The idea behind this customer satisfaction metric is that customers are more loyal<\/a> to products that are easier to use.<\/p>\n You can measure customer effort score immediately by setting up triggers for it to appear after a specific customer interaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let’s say a customer just finished talking to a customer service representative<\/a>. Triggering a customer effort score survey after this customer interaction is useful to learn how satisfied they are with the support team<\/a>.<\/p>\n Additionally, you can use several channels to collect CES surveys, such as the website, in-app surveys <\/a>within the product interface, email, etc.<\/p>\n Once you’ve gathered survey responses<\/a>, the customer effort score calculation is simple. Here’s what the formula looks like:<\/p>\n Customer Effort Score (CES) = (No. of positive responses (ratings of 5, 6, or 7) \/ No. of total responses) x 100.<\/p>\n It’s hard to define what counts as a good customer effort score.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, there is no universal benchmark<\/a> to compare your score to. This is because various companies use different rating systems, leading to a varied average score as well.<\/p>\n However, a general rule of thumb is to aim for higher ratings on a 7-point scale.<\/p>\n Every customer satisfaction metric comes with its pros and cons. Let’s look at some of these for the customer effort score.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s look at some key use cases for the CES metric. These use cases highlight different interactions<\/a> along the user journey<\/a> after which it makes most sense to send CES surveys immediately.<\/p>\n Showing surveys after interactions leading to conversion<\/a> is useful because that’s when customers are most engaged<\/a>. Therefore, they\u2019re more likely to provide accurate feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n Examples of such interactions could be users trying a new feature<\/a>, successfully subscribing<\/a>, or completing a purchase.<\/p>\n At such conversion points<\/a>, ask relevant questions in your customer effort score survey like, “<\/strong>How easy was it to complete your recent purchase on our website?”<\/em><\/p>\n Plus, this customer feedback<\/a> helps uncover whether a certain action is causing friction<\/a> and, therefore, needs to be improved.<\/p>\n Want to track how your customer service team is performing?<\/p>\n Do so by triggering a CES survey after customers interact with service reps<\/a>.<\/p>\n This helps ensure that customers don’t have to go through a high-effort service interaction. It also points towards any areas for improvement<\/a>.<\/p>\n A sample question for your CES survey measuring customer satisfaction with the support team could be, “How easy was it to get your issue resolved by our customer support<\/a> team today?”<\/em><\/p>\n Creating a customer-centric<\/a> onboarding process<\/a> is an iterative struggle. Therefore, you need to constantly measure your onboarding resource’s performance so you can improve accordingly.<\/p>\n That’s where CES surveys come in. They’re a great resource for collecting feedback<\/a> after user onboarding<\/a> completion.<\/p>\n You can ask questions like, “How easy was it to set up your new account and get started with our product\/service?”<\/em><\/p>\n Assessing the CES score after subscription renewals<\/a> and cancellations<\/a> helps identify pain points<\/a> in the customer journey<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then, by incorporating this feedback into product improvements<\/a>, you can increase customer loyalty and renewals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some sample questions include, “How easy was it to renew your subscription today?” <\/em>or “How easy was it to cancel your subscription?”<\/em><\/p>\n CES is a good metric for predicting customer retention and assessing the quality of the customer experience.<\/p>\n However, it is limited to specific customer interactions and doesn’t provide a full picture of customer loyalty or satisfaction.<\/p>\n That’s why it’s best you use other metrics<\/a> alongside CES, like the ones below.<\/p>\n The Net Promoter Score<\/a> (NPS) measures customer loyalty<\/a> based on the customer’s likelihood of recommending your product or service to others.<\/p>\n NPS<\/a> is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (ratings 0 to 6) from the percentage of promoters (ratings 9 or 10).<\/p>\n While CES focuses on the ease of completing specific tasks, NPS is different. It evaluates overall customer loyalty and also the likelihood of advocacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is why NPS surveys are used more often at every customer journey point to monitor loyalty.<\/p>\n The customer satisfaction score<\/a> (CSAT) measures how satisfied customers are with your overall product or service on a scale from 1 to 5.<\/p>\n To calculate the customer satisfaction score<\/a>, divide the number of satisfied customers (ratings 4 and 5) by the total responses and multiply by 100.<\/p>\n Similar to CES, the CSAT score is also measured at specific touchpoints<\/a>, like a customer support<\/a> call or a purchase.<\/p>\n However, the two are not interchangeable.<\/p>\n The CSAT survey<\/a> focuses on overall satisfaction with an interaction. In contrast, the CES only measures the effort required for that interaction.<\/p>\n There are several ways to structure your customer effort score surveys, using various rating scales. The most commonly used scales are discussed below.<\/p>\n Numbered scales are typically 5-point or 7-point scales for measuring a customer’s level of agreement or satisfaction. The lower end of the scale corresponds to low satisfaction<\/a> or agreement, whereas the opposite is true for a rating of 5 or 7.<\/p>\n For example, when asked whether a task was a low-effort experience, 10 respondents gave ratings of 5, 6, or 7. These 10 respondents are regarded as satisfied customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lastly, numeric scales are useful when you quickly want to quantify qualitative aspects<\/a> like opinions.<\/p>\n Use the Likert scale to quantitatively measure <\/a>qualitative feedback<\/a>, like opinions and attitudes.<\/p>\n This scale asks users to indicate their agreement level on a predefined scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.<\/p>\n For example, you ask users if they think your product is innovative. Only 1 user out of 20 strongly agrees. This tells you that 5% of respondents strongly agree that your product is innovative.<\/p>\n This rating scale uses emoticons, like smiley faces or icons, to rate customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n Emoticon ratings are preferred when you want quick responses. Furthermore, customers are more likely to fill out emoticon ratings because they are visually intuitive<\/a> and more engaging.<\/p>\n The scale typically consists of 5 smiley faces, ranging from happy to sad, representing various sentiments customers might feel.<\/p>\n Whichever rating scale you choose, Userpilot<\/a> can help you build in-app surveys<\/a> and launch CES surveys as well.<\/p>\n Plus, you can analyze the results with a variety of survey performance tools available.<\/p>\n If you’re struggling with a low CES score, here are some proven tips to help you out!<\/p>\n Customer effort score is a powerful metric that measures how easy and pleasant your customers’ interactions with your products or services are.<\/p>\n When measured together with NPS, CSAT, and other metrics, it provides important insights into the customer experience you create for your users.<\/p>\n Just remember: the more effort you put into delivering seamless customer experiences, the less effort customers will have to exert.<\/p>\nHow to measure your CES<\/h2>\n
![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ces-surveys_9920d791e806b78d84b81a7b7ea41f3c_800.png)
<\/picture>How to calculate customer effort score<\/h3>\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/customer-effort-score_25795226c9511215de3a3b4ba5bb5ebe_800.png)
<\/picture><\/figure>\nWhat is a good customer effort score?<\/h2>\n
Pros and cons of measuring CES<\/h2>\n
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Best times to use CES<\/h2>\n
1. After interactions that led to a conversion<\/h3>\n
![\"CES](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/customer-effort-score-survey-saas-product-management_dc270b715a906ff0cdd5c8513293a8dd_800.png)
<\/picture>2. After interactions with customer support<\/h3>\n
![\"Emoticon](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/csat-survey-support_9c101f6ceca671dda46485b8abf7622d_800.png)
<\/picture>3. After onboarding<\/h3>\n
![\"CES](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ces-survey-onboarding-experience_1f851aa90d22a84171af0959a779379e_800.png)
<\/picture>4. After subscription renewals and cancellations<\/h3>\n
How CES compares to other customer experience metrics<\/h2>\n
Net promoter score (NPS)<\/h3>\n
![\"NPS](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nps-follow-up-questions_a4e63349028e2e13bcb9e42144491269.gif)
<\/picture>Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)<\/h3>\n
![\"CSAT](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/csat-survey_716f926d03e367e67f0a46a1c62a2859_800.png)
<\/picture>Key types of CES survey questions<\/h2>\n
Numbered scale<\/h3>\n
![\"Numbered](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/numeric-scale-survey-customer-effort-score-survey-template_8a90459a61e156a057e45e292a0b6e9c_800.png)
<\/picture>Likert scale<\/h3>\n
![\"Likert](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/likert-scale-userpilot-customer-effort-score-survey-template_5fddc323fefab4040f25085bac8c44be_800.png)
<\/picture>Emoticon ratings<\/h3>\n
![\"Emoticon](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/emoticons-userpilot-customer-effort-score-survey-template_3236437973fa5fc9ca73c838715fe165_800.png)
<\/picture>![\"userpilot-survey-template-create-custom-surveys\"](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/userpilot-survey-template-create-custom-surveys_0a74d6921784ea2a6151eff0e845e329_800.png)
<\/picture>![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/survey-analytics_ac3827008fb154010a3957c02432a53f_800.png)
<\/picture>How to improve CES in your company?<\/h2>\n
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![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/customer-onboarding-checklist_8c31fd47b2262c226c58b21459e741f8_800.png)
<\/picture>\n
![\"Resource](\"https:\/\/blog-static.userpilot.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/userpilot-resource-center-editor_f5886d58a87a9b77eb428aa5cc35e174_800.png)
<\/picture>Conclusion<\/h2>\n