The CES score and the share who found it easy
See the average on its own scale beside the share who picked the top two points, for everyone and for each device, each compared with the period just before.
Customer effort score
Find out how easy you are to do business with
Ask the effort question the moment a task ends, such as a setup, a return or a support case. Usertick shows your CES score, the people who found it hard and the words they used to explain why.
Effort is the part of the experience customers remember
A task that takes three tries costs you more than a slow reply. The customer effort score asks one question right after a task, how easy it was on a scale from very difficult to very easy, and the answers show which steps wear people out.
With Usertick, the question opens when the task is done: after an import finishes, when a return is booked or when a support conversation closes. Results shows the average and the share who found it easy, compares both with the period before and shows how long each question took.
Every comment is read by AI, which also notes the effort people describe in their own words, so the hardest steps rise to the top. Workflows send a hard experience to the team that owns the step, and an alert fires when the average drops.
- Plans
- The effort question, the CES score, Results and AI reading on every plan, the free plan included
- Scale
- 5 or 7 points, from very difficult to very easy
- When it opens
- On a page, after a click or an event from your code, or when someone struggles
- Follow-up
- Slack, Microsoft Teams, alerts, Jira, Linear and Zendesk on every plan
Ask right after the task
Effort is easiest to judge the moment something is done, so the question opens there.
When an import or a setup finishes
Your app tells Usertick that the import is done, and the question opens on the next screen. Events from your code and clicks on your own buttons are on Starter and above, and 1 survey on Free.
When a return is booked
Put the question inside the confirmation page of a return, a booking or a claim, so the answer describes the steps the customer just took.
After a support case
Send the effort question by email once a case is solved, with the scale inside the message, or add its link to your help desk's closing email.
When someone struggles on the page
The Frustration trigger watches for repeated clicks, dead buttons and errors, and opens the question while the problem is still on screen. Pro and above.
At a pickup point or a counter
Print a QR code at the counter or on a receipt. Give each location its own copy of the survey, or ask which one the customer used, to compare how easy each place makes it.
See where effort piles up
Results shows the score, the people behind it and how long the survey took.
How long it took to answer
Every response records the time spent on each question and in total, so a slow question or a long survey stands out next to the score.
The words behind a hard experience
Choose the answers from 1 to 3, and the whole page filters to the people who found it hard, themes included. Every written answer gets a theme, a type and a sentiment, and the response an effort reading drawn from what people wrote, in any language.
Fix the step that makes it hard
Workflows send each hard experience to the team that owns the step.
One issue per problem
Open a Jira or Linear issue for each theme, and later answers about the same problem join that issue instead of opening new ones. Every plan.
Hard experiences in Slack or Teams
Post every answer of 3 or lower to the channel of the team that owns the flow, with buttons to assign it in Usertick. Every plan.
An alert when the score drops
Set a line, such as a CES average below 5 over the last 7 days. Usertick checks every hour and posts once the score crosses it. Every plan.
High effort, flagged in the inbox
Each response shows the effort, urgency and customer risk read from its comments, so the hardest cases get an owner first.
How to run a CES survey with Usertick
Four steps from a template to your first score.
- 1
Start from a template
Pick the CES template or one written for a return, an import or an integration setup, or describe the task to Create with AI.
- 2
Ask what made it hard
Follow the effort question with one open question. A branching rule can send answers of 3 or lower to "What was the hardest part?".
- 3
Open it when the task ends
Put it on the confirmation page, open it after a click or an event from your code, or send it by email once a case is solved.
- 4
Publish and act on it
Publish the survey, and answers arrive in Results and the inbox with each comment read. A workflow sends hard experiences to the owner of the step.
How to get a CES score you can act on
Six habits that keep the question about the task and the follow-up quick.
- 01
Ask about one task
Name the task in the question, such as the return or the import, so every answer describes the same steps.
- 02
Ask within seconds
Open the question on the screen that follows the task, while the steps are still fresh.
- 03
Keep easy at the top
Keep very difficult at 1 and very easy at the top of the scale, so a higher score always means an easier task.
- 04
Ask what made it hard
One open question after the score turns a low number into a step someone can fix.
- 05
Look at the time too
A long completion time next to a low score points to a step that needs fewer fields or clearer words.
- 06
Test the fix on a share of visitors
Change the flow, keep the same question, and compare the scores before and after, or run a variant on Business.
CES templates and questions
Start from a template written for the task and change any question.
Templates
Browse all templatesCustomer effortCustomer effort (CES)Measure how much effort it took customers to get what they needed. Show it right after a support ticket is solved, a checkout or a setup step.
Customer effortReturns and refundsMeasure how easy your returns process is and learn the real reasons products come back. Send it once the refund has been issued.
Customer effortIntegration setupMeasure how easy it is to connect an integration, find the step where people get stuck and learn which tools they want next. Show it right after someone connects an integration.
Customer effortData importFind out how smoothly customers brought their data in and what went wrong along the way. Show it after the first import completes.
Questions from the library
Browse the question library- How much effort did it take to get help?Customer effort · Support
- How easy was it to get what you needed?Customer effort · Satisfaction
- How easy was the return?Customer effort · Returns and refunds
- How easy was it to track your order?Customer effort · Delivery and shipping
- How much effort did that task take?Big scale · Effort and time
- How long did that take you?Ruler · Effort and time
- What was the hardest part?Text · Effort and time
- Where did you have to work harder than you expected?Text · Satisfaction
Frequently asked questions
The customer effort score (CES) measures how easy a task was, from the customer's side. It comes from one question asked right after the task, such as "How easy was it to get your issue resolved today?", on a scale from very difficult to very easy.
CES is the average of the answers to the effort question, on its own scale. Usertick uses the first CES question in the survey, where a higher number means an easier task, and also shows the share of people who picked the top two points, such as 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale.
Both work. A 7-point scale leaves more room between neutral and easy, and it is the default in Usertick. Pick one and keep it, so every score compares with the last.
It depends on the task and the scale, so outside benchmarks say little about your own flow. Compare each task with itself over time, and with the other tasks you measure. Results shows the change from the period before beside every score.
CES asks how easy one task was. CSAT asks how satisfied someone is with one moment, and NPS asks how likely they are to recommend you overall. Effort is the most specific of the three, which makes it the quickest to act on.
Right after the task: on the screen that follows a setup, an import or a return, or in an email once a support case is solved. On a website, a click on your own button or an event from your code can open it, on 1 survey on Free and on every survey from Starter.
Yes, on Pro and above. The Frustration trigger counts repeated clicks, clicks that change nothing, page errors and forms that fail, and opens the survey once they add up. The counting happens in the visitor's browser, and nothing is recorded.
On every plan, a workflow posts answers of 3 or lower to Slack or Microsoft Teams, and an alert fires when the average drops below your line. Each problem can also become a Jira or Linear issue, and later answers about it join the same issue.
Yes. The effort question, the CES score, Results, AI reading and workflows and alerts to Jira and Linear come with every plan, the free plan included. Starter adds event triggers on every survey, and Pro adds the Frustration trigger.
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