What is customer effort score (CES)?
CES measures how easy it was for customers to do something with you, such as buy, set up a product or get help, from one question answered on an ease scale. The score is the average rating, or the share of customers who found the task easy.
CES in one question
Customer effort score asks one question right after a task, such as “How easy was it to get your issue resolved today?” Customers answer on a scale from “Very difficult” to “Very easy”, most often 1 to 7, and a higher score means less effort.
Effort matters because every extra step, form or wait is a reason to give up. A customer who had to contact support twice to change an address may still rate the agent well and remember the hassle. CES points to the steps that make customers work harder than they should, so you know which ones to simplify.
Teams ask CES after a single task: a checkout, a setup step, a return or a solved support ticket. For loyalty to the whole relationship, Net Promoter Score (NPS) fits better, and for how one experience felt overall, customer satisfaction (CSAT).
- Measures
- How easy a task was for the customer
- Scale
- Usually 1 to 7, from Very difficult to Very easy
- Score
- The average rating, or the share of easy answers
- Asked when
- Right after the task is done
- Used for
- Checkout, setup, returns and support requests
How to calculate CES
The most common CES is the average: add up every rating and divide by the number of answers. On a 1 to 7 scale where 7 means very easy, the score runs from 1 to 7 and higher is better.
Some teams also report the share of easy answers, for example the answers of 6 or 7, out of all answers. The share is easier to explain in a report, and the average shows smaller changes. Whichever you pick, keep it the same over time.
CES = sum of all ratings ÷ number of answers
Share who found it easy = easy answers ÷ all answers × 100
On a 1 to 7 scale where 7 is “Very easy”. Keep the scale and its direction the same each time, or the scores can't be compared.
A CES example
Say 250 customers answer “How easy was it to complete your purchase?” on a 1 to 7 scale. 5 pick 1, 10 pick 2, 15 pick 3, 30 pick 4, 50 pick 5, 70 pick 6 and 70 pick 7.
The ratings add up to 1,350, so the average is 5.4. The 140 answers of 6 or 7 make 56% of the total. Read the 30 customers who picked 1 to 3 first: their comments name the step that got in the way.
- Customers who answered
- 250
- Sum of all ratings
- 1,350
- Answered 6 or 7
- 140 answers, 56%
- Answered 1 to 3
- 30 answers, 12%
- CES
- 1,350 ÷ 250 = 5.4
CES question examples
Ask about the one task the customer just finished, and name it in the question. Label both ends of the scale so the direction is clear, and add an optional follow-up such as “What would have made it easier?” for the people who found it hard.
- “How easy was it to find what you were looking for?”
- “How easy was it to set up your account?”
- “How easy was it to return your order?”
- “How easy was it to get your issue resolved today?”
When to measure customer effort
Ask right after the task, on the same page or in the next email, so the customer rates the task itself and nothing else. CES works best at the points where customers are most likely to give up.
- On the order confirmation page, after checkout
- When a support ticket is marked as solved
- After a setup or onboarding step
- After a return, a refund or a change of plan
- After someone searches your help center
CES vs CSAT
CES and CSAT are both asked after a single moment and often move together, but they answer different questions. A customer can be satisfied with a friendly agent and still have worked hard to get there, so many teams ask both after support.
| CES | CSAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Asks | How easy a task was | How satisfied with one experience |
| Scale | Usually 1 to 7 | Usually 1 to 5 |
| Score | Average, or share who found it easy | Share of 4 and 5 answers |
| Points to | Steps to simplify | Experiences to improve |
Measuring CES in Usertick
Add a CES question in the survey editor, on a 5 or 7 point effort scale (7 by default) with your own labels at each end, or start from the Customer effort (CES) or Task effort review template. Ask it on your website right after a task, by email, by link and QR code, or as a chat. In an email, customers pick a point in the message itself, and a logic rule can send everyone who answered 3 or lower to a question about what made it hard.
Results shows the average on the question's own scale, the share who found it easy and a bar from hard to easy, compared with the period before. The Audience tab gives each country, device, language and page its own score beside the overall one, so a hard step on mobile stands out.
Usertick reads every written answer and files it by theme and sentiment, and looks for signs of high effort in what each customer wrote, which the inbox shows as a signal. On every plan, an alert can post to Slack or Microsoft Teams when the average score crosses a line you set.
Mistakes to avoid with CES
Small choices that keep the results useful.
- 01
Flipping the direction of the scale
If 7 means easy in one survey and difficult in another, the scores can't be compared. Keep “Very easy” at the same end every time.
- 02
Asking about the whole relationship
“How easy is it to do business with us?” blurs every task together. Ask about the task the customer just finished.
- 03
Asking too long after the task
A day later, customers remember the outcome more than the steps. Ask on the page or in the next message.
- 04
Leaving out the follow-up
A low score says a task was hard, and only the follow-up says which step. Ask “What would have made it easier?” of the customers who rated it low.
Frequently asked questions
On a scale where the top end means “Very easy”, yes. Some versions of the question run the other way, with a low number for low effort, so check the direction before you compare scores.
A 1 to 7 scale is the most common and leaves more room between answers, and 1 to 5 is quicker on a phone. Usertick offers both, with 7 points by default.
An average above the middle of the scale, 4 on a 1 to 7 scale, leans toward easy. Beyond that, compare your own tasks with each other and over time, and start with the task that scores lowest.
Yes. CES is one of the questions customers can answer inside an email Usertick sends. Picking a point opens the survey's page with it filled in, and the answer is stored when the customer sends it.
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