Customer effort score (CES): how to ask it and score it

The question

The version in wide use today is an agreement statement on a seven-point scale, popularised by CEB (now part of Gartner):

“[Company] made it easy for me to handle my issue.”

The scale runs from 1, Strongly disagree, to 7, Strongly agree.

The original version asked how much effort the customer had to put in, on a five-point scale where a low number was good. If you inherit older effort data, check which version it is before you compare.

Calculating CES

There are two common ways to score it. Pick one and say which.

• The average: add up the answers and divide by the number of answers. Higher means easier.
• The share who agree: the percentage answering 5, 6 or 7.

Ask it at the right moment

Ask straight after the interaction, about that interaction, and pair it with “Was your request resolved?”. An easy conversation that fixed nothing is not a good result, so read effort and resolution together.

Finding where the effort comes from

A score says that something was hard. These questions say what:

• How many times did you have to contact us about this?
• Which channel did you use: phone, email, chat or in person?
• Did you have to repeat information you had already given?
• Were you transferred between people or teams?
• Were the instructions you were given clear?

Then compare the score by channel and by request type. The hardest combinations are the first fixes.

Acting on it

1. Follow up the hardest experiences first, while the customer still remembers them.
2. Fix the process, not the person: most effort comes from hand-offs and policies, not from one agent.
3. Track the score by channel and team over time, with the number of answers beside it.
4. Read the comments from people who disagreed; they name the obstacle.