CSAT and DSAT measure two ends of the same customer survey. CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) is the percentage of responses classified as positive. DSAT (Dissatisfaction Score) is the percentage classified as negative. Neutral responses sit between them, so CSAT and DSAT do not usually add up to 100%.
Use CSAT as a trend for overall service health. Use DSAT as an action queue: each negative response points to a specific conversation, customer, and failure your team can inspect.
DSAT only earns its keep once dissatisfaction reaches someone who can act. Supportman routes selected negative Intercom ratings to a dedicated Slack channel with the remark, assignee, customer, and conversation link attached.
CSAT vs DSAT: what's the difference?
| CSAT | DSAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Counts | Responses classified as positive | Responses classified as negative |
| Formula | (Positive responses ÷ total responses) × 100 | (Negative responses ÷ total responses) × 100 |
| Best use | Trend service health over time | Find failures and assign recovery work |
| Review cadence | Weekly or monthly aggregate | Each response quickly; causes monthly |
| Main blind spot | Only represents customers who respond | Small counts make percentages volatile |
CSAT is the scoreboard; DSAT is the to-do list. A rising CSAT can coexist with unchanged DSAT when neutral responses move into the positive group. That is why both numbers, response count, and response rate belong together.
How to calculate CSAT and DSAT
Assume 100 customers responded to a support survey: 82 positive, 11 neutral, and 7 negative.
- CSAT: 82 ÷ 100 × 100 = 82%
- DSAT: 7 ÷ 100 × 100 = 7%
- Neutral: 11 ÷ 100 × 100 = 11%
The denominator is responses, not total conversations. Keep the response count and response rate beside each percentage; 7 negative responses out of 100 responses carry different certainty from 7 out of 20.
How Intercom classifies ratings
Intercom uses five emoji choices rather than numbered stars. Its conversation rating documentation classifies Amazing and Great as positive, Okay and Bad as neutral, and Terrible as negative. Intercom calculates CSAT as positive responses divided by all rating responses.
Your operational alert policy can be broader than Intercom's formal negative classification. Some teams route Bad and Terrible to the same Slack channel, while others also include Okay when written feedback is present. Document that rule so the dashboard definition and alert queue are not confused.
Turn DSAT into an action queue
- Route: send the selected rating, remark, assignee, customer, and conversation link to one owned channel.
- Claim: have an on-duty lead acknowledge each actionable alert.
- Classify: tag the cause as service, product, policy, knowledge, or customer expectation.
- Recover: reply when a useful next step exists; do not send a generic apology simply to close the alert.
- Review: group causes monthly and fix the repeated workflow, policy, or content gap.
Use the negative CSAT response playbook for ownership and reply examples. If your team works in Slack, follow the DSAT channel setup guide.
Set a useful DSAT target
There is no universal DSAT benchmark that fits every queue. Channel, customer type, intent complexity, survey timing, and response rate all change the result. Start with your own rolling baseline, then compare the same queue and intent mix over time.
Use counts as well as percentages. If a small queue moves from one negative response to three, its DSAT percentage can jump dramatically without proving a systemic change. Record the causes, inspect the conversations, and wait for enough responses before changing policy or coaching.
For a sourced CSAT framework, see Intercom CSAT benchmarks. For root-cause grouping, use the DSAT root-cause analysis guide.
CSAT and DSAT in BPO
In an outsourced support contract, CSAT and DSAT may become service-level measures rather than internal health metrics. Define the survey, positive and negative categories, minimum response count, attribution rules, exclusions, reporting window, and dispute process in the statement of work.
Attribution matters. A customer may rate a conversation poorly because of product behavior or a policy the agent cannot change. Keep the customer response in the score, but tag the root cause separately so coaching and commercial reviews do not treat every negative rating as an agent failure.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CSAT and DSAT?
CSAT is the percentage of survey responses classified as positive; DSAT is the percentage classified as negative. CSAT trends overall service health, while DSAT identifies conversations and causes that need action.
Is DSAT the opposite of CSAT?
No. Neutral responses count toward neither positive CSAT nor negative DSAT, so the two percentages do not usually add up to 100%.
What counts as DSAT in Intercom?
Intercom formally classifies the Terrible emoji as negative. Amazing and Great are positive; Okay and Bad are neutral. Your alert workflow can route additional non-positive choices, but label that broader policy clearly.
What is a good DSAT score?
Use your own comparable baseline rather than a universal target. Review response count, response rate, channel, intent mix, and root causes before deciding whether a movement is meaningful.
How should a team respond to DSAT?
Route the conversation to an owner, read the full context, classify the cause, recover the customer when a useful action exists, and aggregate repeated causes into product, policy, knowledge, or coaching work.