A good CSAT survey has one focused rating question, one optional open comment, and clear timing. Below are ready-to-use templates for the most common touchpoints, plus wording tips to maximize response rate and data quality.
When to send: Within 15 minutes of ticket resolution.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with the support you received today?” Scale: 1 to 5 (1 = very unsatisfied, 5 = very satisfied) Optional follow-up: “What could we have done better?”
Why it works: The question is specific to today’s interaction, not the product overall. This isolates support quality from product quality in your data.
When to send: 24–72 hours after the customer completes initial setup.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with your onboarding experience so far?” Scale: 1 to 5 Optional follow-up: “What was unclear or missing during setup?”
Why it works: Sending too early (during onboarding) catches incomplete impressions. Sending too late (after 1 week) means the experience is no longer fresh. 24–72 hours is the window where satisfaction and recall are both high.
When to send: Within 1 hour of confirmed delivery or order completion.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with your recent order experience?” Scale: 1 to 5 Optional follow-up: “Tell us what we should improve next.”
Why it works: “Order experience” covers the full journey (product, shipping, packaging, communication) without requiring multiple questions.
When to send: Monthly, triggered after a meaningful session or usage threshold.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with your experience this week?” Scale: 1 to 5 Optional follow-up: “Which part helped most, and which part frustrated you?”
Why it works: The two-part follow-up gives you both a positive signal (what to double down on) and a negative signal (what to fix) in one optional field.
When to send: Within 30 minutes of appointment end.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with your experience today?” Scale: 1 to 5 Optional follow-up: “Is there anything we should do differently next time?”
Why it works: “Today” anchors the question to the specific visit, not the business overall. The follow-up invites constructive suggestion rather than complaint framing.
When to send: Immediately after the case is closed.
Rating question: “How satisfied are you with how we handled your return / complaint?” Scale: 1 to 5 Optional follow-up: “What could we have done better?”
Why it works: Return and complaint interactions are high-stakes recovery moments. Low scores here are a strong churn signal that needs immediate follow-up.
How long should a CSAT survey be? One rating question and one optional open text field. That is all. Response rates drop sharply beyond two fields.
What is the best scale to use for CSAT? A 1–5 scale is the most common and easiest for customers to answer quickly. It also maps clearly to the CSAT formula (4 and 5 = satisfied).
When is the best time to send a CSAT survey? Immediately after the event — within minutes for support and delivery, within 24–72 hours for onboarding. The closer to the moment, the better the data quality.
Should I send CSAT surveys by email or show them in-app? Both work. In-app or embedded widget surveys get higher response rates for digital products. Email works better for post-delivery and post-support flows where the interaction happens outside your product.
Need formula guidance? See How to calculate CSAT. Need metric selection guidance? Read CSAT vs NPS vs CES.
Wyapy helps you turn these templates into branded, production-ready surveys with dashboard trends and AI summaries — no code required.