Customer Effort Score (CES)
A metric that measures how much effort a customer had to exert to get an issue resolved, a request fulfilled, or a task completed.
Formula
CES = Sum of Effort Ratings / Number of Responses
Customer Effort Score (CES) asks customers to rate how easy or difficult it was to interact with your company. The classic question is: "To what extent do you agree with the following statement: The company made it easy for me to handle my issue." Responses are typically gathered on a 1–7 Likert scale.
Research from the Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner) found that reducing customer effort is a stronger predictor of future purchasing behavior than delight. In other words, making things easy matters more than exceeding expectations.
CES is most useful when measured at specific touchpoints such as support interactions, onboarding steps, or self-service experiences. A high-effort experience—like having to repeat information across channels—signals a process that needs redesign.
Organizations that track CES alongside NPS and CSAT build a three-dimensional picture of their customer experience: loyalty, satisfaction, and ease.
Related Terms
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
MetricsA loyalty metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend your product or service on a 0–10 scale.
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
MetricsA metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a product, service, or interaction, typically on a 1–5 scale.
Touchpoint Analysis
MethodologyThe systematic evaluation of every point of interaction between a customer and your company to identify strengths, weaknesses, and improvement opportunities.
Customer Journey Mapping
MethodologyThe process of creating a visual representation of every interaction a customer has with your company, from first awareness through post-purchase.
Related Resources
Put CX Metrics Into Practice
Stop just reading about metrics—start measuring them. FeedPulse makes it easy to collect NPS, CSAT, and CES feedback with AI-powered analysis.
Start collecting feedback for freeFree plan includes up to 100 responses per month. No credit card required.