---
title: "Top-Box Scoring — Definition & Formula | SpaceForms"
url: https://spaceforms.io/glossary/top-box-scoring
description: "Top-box scoring reports the percentage of respondents who selected the highest rating (top box) or top two ratings (top-2-box, T2B) on a scale."
lang: en
---

Home (https://spaceforms.io/) / Glossary (https://spaceforms.io/glossary) / Top-Box Scoring

# Top-Box Scoring

Top-box scoring reports the percentage of respondents who selected the highest rating (top box) or top two ratings (top-2-box, T2B) on a scale.

Top-box and top-2-box scoring are the dominant reporting conventions for CSAT and concept-test ratings. T2B emphasizes the share of strongly positive respondents, which correlates better with behavior than mean ratings do — a 4 on a 5-point scale is materially different from a 5 in repurchase intent. Bottom-box (or B2B) is the mirror metric for problem detection. The trade-off: top-box discards granularity, so pair it with mean and distribution when reporting. Most published CSAT benchmarks (including ACSI-adjacent ones) use top-2-box.

## Formula

`T2B (%) = (Top + 2nd-Top responses / Total responses) × 100`

## Example

On a 5-point CSAT scale, 100 responses: 45 fives, 30 fours, 15 threes, 7 twos, 3 ones. Top box = 45%. Top-2-box = 75%. Mean = 4.07.

### Run a Top-Box Scoring survey free

SpaceForms includes pre-built templates with validated wording. Unlimited responses on the free tier — no credit card.

Start free (https://spaceforms.io/free-survey-builder)

## Related terms

### Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) measures how satisfied customers are with a product, service, or interaction on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/csat

### Likert Scale

A Likert scale is a survey rating scale with ordered response options (typically 5 or 7 points) used to measure attitudes, agreement, or frequency.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/likert-scale

### Five-Star Rating

A five-star rating is a 1-5 ordinal scale, typically displayed as star icons, used for product reviews, app stores, and lightweight CSAT.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/five-star-rating

### Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend a product or service on a 0-10 scale.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/nps

### Response Bias

Response bias is any systematic tendency of respondents to answer questions inaccurately, either intentionally or unconsciously.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/response-bias

### Customer Effort Score (CES)

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how much effort a customer expended to complete a specific interaction, typically on a 7-point agree/disagree scale.
https://spaceforms.io/glossary/ces

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