Business Performance
Customer Effort Score (CES): How to Measure and Reduce Customer Effort
20/01/2026
Delivering a low-effort customer experience has become a critical differentiator for companies looking to increase customer loyalty, reduce churn, and improve overall business performance. In today’s digital-first environment, customers expect fast, seamless, and intuitive interactions across every touchpoint.
This is where the Customer Effort Score (CES) stands out as a key customer experience metric, helping organizations measure how easy, or difficult, it is for customers to interact with their brand and complete key actions.
What Is Customer Effort Score (CES) and Why It Matters
The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a customer experience metric that measures the amount of effort customers must put in to resolve an issue, complete a transaction, or get support from a company. It is widely recognized as one of the most effective indicators of customer satisfaction and retention, especially in customer service and contact center environments.
CES was introduced in 2010 by researchers at CEB (now Gartner) in the Harvard Business Review article “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers.” The core insight behind CES is simple but powerful: reducing customer effort is a stronger driver of loyalty than trying to exceed expectations.
Studies have shown that 96% of customers who experience high-effort interactions are more likely to become less loyal to a company, while only 9% of customers with low-effort experiences report disloyalty. By measuring CES, companies can identify friction points along the customer journey, remove unnecessary obstacles, and continuously improve the efficiency of their customer support and omnichannel experiences.
How to Calculate Customer Effort Score (CES)
To calculate the Customer Effort Score (CES), companies typically use post-interaction surveys that ask customers to rate how easy it was to complete a specific action or resolve an issue. The most common approach is a 7-point scale, where 1 means “very difficult” and 7 means “very easy”.
A standard CES question is:
“How easy was it for you to resolve your issue with us?”
Once responses are collected, they are averaged to produce an overall CES score. A higher score indicates a low-effort customer experience, while a lower score highlights friction and potential issues across customer support, digital channels, or service processes.
CES Question Examples
The Customer Effort Score (CES) is based on targeted questions designed to measure the perceived effort customers experience during an interaction with a company. Below are some commonly used CES survey questions that help organizations collect actionable customer feedback.
- “How easy or difficult was it to complete your recent transaction with us?” (Responses typically range from “Very difficult” to “Very easy”)
This question directly measures the ease of the interaction and helps identify friction points within the process. - “How much effort did you personally have to put into getting your issue resolved?” (Responses range from “Very high effort” to “Very low effort” or “Very difficult” to “Very easy”)
This question helps quantify customer frustration and highlights areas where support processes can be improved. - “How easy was it to find the information you were looking for?” (Responses range from “Very difficult” to “Very easy”)
If many customers report difficulty, it may indicate the need to optimize the website, knowledge base, self-service tools, or customer support channels. - “What obstacles, if any, did you encounter while completing your request?” (Open-ended question)
In addition to scaled questions, open-ended feedback provides valuable qualitative insights into the specific challenges customers face during their journey.
How to Interpret Customer Effort Score (CES) Results
A low CES score indicates that customers find it difficult to interact with a company, signaling the need to simplify processes, optimize key touchpoints, and reduce friction across customer-facing channels such as the call center, contact center, or digital support platforms. High-effort experiences often translate into frustration, repeat contacts, and ultimately customer churn.
On the other hand, a high CES score reflects a smooth, low-friction customer experience. When customers can resolve issues quickly and easily, they are more likely to remain loyal, repurchase, and recommend the brand through positive word of mouth. In this sense, CES is a strong predictor of customer retention and long-term loyalty.
Tracking CES over time allows organizations to measure the impact of customer experience initiatives, identify emerging trends, and proactively address potential issues before they negatively affect satisfaction and retention. Comparing CES with other key customer experience metrics, such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), provides a more comprehensive view of service performance and helps pinpoint specific areas for continuous improvement.
Strategies to Reduce Customer Effort
To effectively reduce the Customer Effort Score (CES), companies need to implement targeted strategies that streamline customer touchpoints, remove unnecessary obstacles, and make interactions as seamless as possible. This requires a holistic approach to customer experience optimization, combining process simplification, technology adoption, and consistent service delivery across all channels.
Automation and Self-Service
Automation and self-service play a crucial role in reducing customer effort. Tools such as chatbots, virtual assistants, and interactive knowledge bases allow customers to quickly get answers to their questions without having to wait for support from a human agent.
- Chatbots and virtual assistants: AI-powered chatbots can instantly respond to frequently asked questions, guide customers through complex processes, and even resolve common issues in real time.
- Self-service portals: A well-structured self-service portal, with detailed FAQs, tutorials, and interactive guides, enables customers to independently find the information they need without contacting customer support.
- Multiple support channels: Offering customers the ability to choose between different support channels such as chat, email, phone, SMS, or WhatsApp, reduces customer effort and improves the overall experience. Integrating these channels through an omnichannel customer support strategy ensures that customers can move from one touchpoint to another without having to repeat the same information, improving service efficiency.
The adoption of these technologies not only enhances the customer experience, but also optimizes operational costs by reducing the volume of requests handled by human agents and allowing them to focus on more complex cases.
Employee Training
Even with automation in place, the role of people within contact centers and customer service teams remains essential to delivering a low-effort customer experience. A well-trained team can handle customer requests efficiently, resolving issues quickly and accurately.
- Ongoing training in empathy and problem-solving: Customers often reach out to support when they are experiencing difficulties or frustration. Agents must be trained to manage customer emotions, reduce friction during conversations, and deliver solutions in a clear and effective way.
- Advanced use of CRM systems: Training staff to effectively use advanced CRM platforms allows them to gain a complete view of the customer, including interaction history, preferences, and past issues. This reduces the need for customers to repeat information and significantly speeds up issue resolution.
By combining automation with strong human skills, organizations can build an effective customer service operation that reduces perceived customer effort and improves Customer Effort Score (CES) over time.
Benefits of Customer Effort Score for Businesses
Adopting the Customer Effort Score (CES) delivers several tangible benefits for organizations, particularly in terms of customer loyalty and operational efficiency. By measuring the effort customers perceive during their interactions with a company, businesses can identify critical areas that require optimization. Reducing these obstacles not only improves the customer experience, but also directly contributes to higher satisfaction levels and encourages positive word of mouth.
Technology plays a crucial role in the analysis and optimization of CES. Advanced platforms powered by artificial intelligence (AI) enable organizations to collect and visualize customer interaction data in real time, providing a clear and accurate view of where improvements are needed. Integrating CES with other customer experience metrics creates a strong operational impact, allowing companies to continuously refine their processes and, as a result, increase customer satisfaction in a targeted and effective way.
