CES: find out how hard your customer has to work
The easier it is, the more loyal they stay. Measure customer effort.
The Customer Effort Score reveals how easy (or hard) it was for the customer to solve a problem or complete an action with your company.
Free to start · No credit card
The problem
Customers do not abandon brands for lack of delight — they abandon them because of friction. And most companies never measure the effort a customer spends to be served.
- Bureaucratic processes that wear the customer down
- No idea where the friction sits in the journey
- Churn caused by difficult experiences
- Focusing on delight while ignoring the basics: making it easy
- No effort indicator to track
How Loyvox solves it
With Loyvox you ask the CES question ("how easy was it to solve your problem?") on a scale, right after the interaction, and follow the effort answers in real time with filters by stage.
Benefits
Measures real friction
Find out exactly where the customer struggles in the journey.
A loyalty predictor
Low effort is one of the best indicators of retention.
An extremely short survey
One question = a high response rate.
Action by stage
Compare effort across channels and processes.
How it works
Use the CES template
The effort question comes ready.
Share after the interaction
Send the link right after the support call, purchase or process.
Follow it live
See effort answers in real time and filter by stage.
Cut the friction
Tackle the highest-effort points first.
How to calculate
Formula
CES = average of the effort scores
Unlike NPS, there is no subtraction — CES is the arithmetic mean of the scores given to the effort question, usually on a 1-to-7 scale (defined, for example, from "very difficult" to "very easy").
Step by step
Set the scale and its direction
Choose, for example, from 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy), and keep the same direction across every survey.
Add up all the scores
Add together the scores from every answer received.
Divide by the number of answers
The result is the average perceived effort.
Worked example
Hypothetical example, for illustration only
Imagine 20 answers on a scale from 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy):
- Total of the 20 scores: 128
How to interpret the result
- The closer to the top of the chosen scale (7 in this example), the lower the perceived effort — and lower effort tends to go hand in hand with higher retention.
- The absolute value matters less than comparing the same process over time, or comparing different processes with each other (e.g. chat support vs. phone support).
- An average never tells the whole story — looking at the distribution as well helps you see whether different groups of customers had markedly different experiences.
Common mistakes
- Flipping the direction of the scale between surveys (sometimes 1 = easy, sometimes 1 = difficult) without documenting it — that invalidates any comparison.
- Asking long after the interaction, once the real effort has been forgotten or rationalised.
- Using CES to measure overall satisfaction — CES specifically measures the effort of one task, not satisfaction with the brand as a whole.
Quick summary
| Formula | CES = average of the effort scores |
| Recommended frequency | Every interaction |
| Complexity level | Intermediate |
Create your first survey in minutes — free, no card.
Create my CES survey freeSurvey examples
- CES after a support interaction
- CES on the purchase / checkout flow
- CES on cancellation or exchange
- CES on self-service
On your dashboard
- Effort distribution (scale)
- Answers by stage/channel (via filters)
- Progress over time
- Customer comments
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a good CES?+
CES usually uses an effort scale (e.g. 1 to 7, from "very hard" to "very easy"). The higher the average ease, the better. What matters is tracking the trend and comparing across processes.
CES, NPS or CSAT?+
CES measures effort (ease), CSAT measures satisfaction and NPS measures loyalty. CES is especially good at predicting retention on support interactions.
When should I run CES?+
Right after a transactional interaction — a support call, a purchase, a cancellation — while the effort is still fresh.
How do I reduce customer effort?+
Identify the highest-effort stages through CES and simplify: fewer steps, fewer transfers, more effective self-service.
Is it free?+
Yes, you create your CES survey on the Loyvox free plan.
Create my CES survey free
Create your survey in minutes, with AI, no code. Watch the answers arrive in real time.