CES (Customer Effort Score)
Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how much effort a customer had to put in to get something done — resolve an issue, complete a purchase, or get an answer to a question. It’s typically captured with a question like “How easy was it to resolve your issue today?”, rated on a scale (often 1–5 or 1–7).
CES is built on the idea that reducing customer effort is one of the strongest predictors of loyalty — customers remember friction far more than they remember delight.
How Is CES Calculated?
CES is usually reported as an average score across responses, or as the percentage of customers who rated their experience as “easy” (the top ratings on the scale).
When Should You Use CES Instead of CSAT or NPS?
CES works best immediately after support interactions, complaint resolutions, or any process-heavy touchpoint — places where ease of use matters more than overall satisfaction or brand loyalty. It’s a precise diagnostic tool for friction, not a measure of overall relationship health.
How LitmusWorld Helps with CES
LitmusWorld lets you deploy CES surveys at exactly the right moment in a process-heavy journey, and routes low-effort-score responses straight to the team that can fix the friction. See how LitmusWorld captures CES. Request a demo today.
Related terms: CSAT · NPS · Customer Journey Map · Transactional Survey · Moment of Truth