CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) measures how satisfied someone was with a specific interaction. NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how likely someone is to recommend you to others. CSAT tells you whether a visit went well; NPS tells you whether it built loyalty.
Most service businesses should start with CSAT, because it is easier to collect at the point of service and it points directly at which counter, service or branch needs attention.
What is CSAT?
CSAT asks a customer to rate a single experience, usually straight after it happens. The question is some version of “How satisfied were you with your visit today?” answered on a scale — commonly 1–5, sometimes 1–10, and often shown as faces or stars rather than numbers.
The score is the percentage of responses that were positive:
On a 1–5 scale, “positive” normally means a 4 or a 5. So if 80 out of 100 people rated you 4 or 5, your CSAT is 80%.
What is NPS?
NPS asks one forward-looking question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” — traditionally on a 0–10 scale. Responses are grouped into three bands:
| Band | Score | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Promoters | 9–10 | Actively enthusiastic; will recommend you |
| Passives | 7–8 | Satisfied but not loyal |
| Detractors | 0–6 | Unhappy; may discourage others |
Passives are counted in the total but not in the formula. The result runs from −100 to +100, so it is a score, not a percentage. Anything above 0 means promoters outnumber detractors.
So if 50% of respondents are promoters and 20% are detractors, your NPS is 30 — the remaining 30% of passives affect the total but not the score itself.
CSAT vs NPS at a glance
| CSAT | NPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Question | How satisfied were you? | How likely are you to recommend us? |
| Scale | Usually 1–5 | Traditionally 0–10 |
| Measures | One specific interaction | Overall relationship / loyalty |
| Output | Percentage (0–100%) | Score (−100 to +100) |
| Best for | Finding the problem | Tracking the trend |
| Response rate | Higher — asked in the moment | Lower — asked less often |
| Time to insight | Immediate | Needs volume and time |
Which one should you use?
How to actually collect it
Most survey tools assume you can email a link. For walk-in businesses that is the whole problem — by the time an email lands, the visit is a memory and response rates collapse.
Two approaches work far better at a physical location:
The important detail either way is tying the rating to the visit — which service the customer came for, which counter served them, how long they waited. A rating with no context tells you your score. A rating linked to the visit tells you what to fix.
How Qtech measures satisfaction
Feedback is built into the Qtech queue system rather than bolted on, so every rating is already attached to a ticket, a service and a wait time.
Because the feedback sits on top of the queue data, you can see satisfaction next to wait time and volume for the same period, rather than in a separate tool.
See the feedback system →Frequently asked questions
Is a higher CSAT or NPS better?
Both, but they are not on the same scale. CSAT is a percentage from 0–100%; NPS is a score from −100 to +100. A CSAT of 80% and an NPS of 80 are very different achievements.
What is a good CSAT score?
It varies by industry and by how you ask. Rather than chasing an external benchmark, track your own score over time and compare between services and branches — that comparison is far more actionable.
Can I measure satisfaction without an app?
Yes. A counter tablet needs nothing from the customer, and an SMS weblink opens in the phone’s browser.
How often should I ask?
CSAT after every visit, if you can — the marginal cost is near zero and it keeps the sample representative. NPS far less often; asking a loyalty question repeatedly annoys people and does not change much between visits.
Does the feedback link to the wait time?
In Qtech’s case yes — because feedback is part of the queue system, each rating is tied to the ticket, so you can see satisfaction against how long that customer actually waited.
Related: Feedback Management System · Queue Management System · SMS & Web Notifications
