NPS vs CSAT vs CES: which should you use?
In short: NPS measures loyalty, CSAT measures satisfaction with an experience, and CES measures how easy something was. eNPS is NPS for employees. Which one you choose depends on the question you want answered and the moment you ask it.
The four scores at a glance
| NPS | CSAT | CES | eNPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measures | Loyalty: would you recommend us? | Satisfaction with an experience | Ease: how much effort did it take? | Employees' loyalty to the employer |
| Question | How likely are you to recommend us? | How satisfied are you with …? | [Company] made it easy for me to … | How likely would you recommend us as a place to work? |
| Scale | 0 to 10 | Usually 1 to 5 | 1 to 7 | 0 to 10 |
| Score | % promoters − % detractors | % who gave a 4 or 5 | % who gave a 6 or 7 | % promoters − % detractors |
| Range | −100 to +100 | 0% to 100% | 0% to 100% | −100 to +100 |
| When | Periodically, or after a key experience | Straight after a contact or purchase | Straight after a task | Periodically, such as quarterly |
| Good at | Tracking the relationship over time | Managing specific touchpoints | Finding friction in processes | Following engagement, team by team |
| Weak at | Says little about a single moment | Says little about loyalty | Says little about the relationship | Sensitive to a lack of trust |
For the detail on each: What is NPS?, What is CSAT?, What is the Customer Effort Score? and What is eNPS?.
Choose by the question you're asking
The simplest way to decide: first write down what decision you want the result to inform. The score then more or less chooses itself.
- "How do our customers feel about us, and is it heading the right way?"Choose NPS, measured periodically among the same kind of customers. It reflects the relationship as a whole.
- "How did this one contact, delivery or training session go?"Choose CSAT, straight after the experience. You can tie the result to a team, channel or product.
- "Where are we making things needlessly hard for customers?"Choose CES, measured per task. Ideal for returns, cancellations, onboarding and forms.
- "How do our own people feel about us as an employer?"Choose eNPS, anonymous and at a fixed moment. Don't compare it with customer NPS.
Where in the customer journey?
The scores aren't mutually exclusive. Many organisations use them side by side, each at its own moment. An online shop might set it up like this:
- After an orderCSATHow satisfied are you with placing your order?
- After a returnCESIt was easy to return my order.
- After contacting customer serviceCES or CSATWas it easy, and were you happy with the solution?
- Every quarterNPSWould you recommend us to a friend or colleague?
Two rules keep this workable. One score question per survey, so it stays short and the answers don't colour each other. And don't ask the same customer too often: someone who gets three surveys in a week won't answer the fourth. More on that in increasing survey response rates.
What all four have in common
Every score tells you where you stand, and none of them tells you why. An NPS of +15, a CSAT of 72% and a CES of 58% could all be hiding the same problem: a wait that's too long, a form that doesn't work, a promise that wasn't kept.
It's tempting to add yet another score, but that rarely sharpens the picture. What helps is the question that follows: why did you give this score? And then following up until the answer is concrete. How to do that, with a questionnaire or in conversation, is covered in What is a conversational survey?
All four in ScoreStory. For each survey you choose NPS, eNPS, CSAT or CES, or a scale of your own. After the score, Vox, the AI interviewer, holds a short conversation about the why, and your results show the score, the trend and the themes behind it. See it on the product page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I ask NPS and CSAT in the same survey?
You can, but it rarely helps. Every extra score question makes your survey longer, and the answers colour each other. Choose one headline score per survey that fits your question and the moment, and spend the rest of the time on the why.
Which score is best?
None of them, in general. The best score is the one that fits the decision you want to make. To find out whether a new returns process works better, CES makes more sense than NPS. To track your relationship with customers over the years, it's the other way round.
Can the scores be compared with each other?
No. They use different questions, scales and calculations. An NPS of +30 and a CSAT of 80% say nothing about each other. Only compare each score with itself: same question, same moment, over time.
Sources
- The One Number You Need to Grow, Frederick F. Reichheld, Harvard Business Review, December 2003
- Measuring Your Net Promoter Score, Bain & Company
- Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers, Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman and Nick Toman, Harvard Business Review, July–August 2010
Measure the score, then ask why
ScoreStory asks for one score and then holds a short conversation about the reasons behind it. Your first 10 interviews are free, with no credit card and no end date.