Customer effort score (CES)

A customer effort score (CES) is a metric that measures how easy it is for customers to interact with a business and resolve their issues. Another way to look at it is as a task-based metric that evaluates how much effort a customer had to put in to interact with the business, whether to make a purchase, find information, or get support. 

Similar to a customer satisfaction score (CSAT), a customer effort score is a single-item metric based on the answer to a question like “How easy was it to resolve your issue today?” Customers are asked to answer that (or a similar) question on a scale (e.g., 1-5 or 1-7), where a higher score is synonymous with less effort and vice versa. For example, a customer who answered this question with a 1 found the interaction extremely difficult, whereas a customer who answered with a 7 found it very easy.  

Why does customer effort score (CES) matter?

Customer effort score (CES) is a strong predictor of customer loyalty. Similarly, it can help pinpoint areas where customer experience is lacking. A high CES means customers generally find it effortless to interact with a brand, which may lead to increased customer satisfaction and retention. CES can also identify friction points, helping businesses hone in on processes or tools that might be causing frustration. Customer service teams can also benefit from CES results by using feedback to refine workflows and minimize response times. 

Like other metrics, customer effort score (CES) is best used with other metrics for a more holistic perspective of customer ease and satisfaction. Paired with customer experience metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT), businesses can get a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey and where to improve it. 

How to use a customer effort score

It’s best to use CES after specific customer touchpoints along the customer journey—points where ease of experience is a critical factor, including: 

• After a customer support call or live chat
• Following an onboarding session or product setup
• After completing a checkout or service request
• Post-knowledge base or self-service portal usage

The transactional and specific nature of CES makes it ideal to glean actionable insights on how to fix or improve processes. The key is to make sure you’re using this tool correctly:

• Ask a clear question with neutral wording focused on effort
• Deliver the CES survey immediately following the interaction for the most accurate feedback
• Automate outreach to follow up on high-effort scores and lingering customer pain points
• Leave room for comments so customers can explain the “why” behind the score if they want 

Customer effort score (CES) is an effective metric to identify process friction, but it’s not a holistic measure of satisfaction or sentiment. Like other single-item metrics, deeper insights come from pairing it with other metrics like customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

That said, it’s a crucial metric to understand how easy customers find it to do business with you. High CES scores are strong indicators of increased loyalty and retention, so tracking this metric over time will offer feedback to help companies deliver more satisfying, low-effort customer experiences.