What is a customer effort score?

A customer effort score (CES) is a metric that measures the amount of effort customers have to make to resolve an issue or achieve their goal, indicating how easy it is for them to interact with a brand. CES is important as it helps businesses identify areas for improvement and optimize customer engagement, but it should be analyzed alongside other metrics like net promoter scores to get a full picture of customer satisfaction. Customer effort scores can be measured through quick surveys asking customers about their experience, using Likert scales or visual emoticon ratings. These surveys are best deployed strategically, such as right after a purchase, interaction with the customer service team, or to supplement UI/UX testing, and should be used sparingly to avoid negatively impacting the customer experience.