Customer Effort Score: The Complete Guide to Measuring & Improving CES

What Is Customer Effort Score (CES)?

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a customer experience metric that measures how much effort a customer must exert to interact with your company, whether that’s resolving an issue, making a purchase, or getting support. The lower the effort required, the higher the CES score, and the happier your customer.

The Core Concept

CES is based on a simple principle: customers prefer companies that make their lives easier. Research from Gartner shows that reducing customer effort is more predictive of loyalty and retention than satisfaction or delight.

The typical CES question is:

“How easy was it to resolve your issue?” (Scale: 1-7 or 1-10)

Or variations like:

• “How easy was it to do business with us?”
• “How much effort did you personally have to put in to handle your request?”
• “The company made it easy for me to handle my issue.”

Why It’s Different from NPS & CSAT

Many companies measure customer satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS), but CES measures something different:

Key insight: A customer can be satisfied (high CSAT) but still leave if the effort was too high. CES captures this hidden churn risk.

Why Customer Effort Score Matters?

Business Impact of CES

The data is compelling. Organizations that excel at reducing customer effort see measurable business results:

• 20% higher customer lifetime value — Customers who experience low-effort interactions spend more over time
• 15% lower churn rate — Reduced effort directly correlates with retention
• 25% higher Net Promoter Score — Easy experiences drive advocacy
• 30% faster issue resolution — Streamlined processes benefit both customers and support teams
• 40% reduction in support costs — Self-service and efficient processes reduce support volume

Real-world context: Gartner research shows that 96% of customers will switch to a competitor after a high-effort experience, while only 4% will switch after a low-effort experience. This makes CES one of the most predictive metrics for business growth.

Why CES Beats Other Metrics

While NPS and CSAT are valuable, they don’t capture the full picture:

• CSAT measures happiness, but a satisfied customer who had to jump through hoops may still leave
• NPS measures loyalty, but doesn’t tell you why customers are loyal or at-risk
• CES measures friction, which is the root cause of churn

By focusing on effort reduction, you address the underlying driver of customer behavior.

How to Calculate Customer Effort Score

The CES Formula

The calculation is straightforward:

CES = (Sum of all CES responses) / (Number of responses)

Example:

• 10 customers respond to your CES survey
• Responses: 7, 6, 5, 8, 6, 5, 7, 6, 8, 5
• Sum: 63
• CES = 63 / 10 = 6.3

Choosing Your Scale

You have two common options:

Option 1: 1-7 Scale (Recommended)

• 1-3 = High effort (negative experience)
• 4-5 = Moderate effort (neutral)
• 6-7 = Low effort (positive experience)

Advantage: Clearer distinction between positive and negative responses. Industry standard.

Option 2: 1-10 Scale

• 1-3 = High effort
• 4-6 = Moderate effort
• 7-10 = Low effort

Advantage: More granular feedback, aligns with NPS scale.

When to Measure CES

Timing is critical. Measure CES immediately after key customer interactions:

1. After support ticket resolution → “How easy was it to resolve your issue?”
2. After purchase completion → “How easy was it to complete your purchase?”
3. After onboarding → “How easy was it to get started with our product?”
4. After feature usage → “How easy was it to use this feature?”
5. After account changes → “How easy was it to update your account?”

Best practice: Send the survey within 24 hours of the interaction while the experience is fresh.

Calculation Example: Support Ticket Resolution

Let’s say you measure CES for 50 support tickets resolved this month:

Interpretation: Your support team is performing well (5.9/7), but 10% of customers experienced high effort. These are your churn risks.

Industry Benchmarks & CES Standards

What’s a Good Customer Effort Score?

CES benchmarks vary by industry, but here’s what strong performers achieve:

Key insight: A CES of 5.5+ on a 1-7 scale is considered strong across most industries. Anything below 4.5 indicates significant friction and churn risk.

Gartner’s CES Research

According to Gartner’s landmark research:

• 96% of customers will switch after a high-effort experience
• 4% of customers will switch after a low-effort experience
• Effort reduction is 2x more predictive of loyalty than satisfaction

This means improving CES from 4.5 to 5.5 could reduce churn by 10-15%.

Industry-Specific Benchmarks

SaaS/Software:

• Top performers: 6.2-6.5
• Industry average: 5.2-5.4
• Laggards: <4.5

E-commerce:

• Top performers: 6.3-6.6
• Industry average: 5.4-5.6
• Laggards: <4.8

Customer Support:

• Top performers: 6.0-6.3
• Industry average: 5.1-5.3
• Laggards: <4.5

CES vs. NPS vs. CSAT: Which Metric Should You Use?

All three metrics are valuable, but they measure different things. Here’s how to choose:

The Ideal Approach: Measure All Three

• CES → Identify friction points and improve processes
• CSAT → Measure satisfaction with specific interactions
• NPS → Track overall loyalty and growth potential

Together, they give you a complete picture of customer health.

How to Improve Customer Effort Score?

Reducing customer effort requires systematic process improvement. Here’s a framework:

Step 1: Identify High-Effort Touchpoints

Start by finding where customers struggle most:

• Analyze CES by channel — Which channels (phone, email, chat, self-service) have lowest CES?
• Analyze CES by issue type — Which problems require the most effort to resolve?
• Analyze CES by customer segment — Do certain customer types experience more friction?
• Review support tickets — Look for patterns in complaints about complexity or delays

Action: Create a “friction map” showing your top 5 high-effort areas.

Step 2: Streamline Processes

Once you’ve identified friction points, simplify:

For Support:

• Reduce the number of steps to resolve common issues
• Empower support agents to resolve issues without escalation
• Implement first-contact resolution (FCR) targets
• Create clear, documented processes for common problems

For Onboarding:

• Reduce setup steps from 10 to 5
• Provide guided tours and in-app help
• Offer live onboarding calls for complex products
• Create self-service knowledge bases

For Purchases:

• Reduce checkout steps
• Offer guest checkout
• Simplify payment options
• Minimize form fields

Step 3: Invest in Self-Service

Self-service is the ultimate effort reducer:

• Knowledge base –  Comprehensive FAQ and help articles
• Video tutorials – Step-by-step guides for common tasks
• Chatbots – AI-powered instant answers for common questions
• Community forums – Peer-to-peer support
• In-app help – Contextual help within your product

Benchmark: Companies with strong self-service see 20-30% reduction in support tickets and 0.5-1.0 point CES improvement.

Step 4: Empower Your Support Team

Your support team is on the front lines of effort reduction:

• Training – Teach reps to resolve issues quickly and completely
• Tools – Provide CRM, knowledge base, and automation tools
• Authority – Let reps make decisions without escalation
• Accountability – Track first-contact resolution (FCR) and CES by rep

Benchmark: Teams with high FCR (>80%) typically achieve CES of 6.0+.

Step 5: Leverage Technology & Automation

Modern tools can dramatically reduce effort:

• Conversation intelligence – Identify where reps are creating friction
• Workflow automation – Automate repetitive tasks
• Predictive analytics – Identify at-risk customers before they churn
• Omnichannel support – Let customers switch channels seamlessly

Step 6: Measure & Iterate

Improvement is continuous:

• Track CES weekly – Monitor trends and identify regressions
• Segment analysis – Understand which customer groups are improving
• Root cause analysis – When CES drops, investigate why
• A/B testing – Test process changes and measure impact

Target: Aim for 0.2-0.5 point CES improvement per quarter.

Real-World Examples & Case Studies

Case Study 1: SaaS Company Reduces Onboarding Effort

The Challenge: A B2B SaaS company had a CES of 4.2 for onboarding—customers struggled with setup complexity.

The Solution:

• Reduced onboarding steps from 12 to 5
• Created an interactive guided tour
• Offered live onboarding calls for enterprise customers
• Built a comprehensive video library

Results:

• CES improved from 4.2 → 6.1 (45% improvement)
• Time-to-value reduced from 2 weeks → 3 days
• Customer churn decreased by 12%
• NPS increased from 32 → 51

Key insight: Onboarding is a critical effort touchpoint. Investing here pays dividends in retention and expansion.

Case Study 2: E-commerce Company Simplifies Checkout

The Challenge: An e-commerce retailer had high cart abandonment (35%) and low CES for checkout (4.8).

The Solution:

• Reduced checkout steps from 8 to 3
• Implemented one-click payment
• Added guest checkout option
• Simplified form fields (removed unnecessary data)

Results:

• CES improved from 4.8 → 6.3
• Cart abandonment decreased from 35% → 18%
• Conversion rate increased by 22%
• Average order value increased by 8%

Key insight: Every step in checkout is an opportunity for abandonment. Simplification directly impacts revenue.

Case Study 3: Support Team Improves First-Contact Resolution

The Challenge: A support team had CES of 5.1 with only 62% first-contact resolution (FCR).

The Solution:

• Implemented conversation intelligence to identify escalation patterns
• Trained reps on common issues and resolution authority
• Built decision trees for common problems
• Empowered reps to make refunds/exceptions without approval

Results:

• FCR improved from 62% → 84%
• CES improved from 5.1 → 6.2
• Support ticket volume decreased by 18%
• Support costs reduced by 22%
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) increased from 78% → 91%

Key insight: Empowering your team to resolve issues completely is one of the fastest ways to improve CES.

Tools & Software for Measuring Customer Effort Score

Dedicated CES Platforms

Conversation Intelligence for CES Insights

Beyond traditional surveys, conversation intelligence tools analyze actual customer interactions to identify effort drivers:

• Enthu.ai — Analyzes support calls and chats to identify where customers experience friction, tracks effort indicators, and recommends process improvements
• Balto.ai — Real-time guidance for support agents to reduce effort
• Gong — Conversation analytics for sales and support
• Chorus — Call recording and analysis for support teams

Advantage: These tools identify effort issues before customers respond to surveys, enabling faster improvement.

CRM & Support Platforms with Built-in CES

• Zendesk — Native CES surveys in support tickets
• Freshdesk — CSAT/CES surveys post-ticket
• HubSpot Service Hub — CES tracking in support workflows
• Intercom — In-app CES surveys for product interactions

Analytics & Benchmarking

• Gartner — Industry benchmarks and research
• Forrester — CES best practices and benchmarking
• Qualtrics — Competitive benchmarking data

FAQs