Customer centricity is easy to claim and hard to measure. Three scores dominate the field: CSAT, CES and NPS. Each answers a different question, and each can mislead you if you read it alone.

CSAT: did this moment go well?

The Customer Satisfaction Score asks people to rate an interaction, usually from 1 to 5. The score is the share of 4 and 5 answers.

Use it right after a specific moment: a support ticket closed, a delivery, an onboarding session. It hides the long term. Someone can be satisfied with every single interaction and still leave, because the product doesn’t solve their problem.

CES: how hard was it?

The Customer Effort Score asks how easy it was to get something done, often on a 1 to 7 scale. It is the most actionable of the three: high effort points straight at a broken flow, a missing feature or a confusing form.

Use it after tasks: a first configuration, a claim, a password reset. It hides value. A task can be effortless and pointless.

NPS: would you recommend us?

The Net Promoter Score asks how likely someone is to recommend you, from 0 to 10. Promoters answer 9 or 10, detractors 0 to 6, and the score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, from −100 to +100.

Use it for the relationship as a whole, a few times a year. It hides the reasons. In B2B, the person who answers is often not the one who decides, and in regulated sectors people may simply not be allowed to recommend a supplier.

The fourth pillar: what people do

The three scores are declarations. Adoption is a behaviour. Next to them, I always track a few usage signals: how many people use the tool each week, how many come back, which features they never touch, and how long it takes a new user to complete their first real task.

How I combine them

• CES after key tasks, to find friction.
• CSAT after support and training, to check the human side.
• NPS twice a year, always with an open “why?” question.
• Usage data every week, to see if declarations match reality.