When it comes to building long-lasting customer relationships, satisfaction and loyalty are key. But here’s the catch: it’s not always about dazzling your customers with over-the-top service, it’s about making their experience as effortless as possible. That’s where Customer Effort Score (CES) comes in. CES helps businesses understand how much work customers have to put in to get their needs met, and lowering that effort often has a bigger impact on loyalty than trying to “wow” them.
In this post, we’ll break down what CES is, why it matters, how to measure it, and what your scores really mean.
What is Customer Effort Score (CES)?
Customer Effort Score is a metric that measures how easy (or difficult) it is for customers to interact with your business. It’s often gathered immediately after a support interaction or transaction with a simple survey question like:
“How easy was it to resolve your issue today?”
Respondents typically rate their experience on a scale (e.g., from very easy to very difficult), and those responses are averaged to create your Customer Effort Score.
Why It Matters
Studies have shown that reducing customer effort is one of the most powerful drivers of loyalty. In fact, customers are far more likely to stay loyal and spend more when you make their journey seamless.
Here’s why CES is so important:
Effort predicts loyalty – Customers who experience low effort are more likely to repurchase and recommend.
Frustration is a churn trigger – High-effort experiences (repeating information, hard-to-navigate processes, long wait times) quickly erode trust.
Actionable insights – Unlike broader loyalty scores, CES pinpoints the processes and touchpoints where you can remove friction.
In short: while CSAT tells you if someone was happy in the moment and NPS tells you if they’ll recommend you, CES tells you how hard they had to work to get there.
How to Measure
Capturing CES is simple and often done right after key interactions, such as resolving a support ticket, completing a checkout, or using a new feature. Best practices include:
Ask at the right time – Send surveys immediately after the interaction, while the experience is still fresh.
Keep it simple – One question is usually enough: “How easy was it to get the help you needed today?”
Use a consistent scale – A 1–7 or 1–5 scale works well, where lower scores indicate higher effort.
Track trends – Look for patterns across teams, processes, or customer journeys to see where friction is highest.
Understanding Your Results
Low Effort (high CES score) – Customers find interactions seamless. Expect higher loyalty, repeat business, and referrals.
Moderate Effort – Customers may have experienced a few bumps in the road but were still able to resolve their issue. This is a sign to investigate bottlenecks.
High Effort (low CES score) – Customers struggled and likely left frustrated. These are the red flags that signal churn risk and urgent areas for process improvement.
Final Thoughts
If CSAT is about happiness and NPS is about advocacy, CES is about friction. And friction is often the deciding factor between a one-time buyer and a loyal customer. By tracking and improving the Customer Effort Score, businesses can build loyalty not by doing more, but by making things easier.
The takeaway? Don’t just delight customers, make their journey effortless.
Frequently Asked Questions About CES
When should I use CES surveys?
CES surveys are most effective immediately after a support interaction, purchase, or product usage experience where effort plays a big role.
What is a good CES score?
A higher CES score means customers find the process easier. While “good” benchmarks vary by industry, the goal is consistent improvement, reducing effort year over year.
Can CES be used outside of customer support?
Absolutely. CES can measure ease of use in onboarding, checkout processes, self-service portals, or any other part of the customer journey.
