What is Customer Effort Score?

Customer Effort Score (CES) tells you how easy (or difficult) it is for customers to get what they need from you. Lower effort = happier customers, stronger loyalty, and better business. This blog covers what CES is, how to measure it properly, and how to use the results to reduce friction and improve customer experience.

What you’ll learn in this post:

• What CES means and why it matters

• How CES compares to NPS and CSAT

• The best times and places to ask CES questions

• What makes a "good" CES

• Common mistakes to avoid when measuring CES

• How to improve low CES scores with practical changes

• Why tools like SmartSurvey make CES tracking easier

• How to turn CES data into real customer experience improvements

Understanding Customer Effort Score

CES is a metric that measures the effort customers need to interact with a company, particularly when resolving issues or completing tasks. Typically measured by a straightforward question like, "How easy was it to get the help you needed today?" responses range from "very easy" to "very difficult." Lower scores signify less effort, while higher scores indicate more effort.

CES vs. Other Customer Satisfaction Metrics

CES often stands alongside other customer satisfaction metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). NPS gauges customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company, while CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction or service. However, CES distinguishes itself by focusing on interaction ease, a critical element in customer retention. Like CSAT, CES offers a moment-in-time snapshot of customer experience, making it most useful when combined with broader metrics.

Historical Background and Development of CES

CES emerged from research by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) in the late 2000s. Their studies found that customers were likelier to remain loyal if they experienced minimal effort during interactions. This marked a shift from traditional customer delight strategies, emphasising the importance of reducing friction and simplifying customer experiences.

How to measure customer effort score

Measuring customer effort score is straightforward. You just need a survey that captures the customer's sense of effort. Keep it simple and clear. Aim for questions that are easy to understand and answer.

Survey Design and Question Formulation

The classic customer effort score question might be: “How easy was it to resolve your issue today?” or “How much effort did you have to put forth to handle your request today?” Responses typically span from "very easy" to "very difficult" on a 5-point or 7-point scale.

Keep your question wording and scale consistent across all your CES surveys. This makes your data easier to compare over time. Be clear and avoid any confusing language.

Channels for Collecting CES Data

You can collect CES data through several channels:

• Email surveys: A follow-up email after a support ticket or purchase is one of the most common ways to collect CES. Just make sure it lands while the interaction’s still fresh.

• Website pop-ups: Great for capturing feedback on specific pages or journeys (like checkout or account settings), especially if something’s tricky or doesn’t work as expected.

• Live chat: Ask for quick feedback after a real-time conversation. SmartSurvey can be integrated with live chat tools to keep this seamless.

• In-app surveys: If you’re a software or app business, in-app CES prompts can be short, timely, and right in the user’s flow.

• SMS surveys: A short CES survey via text can work well for mobile-first customers or industries like logistics and utilities.

• IVR (interactive voice response) surveys: For call centres, automated voice surveys post-call can capture CES with minimal effort from the customer.

• Kiosks and on-site feedback terminals: Useful in physical environments like retail, healthcare or events customers can rate their experience on the spot.

Tools like SmartSurvey make it easier to create and send out surveys, offering customisable customer survey templates and integration across various channels.

Timing and Frequency of CES Surveys

Timing matters. The best CES feedback comes straight after an interaction while it’s still fresh in the customer’s mind. Wait too long, and you risk getting vague or inaccurate responses.

How often you ask depends on your business. If you’ve got high volumes of customer interactions, regular surveys can help you spot trends quickly. If your volume is lower, occasional surveys might be enough. The key is to gather enough data to see what’s really going on without annoying your customers.

Tools and Software for Measuring CES

Several tools measure CES, but SmartSurvey stands out for its ease of use and robust features. It allows for survey creation and customisation, multi-channel distribution, and real-time result analysis. The platform integrates with various CRM systems and tools, facilitating CES data incorporation into broader customer feedback strategies.

Interpreting and Acting on Your CES Data

Interpreting customer effort score

Once you've collected CES data, you need to understand what it means to make real improvements.

Calculation Methods

Calculating customer effort score is simple: average the responses. For instance, on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means "very easy" and 5 means "very difficult," sum the scores and divide by the number of responses to get an average. A lower score indicates less effort. Want to look a the calcukation in more detail check out our free CES calculator. If you’re using SmartSurvey, we make this even easier. Our CES question type automatically calculates your score, tracks it over time, and lets you visualise trends in your dashboard.

Understanding the Scale

The scale impacts CES data interpretation. A 1-5 scale offers a simple range, while a 1-7 scale provides more granularity. Choose a scale that suits your business and then maintain consistency. Analyse the data for patterns, do certain interactions score higher in effort? Do specific customer segments report more difficulties? Identifying trends pinpoints areas for improvement.

Analysing CES Data and Identifying Trends

Beyond average scores, look for trends and patterns. High effort scores might indicate issues with a specific department or service. Visualisation tools, like SmartSurvey's built-in reports and analytics, help spot trends, making it easier to communicate findings and identify areas needing attention.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

It’s easy to collect CES data but it’s just as easy to misread it or miss what it’s really telling you.

Here are some common signs that customers are facing unnecessary friction and how to fix them:

• Multiple handoffs between teams
  ➜ Give support staff the tools and authority to resolve issues without bouncing customers around. Internal knowledge sharing and better routing can help too.

• Confusing instructions or unclear next steps
  ➜ Simplify your language, review help content regularly, and test your journeys as if you were a first-time user.

• Long wait times for support
  ➜ Improve response times with automation where it makes sense (like triage bots), or by increasing staffing during peak times.

• Having to repeat information
  ➜ Integrate your systems so agents have full context upfront—no one likes starting from scratch every time they get in touch.

Spotting these patterns in your CES data early means you can act before frustration turns into churn. It’s not just about collecting scores it’s about making things genuinely easier.

What Is a Good Customer Effort Score?

What Is a Good Customer Effort Score?
A good customer effort score is typically under 3.

• Industry norms may vary

• Consider the complexity of the task

• Compare with competitors’ scores

Track your score over time to spot trends and improvements.

• Industry standards: these can significantly influence a good CES, for example a financial services company might aim for a lower CES than a tech company due to different customer expectations

• Product or service complexity: the complexity of your products or services also affects expectations, as customers might tolerate higher effort for complex tasks

• Competition: if your competitors are easier or harder to interact with that may influence the sense of what 'good' looks like

Setting Realistic CES Goals for Your Business

Set realistic CES goals by benchmarking current performance and comparing it to industry averages. Set incremental goals to reduce customer effort gradually. Regularly review and adjust goals based on ongoing feedback and changing customer expectations.

Benefits of Tracking Customer Effort Score

Tracking CES offers several benefits impacting your business.

For example, NHS trusts use CES to improve patient experience in hospitals, while local councils measure citizen effort during public consultations. Financial services firms track CES to streamline online banking, and universities use it to monitor student support interactions. Not-for-profits might measure volunteer effort to make it easier for people to get involved. These sector-specific approaches show how CES adapts to the unique needs of different organisations.

Predicting Customer Loyalty and Retention

Customers experiencing less effort in interactions are likelier to remain loyal, make repeat purchases, and recommend your business. Tracking CES identifies opportunities to reduce effort and boost loyalty.

Identifying Pain Points in Customer Interactions

CES highlights where customers face difficulties. Analysing CES data pinpoints pain points in the customer journey, guiding improvements in processes, communication, or support options.

Enhancing Overall Customer Satisfaction

Reducing effort leads to higher overall satisfaction. Customers with easy, frictionless experiences are likelier to be satisfied and return. CES helps identify areas for a seamless customer experience.

Improving Customer Service and Support Processes

CES tracking highlights areas needing improvement in customer service and support. Focus on reducing effort in these areas to streamline workflows, improve efficiency, and deliver better service. Tools like SmartSurvey aid in gathering necessary feedback for these improvements.

Lower-effort interactions also tend to cost less, reducing operational expenses for your business.

How to improve customer effort score

Improving CES involves strategic changes to reduce customer effort.

Streamlining Customer Service Processes

Simplify procedures, reduce wait times, and ensure easy-to-find information. Automating routine tasks frees up support teams for complex issues.

Enhancing Self-Service Options

Provide robust self-service options like FAQs, knowledge bases, and chatbots, allowing customers to find answers without contacting support. Ensure these resources are easy to navigate and up-to-date.

Training and Empowering Customer Support Teams

Empower support teams with tools and training to handle customer issues efficiently. Provide ongoing training on products, services, and soft skills like communication and empathy. Enable teams to resolve issues without escalation, reducing customer effort.

Using Customer Feedback to Drive Continuous Improvement

Regularly review CES data and other feedback to identify trends and areas for improvement. Use this information for data-driven decisions enhancing the customer experience. Tools like SmartSurvey help collect and analyse feedback, providing actionable insights.

Challenges in implementing customer effort score

CES is simple to measure, but getting real value from it takes more than just sending out a survey. Here are some common hurdles and how to tackle them:

• Survey bias
  Customers with really good or really bad experiences are more likely to respond, which can skew your results. To get a more balanced picture, make sure you’re sending surveys to a broad, representative mix of customers.

• Low response rates
  If no one answers your survey, it’s not much use. Keep your questions short and clear, explain why you're asking, and consider offering a small incentive to encourage more responses.

• Siloed feedback
  CES works best when it’s part of a wider strategy. Combine it with other metrics like NPS (Net Promoter Score) and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) to get a fuller view of customer experience. Tools like SmartSurvey help you bring this all together in one place.

• Internal resistance
  Change can be tricky, especially if it means rethinking how teams work. Make the case for CES by showing how it supports customer retention and reduces service costs (building a business case - check our CES calcuator to show ROI). Involve key stakeholders early, and offer the right support and training to get everyone on board.

Best Practices for Optimising Customer Effort Score

Collecting CES data is one thing making it meaningful is another. Here’s how to make sure your Customer Effort Score works hard for you:

• Keep your CES surveys fresh
  Don’t set and forget. Review your questions regularly to make sure they’re still relevant, clear, and suited to your channels. Update the wording or scale if needed—and check your survey timing is still hitting the mark.

• Break down silos
  Customer effort isn’t just a support issue. Bring in teams across the business—product, operations, marketing—to help solve the pain points your CES data reveals. Regular cross-functional check-ins can turn insights into action.

• Use the data to drive decisions
  CES isn’t just a number—it’s a roadmap. Use it to spot where customers struggle, prioritise improvements, and track whether changes are working. The more you align it with your wider feedback strategy, the more useful it becomes.

• Close the loop with customers
  Tell customers what you’re doing with their feedback. Share what you’ve learned, what you’ve changed, and what’s coming next. It builds trust—and shows them their input actually matters.

Wrapping up

Customer Effort Score gives you a direct line into how easy (or painful) your experiences are for customers. Lower effort = happier customers = stronger loyalty.

Use a tool like SmartSurvey to create CES surveys, track trends over time, and keep effort levels low across every touchpoint.

Key Takeaways

1. Don’t just focus on delight, focus on ease
   Trying to wow customers at every turn can backfire if basic tasks still feel hard. In fact, making something simple is often what feels delightful. Optimising for ease of use isn’t just practical, it can be one of the fastest ways to improve the overall experience.

2. Reducing effort often has a bigger impact on loyalty than big gestures
   Research shows that customers are more likely to stay loyal if things are easy, not flashy. CES helps you focus on what’s slowing people down—and fix it.

3. CES doesn’t replace NPS or CSAT - it adds a missing piece
   While NPS tracks brand loyalty and CSAT captures satisfaction at a moment in time, CES tells you how smooth (or painful) the experience was. Together, they give you a fuller picture of customer experience.

4. To get meaningful results, your surveys need to be well-designed and well-timed
   Ask clear questions, use a consistent scale, and send surveys while the experience is still fresh. That’s when the insights are most useful.

5. CES highlights exactly where customers are hitting friction
   Whether it's a confusing process, long wait, or repeated handoffs, your CES data helps you pinpoint the pain so you can remove it.

6. Data is only useful if you act on it
   Measuring effort is just step one. The value comes when you use what you learn to streamline support, simplify journeys and improve training.

7. Make CES a shared priority - not just a support team metric
   Build dashboards, share insights across departments, and work together to fix what’s broken. Bring CES into the boardroom as a key measure of customer experience and a guide for what to tackle next.

Final thought: Small wins, big impact

Reducing customer effort doesn’t always mean overhauling everything. Often, the biggest loyalty boosts come from simple fixes like shorter wait times, clearer steps, or just making sure people don’t have to repeat themselves. CES helps you spot those moments and smooth them out.

If you’re thinking about starting with a CES survey or building a full customer experience programme, come and chat with our friendly team. We’ll walk you through how the different metrics work together and how easy it is to get your feedback programme up and running.

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