CX & Support Metrics

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Definition

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that measures how much effort a customer had to expend to get their issue resolved or their request completed, usually from a short post-interaction survey.

Also known as: CESeffort score

How to calculate it

Ask a question like "How easy was it to get your issue resolved?" on an agree/disagree scale (commonly 1–5 or 1–7, where higher means easier). CES is typically reported as the average score, or as the percentage of "easy" responses (the top ratings) ÷ total responses × 100.

Example: 300 people respond and 240 pick the top two "easy" ratings. CES = 240 ÷ 300 × 100 = 80% low-effort. Some teams instead report the mean rating (e.g., 5.8 out of 7).

Why it matters

Effort is one of the strongest predictors of loyalty — customers who struggle to get help are far more likely to churn, even if the issue is eventually solved. Reducing effort (fewer transfers, less repeating themselves, faster self-service) often does more for retention than delighting customers does.

Frequently asked

What is a good Customer Effort Score?

Higher is better on an ease scale — a large majority of low-effort ratings is the goal. As with most CX metrics, the trend and how it moves when you change your process matter more than a fixed benchmark.

How is CES different from CSAT?

CSAT asks how satisfied a customer was; CES asks how hard they had to work to get helped. Low effort tends to predict loyalty more reliably than a single satisfaction rating.

Related terms

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction or experience, usually from a short post-contact survey..

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend a company, product, or service to others, on a 0–10 scale..

First Contact Resolution (FCR)

First Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of customer issues fully resolved in a single interaction, without any follow-up, callback, or reopened ticket..

Self-Service Rate

Self-service rate is the share of customer questions resolved through self-service resources — help center, FAQs, portals, or automation — without a customer needing to contact a support agent..

Customer Churn Rate

Customer churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company over a given period — canceling, not renewing, or lapsing — relative to the total at the start of that period..

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