Both are survey-based customer health metrics, but they answer different questions and are deployed at different points in the customer journey.
At a Glance
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Measures customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
Average satisfaction rating from customer surveys (0-100 scale)
Key Differences
- NPS is a single 0–10 scale question about recommendation; CSAT typically uses 1–5 or 1–10 satisfaction scales.
- NPS captures long-term loyalty; CSAT captures short-term satisfaction.
- NPS benchmarks well across industries; CSAT scores are highly context-dependent.
- CSAT is more actionable for frontline teams; NPS is more useful for executive reporting.
When to Use Each
Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) when…
Use NPS for relationship-level tracking — quarterly or annual pulses to understand overall brand loyalty and predict retention and referrals.
Full Net Promoter Score guide →Use Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) when…
Use CSAT for transactional feedback immediately after a support ticket, onboarding call, or product interaction to evaluate that specific touchpoint.
Full Customer Satisfaction Score guide →Formulas
NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS)
NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors
(Promoters / Total Responses × 100) - (Detractors / Total Responses × 100)CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SCORE (CSAT)
CSAT = (Sum of Satisfaction Ratings / Number of Respondents)
Charts
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)