CES

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures the ease of customer interactions with a product or service. The metric focuses on friction points by asking customers to rate how much effort they needed to accomplish their goal on a scale from 1 (very low effort) to 7 (very high effort). This approach stems from research showing that reducing customer effort builds loyalty more effectively than exceeding expectations.

CES surveys typically appear after specific interactions like completing a purchase, using a feature, or resolving a support ticket. The timing makes CES particularly valuable for identifying friction points in user journeys and workflows. Modern CES implementations often include follow-up questions to understand the reasons behind high-effort scores.

Analysis of CES data reveals that customers who report low effort are more likely to make future purchases and more likely to increase their spending. Companies with low CES typically see lower support costs, higher first-contact resolution rates, and increased customer retention.