CSAT is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the customer support field, but do you actually know what it means? Or, what significance it actually has on your customer support team?

Customer satisfaction is measured through three separate, prominent metrics: CSAT, CES and NPS, and each measurement approaches customer satisfaction a little differently. CSAT is designed to gauge a customer’s satisfaction in the short term, and works as the industry standard.

Developed in 2003, CSAT measures customer satisfaction based on a 1 - 5 (very unsatisfied - very satisfied) scale. This metric shows how happy customers were with the overall support process. It also helps identify pain points to uncover areas of the process that could be improved. Any worthwhile customer support team will use CSAT, even if only as one factor, as a benchmark for customer satisfaction.

What affects CSAT scores?

All too often, customer support teams address growing ticket volume and complexity the wrong way: simply throwing agents at a problem will not solve it. It’s true — more agents does not translate into improved CSAT scores. All customers want is an accurate response in a timely manner, so there is no value in hiring more agents who aren’t equipped to provide that.

It’s also important to note that using CSAT as the sole metric for customer experience does not always provide a complete picture of customer satisfaction. Factors such as irritable callers, product failures, and individual bias can all affect CSAT independent of agent engagement. Plus, there is always the chance for agents to skew data by hand-picking survey recipients.

When it comes down to it, the only proven technology to improve ticket accuracy, precision, and consistency is AI for customer support. Here’s why.

How to improve CSAT Score with AI Technology

If you’re looking to boost your CSAT scores, start with the fundamentals: deliver the right answer every time. Providing a correct answer might seem like a no-brainer, but accuracy has a major effect on CSAT scores and many customer experience management systems (CXMs) fall short.

Many customer support managers are taking the easy way out, and turning to gimmicks, in hopes to uncover a “magic” accuracy-improving solution. For example, chatbots are a trending technology in the field today, since they are easy to use and very cheap. However, these superficial perks come at a huge cost. Chatbots have delivered disappointing results when it comes to accuracy scores with an average of just 17% success rate.

Compare that to the huge spike in accuracy Pinterest experienced when they decided to automate a portion of their customer support processes with AI technology. Pinterest’s success rate skyrocketed to 87%, which is 14% higher than the average for social media websites, after integrating AI technology into their CXM.

Decrease resolution time with AI technology

Second only to accuracy, resolution time is the next most significant driving factor when it comes to CSAT scores. Customers stuck on hold, or left waiting for an excessive amount of time for an agent, are very unlikely to report a high score on a customer service survey.

Customer support tickets can experience several roadblocks while traveling down the funnel to resolution. Factors that play into how quickly a ticket is resolved include:

• Responsiveness time — The period between when a customer calls in and when they make first contact.
• First Response —  How long it takes to reach first contact with an agent.
• Handle time —  How long it takes an agent to find a solution.
• Time to resolution —  Overall time that a customer was on the line, from call-in to resolution.

These are important metrics that all factor into the timeliness of a customer’s answer. With AI technology, you can greatly decrease the time it takes for customers to receive an accurate and a relevant answer. Augmenting agent interactions with intuitive, machine learning technology is proven to reduce response time by 30% - 40%.

The question on everyone’s mind is: how can my customer support system gain higher CSAT scores? Well, we have the answer. AnswerIQ’s intuitive AI technology can be easily integrated into most CXMs and is proven to improve CSAT scores by boosting resolution accuracy, precision and consistency. See for yourself — sign up for the AnswerIQ demo and experience firsthand how machine learning is changing the way people experience customer support.