Overview

CES was introduced by the Corporate Executive Board in 2010 following research showing that reducing customer effort is a stronger predictor of loyalty than delighting customers. The core finding: customers who have to work hard to resolve an issue are significantly more likely to churn, even if the issue is eventually resolved.

The standard CES question is: "How easy was it to handle your issue today?" answered on a scale of 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy).

Key Facts
  • Introduced by: Corporate Executive Board, 2010
  • Scale: 1 to 7 (1 = very difficult, 7 = very easy)
  • Formula: Average score across all responses
  • Good score: Above 5.0 on a 7-point scale
  • Excellent score: Above 6.0
  • Best used: Immediately after a support, checkout, or onboarding interaction
  • Key insight: 96% of high-effort interactions lead to increased disloyalty

The CES scale

CES is most commonly measured on a 7-point scale, though some versions use a 5-point scale or a simple disagree/agree format.

1Very difficult
2Difficult
3Somewhat difficult
4Neutral
5Somewhat easy
6Easy
7Very easy

CES is calculated as the average score across all responses. A higher average means customers are experiencing lower effort, which is the goal.

When should you use CES?

CES is most effective when measured immediately after a specific interaction, not as a periodic relationship survey. It captures friction at the moment it occurs.

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After support interactions

Measure how easy it was to resolve an issue through a contact center or chat

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After checkout

Identify friction in the purchase process across digital and physical channels

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During onboarding

Detect where new customers struggle when getting started with a product or service

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After returns or complaints

Measure how difficult the resolution process felt for customers with problems

Why does customer effort matter for loyalty?

The original CES research found that 96% of customers who experienced high-effort interactions became more disloyal, compared to only 9% of those who had low-effort interactions. Going above and beyond to delight customers had a much smaller positive effect than simply making the interaction easy.

This has important implications for contact centers and support teams. The goal should not be to create extraordinary experiences but to remove friction from ordinary ones. Unstructured contact center data analysis is one of the most effective ways to identify where customer effort is highest across all interactions, including those where no survey was completed.

How does CES differ from NPS and CSAT?

CES, NPS, and CSAT each measure a different dimension of customer experience. The three metrics are most powerful when used together.

MetricWhat it measuresBest timingBest use case
CESEase of completing an interactionImmediately after interactionSupport, onboarding, checkout friction
NPSOverall loyalty and likelihood to recommendPeriodic or post-relationshipRelationship tracking and benchmarking
CSATSatisfaction with a specific interactionAfter a transaction or touchpointMeasuring quality of individual interactions

How does CES compare to oCX?

CES depends on customers responding to a post-interaction survey, which means it only captures a fraction of all interactions. The majority of customers who experience friction never fill out a form. Observational Customer Experience (oCX), developed by Alterna CX, identifies friction and effort signals from all available customer feedback, including contact center transcripts, online reviews, and social media, without requiring any survey participation.

This makes oCX a natural complement to CES: where CES gives a precise effort measurement for the customers who respond, oCX reveals friction patterns across the full customer base. Learn more about oCX and how it extends effort measurement beyond the survey.

What are the limitations of CES?

  • Interaction-specific: CES only captures one moment. It does not reflect overall relationship health or loyalty.
  • No emotional depth: CES measures ease but not the emotional quality of the interaction. A customer may find something easy but still feel frustrated.
  • Survey coverage: Like NPS and CSAT, CES only captures the views of customers who respond to the survey, not all customers.
  • Not useful for all touchpoints: CES is not relevant for awareness or consideration stages where no specific interaction has occurred.

Key takeaway: CES is one of the strongest predictors of customer churn and loyalty because high-effort interactions directly drive customers to competitors. It works best as a post-interaction measure, not a relationship metric, and is most valuable when combined with open-text feedback or unstructured data analysis to explain where and why friction occurs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Customer Effort Score (CES)?
Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that measures how easy it is for customers to complete an interaction with a company, such as resolving a support issue or making a purchase. It is typically measured on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means very difficult and 7 means very easy. CES was introduced by the Corporate Executive Board in 2010 following research showing that reducing customer effort is a stronger predictor of loyalty than delighting customers.
How is Customer Effort Score calculated?
CES is calculated as the average score across all survey responses to the question "How easy was it to handle your issue today?" on a scale of 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy). A higher average score indicates lower effort for customers, which is the goal. Unlike NPS or CSAT, CES does not use a percentage formula — it is simply the mean of all responses.
What is a good Customer Effort Score?
On a 7-point scale, a CES above 5.0 is generally considered good, indicating customers found the interaction relatively easy. Scores above 6.0 are considered excellent. There is no universal benchmark since CES averages vary by industry and interaction type, but the directional goal is always to increase the score over time, meaning customers are experiencing less friction.
What is the difference between CES, NPS, and CSAT?
NPS measures overall loyalty and likelihood to recommend the company. CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction. CES measures the ease of completing a specific interaction. Each captures a different dimension of customer experience. CES is the strongest predictor of churn from high-friction interactions, NPS reflects long-term relationship health, and CSAT measures how a single touchpoint landed.
When should companies use CES?
CES is most useful after support interactions, onboarding processes, checkout flows, or any touchpoint where friction could drive customers away. It should be measured immediately after the interaction while the experience is still fresh. It is particularly valuable for contact centers and digital product teams trying to reduce friction in key customer journeys.
Why does customer effort matter for loyalty?
Research from the Corporate Executive Board found that 96% of customers who experienced high-effort interactions became more disloyal, compared to only 9% of those who had low-effort interactions. Going above and beyond to delight customers had a much smaller positive effect than simply making the interaction easy. This means reducing friction is one of the highest-leverage actions a CX team can take to improve retention.
How does CES compare to oCX?
CES relies on customers responding to a post-interaction survey, which typically captures only a fraction of all interactions. Observational Customer Experience (oCX), developed by Alterna CX, identifies friction signals from all available customer feedback including contact center transcripts, online reviews, and social media, without requiring a survey response. This means oCX can surface effort and friction patterns across the full customer base, not just the subset who fill out a CES survey.