Customer Effort Score Surveys. Pinpoint Your Friction.

What are Customer Effort Score Surveys?

Customer Effort Score Surveys measure how easy it is for customers to get what they need from your company. Unlike Net Promoter Score, which focuses on sentiment, CES captures real experiences—how much work it took to place an order, get support, or resolve a problem.

And that matters. Because the lower the effort, the higher the loyalty.

Whether you’re looking to improve support, optimize your website, or reduce repetitive tickets, CES surveys give you the insight to act.

That’s why they’ve become one of the most actionable NPS alternatives—and why we recommend them as a core part of your feedback strategy.

The Customer Effort Score concept was introduced by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) in a landmark 2010 Harvard Business Review article, “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers.” Read the article to see the original research on CES and customer loyalty.

Customer Effort Score vs. NPS: What’s the Difference?

Both CES and NPS are useful, but they measure different things and are both important customer service metrics, along with customer satisfaction scores:

• NPS asks: Would you recommend this company to a friend? It captures overall sentiment but doesn’t pinpoint what’s working (or not).
• CES asks: How easy was it to complete your task today? It measures actual experiences — and highlights where friction is driving customers away.

Tracking customer satisfaction scores alongside these metrics helps identify immediate issues and improve the overall customer experience.

For B2B, technical services, and industries with long buying cycles, Customer Effort Score often provides more actionable insights than NPS alone.

Both CES and NPS contribute valuable data for understanding overall customer loyalty.

How Customer Effort is Calculated: Your Ease of Doing Business Score

Most CES surveys ask just one vague question. At Interaction Metrics, we do more.

We calculate what we call your Ease of Doing Business Score — a composite metric based on the actual moments that shape customer friction. Instead of relying on a single number, we gather responses across multiple interactions, then calculate your score using a consistent 1–5 or 1–10 scale, depending on your needs.

This approach reveals where things feel seamless — and where effort is getting in the way.

Examples of touchpoints we evaluate include:

• Website Support – Is it intuitive, fast, and helpful?
• Repair Returns – Are returns easy to initiate and track?
• Inside Sales Knowledge – Do reps understand the products and provide real value?
• Inside Sales Ordering – Is it fast, accurate, and efficient?
• Self-Service Tools – Are your FAQs, chatbots, and help portals clear and useful?

Each example reflects the timeliness, accuracy, and expertise that shape how effortless (or frustrating) your company is to work with.

Once responses are in, we average the scores to calculate your overall Ease of Doing Business Score — and analyze trends using our TrueData™ model. This gives you a powerful benchmark for reducing customer effort, improving operational excellence, and driving retention.

Because when doing business with you is easy, everything else gets easier too — including growth.

Looking to segment these touchpoints by customer type, region, or order size? Our Customer Segmentation Analysis breaks it down even further.

Crafting Effective Customer Effort Score Questions

The success of a Customer Effort Score survey starts with the right questions. To uncover where effort occurs — and how to reduce it — your CES questions should be clear, specific, and focused on the customer’s experience with a particular task or touchpoint.

A well-phrased CES question cuts straight to the customer’s point of view. For example:

• “How easy was it to resolve your issue with our support team?”
• “How much effort did you have to put in to find the information you needed on our website?”

These types of questions help identify where friction lives in your process. But to get a complete view, it’s critical to go beyond just one score.

That’s why we often pair the core CES question with rating-scale follow-ups (e.g., “Rate the timeliness of our response” or “Rate the clarity of our instructions”) and open-ended prompts like:

• “What made this interaction easy or difficult?”
• “How could we improve this process for you?”

Open-ended feedback reveals why customers found something frustrating, while additional rating questions help isolate specific issues like delays, confusion, or lack of follow-through.

Together, this mix gives you both the quantitative rigor of CES and the qualitative insight needed to take meaningful action — and prioritize improvements based on what actually matters to your customers.

Making Sense of CES Data

Collecting Customer Effort Score data is only step one. The real value lies in interpreting what that data tells you — and translating it into meaningful improvements.

Once your survey responses are in, the first step is to calculate your average CES score. A lower score signals ease; a higher score indicates unnecessary complexity or frustration.

But the magic happens when you segment that data. Break down scores by interaction type: ordering, website navigation, customer service, etc. This helps you identify high-effort hotspots and understand how different parts of the experience stack up.

Say checkout has a higher CES than returns — that’s a cue to look closer at cart design, payment workflows, or shipping options. Over time, tracking your CES data reveals whether your fixes are working and where new friction is emerging.

It’s not just about knowing your score — it’s about understanding why it’s happening, and how to reduce effort moving forward.

Turning CES Survey Results into Actionable Insights

The true power of a customer effort score survey comes from turning results into actionable insights. Start by categorizing CES survey responses into common themes—such as process friction, unclear communication, or lack of self service options. This helps you uncover the root causes behind high customer effort and identify where customers struggle most.

Once you’ve identified these pain points, develop targeted solutions. For instance, if survey responses show customers have trouble finding information, you might enhance your self service resources, improve website navigation, or introduce proactive support tools like chatbots or FAQs. If the issue is with a specific customer service team, consider additional training or process changes to streamline customer interactions.

By using CES data to guide your improvements, you can reduce customer effort, create a more effortless experience, and increase overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. Regularly reviewing and acting on CES survey results ensures your company stays focused on delivering low-effort, high-satisfaction customer service solutions—turning insights into real, measurable progress.

Why Customer Effort Score Surveys Matter

Reducing customer effort isn’t just nice — it’s profitable. High-effort experiences lead to frustration, repeat contacts, and churn. Low-effort experiences create loyalty and advocacy. By lowering customer effort, you can significantly improve customer retention and encourage repeat business.

Here’s what CES surveys can help you do:

• Identify friction points in your service or sales process
• Track ease of doing business over time
• Compare performance across departments
• Uncover patterns that lead to customer complaints
• Quantify the impact of operational changes
• Provide a powerful alternative (or complement) to NPS
• Build and increase customer loyalty by addressing pain points and improving the customer experience

If your goal is to make life easier for customers — and grow your company in the process — Customer Effort Score Surveys are the best place to start.

And with Interaction Metrics, your CES surveys aren’t just easier for customers — they’re easier for you, too. We design, run, and analyze your surveys using our TrueData™ model, blending AI with expert research.

No guesswork. No extra software to learn. Just clear answers to: How easy is it to work with your company — and how can you make it even easier?

Ready to Make Doing Business with You Effortless?

If your customers are struggling, we’ll help you find out where—and why. With professionally written surveys, advanced analysis, and zero software to manage, our Customer Effort Score programs show you the exact friction points holding your company back.

• Composite Customer Effort Score tracked over time
• Full-service execution and TrueData™ analysis
• Clear steps to reduce friction and boost retention

Let’s make your customer experience smoother, smarter, and more competitive.

Contact us to get started.