Customer effort score (CES) measures how easy or difficult a specific interaction felt to a customer. A CES survey asks about a task such as getting support, checking out, or setting up an account. Use a labeled scale and an optional explanation to locate friction soon after that experience.
A customer can like your team and still find your process exhausting. The useful CES question names the task, gives them a fair scale, and leaves space to explain what got in the way.
What Is Customer Effort Score (CES)?
CES is a measure of perceived effort for one interaction. It answers “How hard was that?” rather than “How much do you like us?” A rating helps locate a difficult step; the accompanying comment helps you investigate it. It does not establish the cause on its own.
Why Is Customer Effort Score Important?
Repeated explanations, unclear instructions, and unnecessary handoffs can make a successful outcome feel like hard work. Tracking effort gives your team a specific process to improve. A higher satisfaction score alone might not reveal that customers needed three attempts to complete a task.
Matt Dixon’s 2016 CEB presentation, hosted by Arizona State University, connects customer effort with loyalty and presents CES 2.0. Treat that service research as a reason to investigate friction, not as a guaranteed churn prediction for your business.
When Should You Use a Customer Effort Score Survey?
Use CES when a customer has attempted an identifiable task: contacting support, completing registration, returning an item, or finding an answer. Ask about satisfaction when you need an overall evaluation of the experience. Ask about recommendation separately when that is the decision you are studying.
Quick Answer: A Customer Effort Score Survey to Start With
A common CES 2.0-style support statement is shown below. This version focuses on getting help, so a customer whose issue is unresolved can still answer:
[Company] made it easy for me to get help with my issue today.
Ask the customer how much they agree, using these seven ordered choices:
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
Then ask: “What made getting help easy or difficult?” Make that comment optional.
This starter uses the seven-point agreement format from CES 2.0. [2] It focuses the statement on getting help, so it can also be answered by someone whose issue remains unresolved.
Ease and resolution are separate. If your team needs to know whether the issue was resolved, add a separate question with Yes, Partly, No, and Not sure. Keep its result separate from CES. Someone may have found it easy to contact you and still need help.
20 Customer Effort Score Questions and Examples
Choose one main CES question for the task you need to understand. These are alternatives, not a 20-question questionnaire. Pair direct ease questions with an ease scale; pair agreement statements with agreement labels.
Customer Support CES Questions
- How easy was it to reach our support team today?
Ask after a contact attempt, including attempts that did not connect.
- How easy was it to find the answer you needed in our help center?
Offer ‘I didn’t find it’ or ask about the search attempt rather than assuming success.
- How easy was it to use our self-service support options?
Name the tool if customers have several self-service routes.
Customer Service Resolution CES Questions
- How easy was it to resolve [issue] with our support team?
Use for resolved cases; ask unresolved customers about getting help instead.
- How easy was it to understand your latest bill?
Send after the bill is available; ask separately whether it was correct.
Website and Navigation CES Questions
- How easy was it to find the delivery information you needed?
Keep the information task separate from a rating of the whole website.
- How easy was it to update your account information?
Ask after the attempted change and allow ‘I couldn’t complete it’.
- How easy was it to schedule an appointment?
Measure booking effort separately from the later appointment.
Checkout and Purchase CES Questions
- How easy was it to complete your purchase today?
For abandoned checkouts, ask about trying to complete the purchase.
- How easy was it to find the product you wanted?
Ask about discovery before combining it with checkout.
- How easy was it to apply your discount code at checkout?
Show only to people who attempted to use a code.
- How easy was it to track your order?
Invite after tracking becomes available.
- How easy was it to change your delivery preferences?
Ask after an attempted change, not only a successful one.
Customer Onboarding CES Questions
- How easy was it to set up your first [project]?
Define the milestone in the customer’s own language.
- How easy was it to complete your registration?
Include people who attempted registration when the aim is to find barriers.
- How easy was it to activate your account?
Keep activation separate from completing the first useful task.
SaaS and Product Experience CES Questions
- How easy was it to complete your first task using our software?
Replace ‘first task’ with the action you actually want to measure.
- How easy was it to cancel your subscription?
Ask independently of whether the customer liked the product.
Returns and Refund CES Questions
- How easy was it to request a return for your order?
Measure the request now; measure receiving the refund later.
- How easy was it to submit your refund request?
Include unsuccessful attempts if you can appropriately reach them.
Customer Effort Score Question Examples by Industry
| Industry | Example | Good invitation point |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce | How easy was it to request a return? | After the request attempt |
| SaaS | How easy was it to invite your first teammate? | After the invitation attempt |
| Professional services | How easy was it to share the files we requested? | After the file-sharing step |
| Telecom or utilities | How easy was it to understand your latest bill? | After the bill is available |
What Is CES 2.0?
CES 2.0 uses agreement with a statement that the company made an interaction easy, commonly rated from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree). The earlier effort-focused version asks how much effort the customer expended, commonly on a five-point scale. Direction matters: more ease is good; more effort is bad.
The original service wording focuses on handling an issue. For onboarding or checkout, adapt the task explicitly and record the wording. An adapted question may be useful, but it is not automatically comparable with an external CES 2.0 benchmark.
How to Choose the Right CES Survey Scale
Write down the question, labels, numerical coding, and scoring method together. Two surveys can both be called CES while using different directions or summaries.
| Format | Example choices | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Agreement with an ease statement | 1 Strongly disagree through 7 Strongly agree | Higher numbers mean more agreement that it was easy. |
| A direct ease question | 1 Very difficult, 2 Difficult, 3 Neither easy nor difficult, 4 Easy, 5 Very easy | Higher numbers mean easier. |
| A direct effort question | 1 Very low effort through 5 Very high effort | Higher numbers mean more effort. |
The five-point labels and coding are suggested examples. Keep “Not applicable” or “I didn’t attempt this” outside the numeric scale, and exclude them from the score denominator. They do not mean a neutral experience.
Preserve your wording and scale when comparing periods. If you change them, record a new survey version and report the results separately until you have a defensible comparison. Question wording and response choices affect how people answer, so pretest your survey. [3] Avoid asking “Was support quick and helpful?” as one effort measure; see double-barreled questions and their fixes.
How to calculate and report customer effort score
For the seven-point agreement starter, one descriptive summary is the mean coded rating:
Mean CES = sum of (rating × number of answers at that rating) ÷ number of valid scored answers.
This treats the numerical steps as equally spaced for the summary. The response categories are ordered, so retain the counts at each point alongside the mean. Do not let a single average replace the distribution.
Here, 10 answers at 4, 20 at 6, and 20 at 7 give (4 × 10 + 6 × 20 + 7 × 20) ÷ 50 = 6. Report “Mean agreement-based CES: 6 on a 1–7 scale; 50 scored answers.” Higher means easier for this positively worded statement.
You can separately report the share agreeing. If you define agreement as ratings 5–7, this example gives 40 ÷ 50 × 100 = 80%. State the threshold; “80% agreement” and “mean CES 6” are different summaries. Neither is NPS or CSAT.
The Free CES calculator computes both summaries from five- or seven-point agreement counts. Its interpretation assumes higher ratings mean easier. Do not paste counts from a scale where higher means more difficulty and interpret the output as better. Check the question and coding first.
There is no single target in this guide that makes every CES survey good. Start with your own consistent baseline, response count, distribution, and comments. Changes in who answered or which tasks they attempted can change the result.
What Is a Good Customer Effort Score?
A good score reflects an easy experience on the scale you actually used and improves against a comparable baseline. A mean of 6 on a 1–7 ease-agreement scale suggests agreement that the task was easy; it is not equivalent to 6 on an effort or recommendation scale. Look at difficult experiences and comments even when the average is high.
Customer Effort Score Benchmarks: What Should You Compare?
Start with the same task, wording, scale, scoring formula, invitation timing, and customer population across periods. Compare like-for-like channels or case types. Before using an external benchmark, check its fieldwork dates, sample, exact question, and whether it reports a mean or percentage. A headline “industry average” without those details is not a reliable target.
Customer Effort Score vs. CSAT vs. NPS
| Measure | Primary question | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| CES | How easy was one task? | Locate process friction |
| CSAT | How satisfied were you? | Evaluate an interaction or experience |
| NPS | How likely are you to recommend? | Track stated recommendation |
Use a customer satisfaction survey for satisfaction and the NPS survey template for recommendation. The NPS calculator uses a different formula; do not apply it to CES ratings.
When Should You Send a CES Survey?
Send it soon enough that the specific task is still clear. Ask about reaching support after contact, about resolution after the outcome is known, and about a refund request after that attempt. A ticket marked closed is not necessarily an issue resolved for the customer. Choose a practical window for the task rather than imposing one universal number of hours.
How Often Should You Measure Customer Effort?
Collect at selected touchpoints, then review in a cadence that gives your team enough responses to learn and time to act. Use a consistent invitation rule and a customer-level cooldown to avoid repeatedly surveying frequent users. Report the number of scored answers alongside each period; a weekly dashboard with only a handful of replies can be noisy.
Build a focused CES survey in Youform
Use Youform to collect the rating and the reason behind it in the same survey. Share the form by link or embed it on your website, and connect Google Sheets to review ratings and comments together. Once you have counted the scored answers, use the CES calculator to calculate the mean rating and agreement percentage.
- Choose the touchpoint. Write down who will receive the invitation and which task they attempted. Decide where the survey link belongs in your existing support, checkout, or onboarding workflow.
- Create the questions. Start with a template or a blank form. Edit the question wording and options to match the task you are measuring. The Youform creation guide covers editing and previewing a form.
- Set the answer format. A single-choice question can display every label. Keep the options ordered, allow one answer, and add a separate unscored option only when relevant. Record how labels map to numbers for analysis.
- Add the optional explanation. Use one text question, or configure conditional logic for a relevant follow-up. For example, ask about the difficult step after a low ease rating. Test each path, including skipped optional answers.
- Review before sharing. Preview on a phone and check the public responder link while signed out. Confirm that labels fit, instructions describe one task, and the ending provides a useful next step. Publish only when your team is ready.
- Choose where to review answers. Review submissions in Youform or connect Google Sheets. Keep the form version, question wording, rating mapping, invitation dates, and scored-response count with your analysis.
Youform Free includes conditional logic, website embeds, Google Sheets, and unlimited forms and responses within fair use. Your own logo, custom domains, partial submissions, and advanced drop-off analytics require Pro. Check current plans for those features.
Set up post-ticket or post-purchase invitations in your existing support or checkout workflow, then check the timing and audience before sharing.
How to Improve a Low Customer Effort Score
Use an optional follow-up that helps locate the obstacle: “Which step was difficult?”, “What information was missing?”, or “What would have made this task easier?” Choose one that suits the task. Invite an answer in the customer’s own words before assuming the cause.
In a fictional support example, a low ease rating and “I had to repeat my order details” could prompt a review of the handoff between teams. Record the proposed change and who owns it, then review comparable interactions after the change. A CES score alone does not prove the cause or predict whether a particular customer will leave.
Report how many people answered and who was invited. Feedback from people who completed a task may miss those who gave up. Read scores alongside unresolved cases, comments, and existing operational data; explain changes to invitation methods before claiming improvement.
For satisfaction or recommendation measures, see the CSAT, NPS, and CES survey guide. For a broader conversation, use customer feedback questions. Create a free Youform account when you are ready to build your own focused effort survey.
Common Customer Effort Score Survey Mistakes
- Combining speed, helpfulness, and resolution in one rating.
- Counting “Not applicable” as the neutral midpoint.
- Comparing a five-point effort score with a seven-point ease score.
- Surveying only successful customers, then describing all attempted experiences.
- Changing the invitation rule or wording without marking the change.
Customer Effort Score Survey Best Practices
Keep one main rating and one optional diagnostic question. Use plain language, consistent labels, and a relevant invitation. Review difficult experiences by task, assign an owner to one concrete change, and measure comparable interactions afterward. Our guides to response bias and selection bias explain why better wording and better invitations are separate jobs.
Start with the customer effort score survey template, or browse customer success survey templates. Use the AI survey builder for a draft, then review its task wording and scale.
Frequently Asked Questions About Customer Effort Score
What is a customer effort score question?
It asks how easy or difficult one customer task felt, using a clearly labeled scale.
What is an example of a customer effort score question?
“How easy was it to reach our support team today?” Use ease labels from Very difficult to Very easy.
What are the best CES survey questions?
The best question names the task you can improve and can be answered by the people you invite. Choose one relevant example from the 20 above.
How do you calculate customer effort score?
For a mean, divide the sum of valid coded ratings by the number of scored answers. For an agreement percentage, divide answers meeting your stated agreement threshold by scored answers and multiply by 100.
What is a good customer effort score?
Evaluate the score against a consistent baseline for the same task, scale, and audience. There is no universal threshold that makes every CES survey good.
What is the difference between CES 1.0 and CES 2.0?
The earlier format asks about effort expended, commonly on five points; CES 2.0 asks for agreement that the company made the interaction easy, commonly on seven points. Check the labels before interpreting direction.
Should I use a 5-point or 7-point CES scale?
Five points offers a shorter set of distinctions; seven points suits a CES 2.0 agreement format and an existing seven-point series. Choose the format you can use consistently rather than assuming extra points guarantee better measurement.
Is a higher or lower customer effort score better?
Higher is better when higher numbers mean easier or stronger agreement with an ease statement. Lower is better when higher numbers mean more effort.
How many questions should a CES survey include?
One main effort rating and one optional explanation is a useful starter. Add only questions needed to interpret that task.
When should you send a customer effort score survey?
After the relevant task attempt or outcome, while the experience is still clear. Match the invitation to what the question measures.
How often should you measure customer effort?
Use consistent touchpoints and review periods with enough responses to interpret. Set a cooldown so frequent customers are not asked after every interaction.
What is the difference between CES, CSAT, and NPS?
CES measures task ease, CSAT measures satisfaction, and NPS measures stated likelihood to recommend. Their questions and scoring methods differ.
Can customer effort score predict customer churn?
Effort can be a useful risk signal, but a survey score alone does not predict an individual cancellation. Validate any prediction using your own longitudinal customer and outcome data.
How do you improve a low customer effort score?
Read the explanations, locate the difficult step, check operational evidence, assign an improvement, and measure the same task again.
Can you use CES surveys for ecommerce and SaaS?
Yes. Measure specific tasks such as checkout, returns, account activation, or inviting a teammate, and adapt the invitation to that task.
How do you create a free CES survey?
Use Youform’s free survey builder or CES template, add a rating and optional comment, preview the path, then share the form. Set invitation timing in your existing customer workflow.
Sources
Reviewed .
- Harvard Business Review: Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers (2010), Dixon, Freeman and Toman.
- Dixon, Toman and DeLisi (2013), The Effortless Experience; Appendix D: CES 2.0 starter kit (PDF).
- Matt Dixon / CEB: The Effortless Experience (2016 presentation, ASU).
- Pew Research Center: wording, response choices, and pretesting
- Youform: current plan boundaries