# How scores work

> What makes up a customer's health score, where each part comes from and when it updates.

import { Aside, Steps } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';

Every customer has a **health score** out of 10. It is built from five metrics. You decide how much each metric counts, and you set three score bands that give each score a label and a colour.

## The five metrics

| Metric | What it measures | Where the value comes from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Product usage** | How much the customer uses your product. | Automatic: your product usage score, every night. Or entered by hand. |
| **Engagement** | How much contact you have with the customer. | Automatic: your engagement score, every night. Or entered by hand. |
| **CSM pulse** | Your team's own feeling about the customer. | Always entered by hand. |
| **NPS** | How likely the customer is to recommend you. | Entered by hand. |
| **Support tickets** | How many tickets the customer has open. | Automatic: counted from your tickets. Or entered by hand. |

Product usage, Engagement, CSM pulse and NPS are values from 0 to 10. Support tickets is the number of open tickets.

Whether a metric is Automatic or Manual is set per customer. See [Metric sources](/health-scores/metric-sources/).

## How the health score is calculated

<Steps>

1. Each of the five values is turned into points.
2. The points are multiplied by the metric's weight. The five weights add up to 100%.
3. The results are added up and rounded to one decimal. That is the health score.
4. The score falls into one of your three score bands, which gives it its label and colour.

</Steps>

A metric with no value still counts, at a default value. On the customer's **Customer Health** tab it shows as **NA**.

See [Weighting](/health-scores/weighting/) and [Score bands](/health-scores/score-bands/).

## Usage and engagement scores

The Automatic Product usage and Engagement values are scores of their own. Each is built from the metrics you define in **Settings › Company metrics**:

- **Product usage** metrics count what customers do in your product. The values come from the [tracking SDK](/developers/tracking-sdk/), or you upload them.
- **Engagement** metrics count your work with the customer, such as calls, meetings and completed tasks.

Every night CustomerCatalyst works out each customer's usage and engagement score from these metrics, from 0 to 10. Customers set to Automatic get the new value.

See [Product usage and engagement metrics](/health-scores/metrics/).

## When scores update

A customer's health score is recalculated whenever one of its five metric values changes:

- **Automatic Product usage and Engagement** update every night.
- **Automatic Support tickets** updates when a ticket is opened, solved or closed, and is also recounted every night.
- **Manual values** count as soon as you save them.
- **New customers** get a score when they are created.

Every recalculation is kept. The **Health score trend** chart and the **vs. last month** figure on the customer page are built from them.

<Aside type="caution">
Changing the weights does not recalculate scores straight away. A customer's score uses the new weights the next time one of its metric values changes.
</Aside>

## Health score notifications

The customer's assigned CSM can be notified when the score changes:

- **Health Score Dropped Under 5**: the score went from 5 or more to below 5.
- **Health score changed significantly**: the score moved up or down by 3 points or more.

Each CSM turns these on or off, in the app and by email, in **Settings › Notifications**.