CES – Customer Effort Score
How easy it is for a customer to accomplish their goal — a purchase, service request, or return. Measured by: 'how much effort was required?' (1-7). Strongly correlated with loyalty — ease beats 'delight.'
In practice
CES answers one question: is it easy to buy from us? A 3-step checkout means good CES. An 8-step checkout with mandatory account creation means poor CES. Gartner research shows reducing effort impacts loyalty more than 'wowing' the customer.
Common misconception
'Making the customer feel special equals loyalty.' CEB research found 96% of customers who experienced high effort reported low loyalty. Only 9% of those who experienced low effort did. Ease beats wow moments in most cases.
How to fix it
Low CES? (1) Map the customer journey and find friction points, (2) ask 'how many steps are needed to achieve goal X?', (3) reduce unnecessary forms and questions, (4) offer guest checkout, (5) simplify the return process.
Example
A watch store's CES survey revealed that returning a product required: ①finding the return page, ②filling out a form, ③sending an email, ④waiting for approval, ⑤printing a label. Simplifying it to a 'Return' link in every email with an instant label raised CES and lifted repeat rate by 18%.
Priority
Send a CES survey after: (1) checkout (how easy was it to buy?), (2) first contact resolution (how easy was it to resolve an issue?), (3) the return process. Poor CES at these points signals high churn.
Related terms
Keep learning. Metrics that touch the same area:
- Customer ServiceCustomer ExperienceEvery post-purchase interaction — questions, complaints, issues. Channels: chat, phone, email, WhatsApp. Directly impacts NPS, LTV, and reviews.
- Helpdesk / TicketingCustomer ExperienceA system for managing inquiries: Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk. Consolidates inquiries from all channels into a single view. Enables tracking, assignment, and SLAs.
- CSAT – Customer Satisfaction ScoreCustomer ExperienceA measure of satisfaction with a specific interaction (support, purchase). Measured on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale. CSAT = (positive scores / total scores) × 100. Good average: above 80%.
- UX – User ExperienceCustomer ExperienceThe overall experience of a visitor interacting with the site — speed, ease, navigation, clarity. Poor UX directly hurts conversions. Good UX means visitors find what they wanted with minimal effort.
- UI – User InterfaceCustomer ExperienceThe visual design of the site — colors, typography, icons, layout, spacing. Good UI guides the eye, creates visual hierarchy, and builds trust. Poor UI confuses and repels.
- Above the FoldCustomer ExperienceThe content a visitor sees without scrolling — the first 50-60% of screen height. 80% of visitors don't scroll below the fold. What's above the fold determines whether the visitor stays or leaves.
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