{"id":35047,"date":"2021-02-19T09:38:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T09:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.proprofs.com\/c\/?p=35047"},"modified":"2026-02-13T07:22:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:22:55","slug":"how-to-calculate-customer-effort-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proprofssurvey.com\/blog\/how-to-calculate-customer-effort-score\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Calculate Customer Effort Score to Grow Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine there is a customer browsing your product page for a while. The customer explores the product images, scans through the features, checks the pricing, and hits the \u2018Buy now\u2019 button. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After encountering multiple slow-loading pages, the customer leaves without making the purchase. There are<\/span> millions of customers who lose their faith in a brand when they have to put more effort than they had anticipated. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it is about providing multiple details before buying a product or waiting on hold for a long time to speak to an agent, excessive effort on the part of the customer can be a deal-breaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And today, \u2018effort\u2019 shows up in sneaky places you might miss unless you measure it: mobile friction (tiny form fields, OTP delays, pages that force pinching\/zooming), onboarding friction (\u2018Where do I start?\u2019 moments), and post-purchase friction (tracking details scattered across emails, slow returns\/refunds, or repeating order info to support).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the contrary, an engaging and seamless experience enhances your brand image and gives your customers the confidence to continue with your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, how to calculate your customer\u2019s ease of interaction with your brand?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer lies in the Customer Effort Score, a numerical score to calculate the customer\u2019s effort in engaging with your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this blog, let\u2019s develop a complete understanding of \u201cCustomer Effort Score.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s begin!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>What Is Customer Effort Score (CES) & Why Is it Important?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Imagine your customer makes multiple calls to the customer support team before their query is resolved. It involves a great effort that is both time-consuming and frustrating. The longer their wait time to get their challenge addressed, the more their struggle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on the other hand, less wait time indicates efficient customer service and low customer effort. The amount of effort a customer has to put in to engage with your business can make or break the customer experience. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hubspot research<\/i><\/b><\/a> shows that 33% of customers get frustrated because of high hold time, while another 33% feel frustrated when they have to repeat themselves to multiple customer representatives.<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly why CES is often treated as a forward-looking diagnostic. Instead of measuring vague brand sentiment, CES highlights specific friction points (like onboarding confusion, checkout issues, ticket handoffs, or knowledge base gaps) while there\u2019s still time to fix them\u2014before they turn into churn.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer effort score measures the customer effort on a scale ranging from \u2018Strongly agree\u2018 to \u2018Strongly disagree.\u2018 <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your \u2018good\u2019 CES depends on how you phrase the question. If you use an agreement statement like <\/span>\u2018[Brand] made it easy for me to handle my issue,\u2019<\/span><\/i> your goal is to get <\/span>higher<\/b> scores. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you ask <\/span>\u2018How much effort did you personally have to put in?\u2019<\/span><\/i> your goal is to get <\/span>lower<\/b> scores. Many teams misread CES simply because they don\u2019t align the scoring direction with the question wording.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few examples of scale ranges:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer effort score measures the customer effort on a scale ranging from ‘<\/span>Strongly agree<\/b>‘ to ‘<\/span>Strongly disagree.<\/b>‘ The calculation technique has evolved over the years, with version 1 released in 2010 and version 2 (CES 2.0) released in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Range Scale of 1-5<\/b>: Using this scale, you can capture customer effort on a scale of 1-5.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Customer<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Range Scale of 1-7<\/b>: This scale arrived in 2013 after fine-tuning the 2010 edition. The 2010 scale didn’t capture a vast amount of responses. However, the latest scale is more expansive as it captures customer responses<\/a><\/strong> on a 7-level scale.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Customer<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How to choose between 1\u20135 & 1\u20137<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use 1\u20137 when you want more nuance (great for onboarding and support, where \u2018somewhat easy\u2019 vs \u2018very easy\u2019 matters). Use 1\u20135 when you want faster responses (especially on mobile or high-volume touchpoints like checkout). Whatever you choose, keep it consistent for the same journey stage so you can track trends cleanly over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CES Sample Questions You Can Use)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use one primary CES question (don\u2019t stack multiple). Pick the one that matches your touchpoint:<\/p>\n\n\n\n