Five Key Differences Between CSAT and CX

When it comes to running a business, the most important aspect of measuring how successfully you are running it through feedback from the customers. In today’s age when everything depends upon feedback. And to simplify the process of collecting feedback from the customers, customer experience software are being used widely to improve upon the experience aspect of a customer’s journey. But many people and businesses confuse the metrics calculated to assess different aspects of a customer’s journey. CSAT or Customer Satisfaction and CX or Customer Experience are two of the most important aspects of a customer’s engagement with your business. But both of these differ from each other a lot.

Let’s first understand what these two are before discussing the differences between them.

CX and the Role of Customer Experience Software

Customer experience is routing out the whole journey of the customer with your business, and taking their feedback on their journey rather than their satisfaction with the product. It focuses on the relationship your business has built with your customers, which is done through a customer experience survey, in which the customers answer questions on what they think of your brand image and how well they were treated.

CSAT and How it Relates to Customer Satisfaction Survey App

Customer satisfaction is generally related to a series of questions that are to the point, and directly relate to how much the customer was satisfied with the product. It doesn’t primarily focus on the customer’s relationship with the business or their journey. This metric is used for working on short term solutions by a customer satisfaction survey offered to the customer at the end of the engagement. CSAT score is typically calculated to improve upon the product an not the customer’s journey. It can be calculated through a customer satisfaction survey app, which conducts the survey and calculates the metrics based on that.

Differences Between CSAT and CX

The five key differences between CSAT and CX are as follows:

Metrics

The metrics each of these terms are meant for are completely different. As mentioned before, CX focuses on the customer’s journey, while CSAT focuses on the customer’s satisfaction with the product.

CSAT is used to analyze the “here and now”  aspect of a customer’s visit to your business.

1. What were they looking for?
2. Did they find it?
3. Was it satisfactory?
4. Would they buy the product from the same place again?

These are the questions asked in a CSAT survey.

CX focuses on questions that relate to the customer’s overall experience.

1. Was the environment good?
2. How likely are you to recommend the business/product/service to others?
3. How did the staff treat you?
4. Did you face any issues in finding what you were looking for?

These are the main focus area questions a CX survey has.

Software

The software used to calculate CSAT and CX are different. While they can be integrated with each other in many cases, they don’t fall under the same category. For CSAT, you have to use a customer satisfaction survey app, while for CX, you have to use customer experience app.

Meaning of Values

While both CSAT and CX are calculated, and their values are numerical, the meaning behind those values differ completely.

For CX, the value is calculated from 0 to 10, in which customer’s having a score of 9-10 are promoters (loyal customers who promote/tell others about your business), a score of 6-9 means the customer is a passive (overall satisfied, but weren’t impressed and probably won’t recommend your business other people), and a score of 0-6 means the customer is a detractor (had a very bad experience and would actively tell others to not engage with your business).

For CSAT, it’s just a simple rating system of 1-100 which tells you how much the customer was satisfied with your product/service.

Roles

CSAT is used to evaluate and improve short term tactics of your business. It primarily focuses on just your main service, and what can be done to improve the customer’s satisfaction index with it.

CX is used to analyze customer behavior and journey, which accounts for long term improvements in your establishment. It also targets a wider audience than CSAT.

Audience

CSAT is usually aimed for the customers that have just engaged with your business, regardless if they were new customers or returning customers.

CX, however, is a different case altogether. It is aimed for customers who have engaged with your business, but is also aimed at previously engaged customers who have developed a relationship with your business. Customer experience surveys in these cases focus more on the relationship and the services or offers they are being offered from off the site.

Conclusion

CX and CSAT are complementary to each other. They aren’t interchangeable, but have their own roles to play in the customer’s journey. Both are equally important looking at a wider picture, however, it can be a different case for some businesses. Carefully determining their importance in your business structure and utilizing them both in a capacity that compliments their needs is the best way to keep your customers retained and happy.