Customer Effort Score (CES) Calculator
LoginContact usGet a demo
fr

Customer Effort Score (CES) Calculator

The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a vital metric for measuring the ease of your customer experience in all aspects, from sales to customer support. Find out how much effort your customers have to put in and identify areas for improvement.

Improve your CX with Apizee

FAQs

The Customer Effort Score (CES) is an indicator that measures how easy it is for a customer to interact with a company, use a product or service, solve a problem or find information.

CES surveys are most effective when carried out immediately after a transaction or interaction. If you wait too long before questioning a customer, it may not yield any results, as they will probably have forgotten the experience or won't take the time to respond.

 

For example, you could send out a CES survey:

  • After a purchase: to find out whether the purchasing process is perceived as simple or complex.
  • After registering for a subscription or service: to ensure that the process is straightforward.
  • After interaction with customer service: to assess the effectiveness of customer service.

 

When it comes to sending the survey, focus on the place where the interaction takes place. This could be by email, on your website or mobile app, or via live chat. For physical locations, consider installing a tablet so you can easily collect feedback at the point of sale.

CES is measured by asking customers about the level of effort required to perform an action. You can choose to measure your Customer Effort Score using :

 

  • Numbered scale: 1 to 5, 1 to 10, etc.

Example:
“How would you rate the ease of use of our product/service?”
Very difficult, Difficult, Neither easy nor difficult, Easy, Very easy

 

  • Emoticon scale: customers choose the emoticon that best reflects their feelings.

Example:
“Was it easy to find the information you were looking for on our website?”
One dissatisfied, one neutral and one happy emoticon

 

  • Likert scale: customers rate their agreement with a statement on a 7-point scale.

Example:
“Do you agree with the following statement: Customer service helped me solve my problem quickly?”
Strongly disagree, Disagree, Somewhat disagree, Undecided, Somewhat agree, Agree, Strongly agree

To calculate your Customer Effort Score, simply average the answers you receive.

 

Formula: sum of scores / total number of scores

 

Example: If you collected the following scores: 3, 4, 5, 2, and 4.

The calculation will be: (3 + 4 + 5 + 2 + 4) / 5 = 18 / 5 = 3.6.

A low Customer Effort Score is a good thing. This means that your customer experience is smooth and pleasant.

 

On the other hand, a high score suggests that your customer has to go through many steps to achieve their goal. For example, needing to contact the company multiple times for the same issue, having to repeat themselves each time, or struggling to find information on the website or app.

Customers want fast, simple experiences, with a minimum of effort. If a company asks too much of its customers, it risks losing them. The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a key tool for measuring this effort, to reduce friction and improve the customer experience.

 

Here are 3 benefits of measuring Customer Effort Score:

  1. Improving customer journey and experience: CES precisely identifies areas for optimization. For example, if customers report difficulties in contacting customer service, the company knows that it must take action to facilitate this process.

  2. Reduce customer service costs: thanks to CES, you can easily identify the friction points that generate numerous calls to customer support. By solving these problems, you minimize costly repeat interactions.

  3. Strengthen customer loyalty: customer loyalty is the result of multiple positive experiences with a company. It can be influenced by products, brand reputation or services offered. By measuring and reducing your customers' efforts with CES, you can increase customer lifetime value and improve your retention rate.