What is Customer Effort Score (CES)?

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how easy it is for a customer to solve a problem or complete a task with a company.

It’s usually based on a survey question like “How easy was it to resolve your issue?” and helps identify where the customer experience feels frustrating or complicated. Companies use CES to reduce friction and improve loyalty.

How CES is Calculated

Customer Effort Score is calculated by averaging the numeric responses from customers to a survey question that measures how much effort they had to expend to accomplish a task with a company. The standard formula is:

CES = (Sum of all customer effort scores) ÷ (Total number of respondents).

For example, if you collect scores from customers on a scale of 1 to 7 (where 1 is very difficult and 7 is very easy), you add all the scores and divide by the number of responses to get an average CES.

This average reflects how effortless customers perceive their interactions. Some companies use a 5-point or 10-point scale instead. Alternatively, if the survey uses emoticons or agree/disagree statements, CES can be calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses, ignoring neutral ones.

How CES Can Be Used to Identify Friction Points in Customer Interactions

CES helps companies find where customers struggle by measuring how much effort it takes to complete tasks like purchases or support requests. Low CES scores at certain points, like checkout or onboarding, highlight friction that causes frustration.

By tracking CES across the customer journey, businesses can spot “effort hotspots” and make changes like simplifying steps, speeding up response times, or improving tools for support teams. Regularly monitoring CES helps reduce effort, improve satisfaction, and lower the chances of customer churn.

Common Reasons Given by Customers for Low CES Scores

Customers often give low effort score ratings when interactions are frustrating or time-consuming. Common issues include confusing processes, long wait times, unhelpful support, poor self-service options, and inconsistent information.

Returns or post-purchase tasks that require too many steps, or having to repeat issues across channels, also raise effort. These problems increase customer frustration and hurt satisfaction and loyalty.