How to report CSAT in Zendesk
CSAT (customer satisfaction) is the score or rate you get when customers rate their support experience (e.g. good/bad or 1–5). In Zendesk, satisfaction ratings are stored on tickets; you can report on them in Explore or in built-in reports. This guide covers how to think about it and how to report it when you collect ratings. For the definition and formula, see CSAT in the glossary.
What CSAT means in Zendesk
In Zendesk, satisfaction rating is typically collected after a ticket is solved (or closed)—customers are asked to rate the interaction (e.g. good/bad, or a scale). CSAT is often reported as the percentage of “good” (or positive) ratings among offered ratings. Only report CSAT when you actually collect ratings; if few tickets have a rating, the number may not be representative. See CSAT in the glossary.
How to report CSAT in Zendesk
Zendesk stores satisfaction data on tickets (e.g. satisfaction_rating). In Zendesk Explore you can:
- Dataset — Support - Tickets (or the dataset that includes satisfaction).
- Metric — % of tickets with a “good” (or positive) rating among tickets that were offered a rating (or among all closed tickets, depending on your definition). Check your Zendesk plan for the exact attribute names.
- Time — By day, week, or month so you see trend.
- Breakdown — By group, assignee, tag, or channel so you see where satisfaction is high or low.
Exact steps depend on your Zendesk product and plan; the idea is: count ratings, compute % good (or average score), show over time and by segment. For a full set of support metrics including quality, see support metrics dashboard and support ops metrics.
Using CSAT alongside reopen rate
- Reopen rate — Proportion of tickets reopened after solved. High reopens often mean quality or handoff issues. See ticket reopen rate.
- CSAT — Direct customer feedback. Use both: reopen rate as an operational quality signal, CSAT as customer-reported satisfaction. If CSAT drops or reopen rate rises, investigate (process, knowledge, or handoff). See support metrics dashboard for the full quality beat.
When to include CSAT on your dashboard
Include CSAT in your support metrics dashboard or support dashboard template only when you have enough ratings (e.g. a meaningful % of closed tickets have a rating). If most tickets don’t have a rating, the number can be noisy; you can still report it but don’t over-weight it. For the weekly cadence, see support ops metrics and customer support dashboard.
Common mistakes
- Reporting CSAT when you don’t collect it — If you don’t use Zendesk satisfaction surveys (or similar), you won’t have CSAT. Use reopen rate and reopened tickets as quality signals instead. See ticket reopen rate.
- Too few ratings — If only a small fraction of tickets have a rating, CSAT can be skewed. Check sample size before drawing conclusions.
- Ignoring segments — A single CSAT number hides where satisfaction is low. Break down by group, assignee, or tag so you can act.
FAQ
What if we don’t collect satisfaction ratings?
Use reopen rate as your main quality signal. See ticket reopen rate and reopen rate as a quality metric.
Where does CSAT fit in our weekly review?
After volume, backlog, first reply, resolution, and reopens. If you have enough ratings, add CSAT as the quality beat; otherwise focus on reopens. See support dashboard template.
How do we get more ratings? **
Ensure the satisfaction survey is enabled in Zendesk and shown at the right time (e.g. after solve). Check Zendesk’s documentation for your product.