What’s Your Customer Effort Score?

Do you know if your customers would recommend your product or service to a friend? If not, the reason could be that it is too hard for them. Customer Effort Score (CES) is a way of measuring how easy it is for customers to use and transact with your company. CES is a descriptive metric that allows businesses to understand where effort has been invested and where improvements can be made.

Customer Effort Score is a simple and accurate way for companies to determine how much effort customers need to exert when using their product or service. A higher score ensures that your business provides an efficient and seamless experience, which ultimately affects the customer’s likelihood of returning. Leading retailers such as Amazon, Lululemon, and Walmart have successfully used CES to improve their customer experience and increase revenue.

We'll go over what the Customer Effort Score is and how it may be used to enhance customer happiness. We’ll also share a free CES Calculator that you can use to assess your own business. By working to reduce effort while adding value for your customers, you will encourage them to become repeat buyers and share their business with others.

What is customer effort?

The effort is the amount of energy and motivation that a customer expends in trying to interact with your company. This includes the time, money, and mental energy they invest in interacting with you, as well as how frequently they do so. For example: when shopping online, it takes effort to research products, gathers payment information, set up delivery options, and then finally place an order. Customers value companies that make their efforts worthwhile by delivering on what they promise when they promise it.

Why does customer effort matter?

The Customer Effort Score (CES) is a leading metric for gauging the perception of how easy it is to do business with a specific company. A low CES means that customers are spending significant time and energy trying to get their needs met, while a higher CES means that customers are having an easier time of it.

The CES is known to drive customer loyalty, reduce churn and improve the share of wallets, all leading to reduced costs and increased profits.

It calculates the effort you put into doing business with a company and converts it to an index ranging from 0-100. A score of 100 signifies no effort and zero frustration; while a score of zero shows that customers are frustrated, exhausted, and resentful when trying to do business with the company.

Why is customer effort important?

If you are interested in building more customer loyalty with existing customers as well as attracting new ones, a Customer Effort Score represents an opportunity to do so. By having a system in place to track and increase your Customer Effort Score, you can identify weak points in your customer experience and make changes before they become serious problems.

How to improve your customer effort score?

For existing customers, look for ways to streamline the process of getting started. Customers will appreciate it if you can save them time by providing an online account set-up that only requires the most basic information, or by integrating with their existing systems.

Be sure to keep up to date with the latest technologies, so that you can keep up with new ways to improve your customer experience.

Find out why customers leave and fix it.

It’s not enough just to reduce the effort for new customers if you want to drive more satisfaction and loyalty among existing ones. You need to understand why they are leaving in the first place. Reassess your costs and benefits to make sure they still align with customer expectations and be prepared to change things up if necessary.

How do you calculate a C.E.S.?

An easy way to determine your Customer Effort Score is by adding up the number of questions a customer must answer when they purchase from you, then multiplying that number by 1-5 based on how difficult it was for them to find an answer or complete the task:

* One question = 1 point

* Two questions= 2 points (2x1)

* Four questions= 4 points (4 x 1)

* Five questions = 5 points (5 x 1)

Therefore, if customers must complete 3 tasks before completing their purchase, your C.E.S. would be 8 (3 x 2).

In this example, your company would have a low Customer Effort Score.

If you had to ask 3 questions and those questions were difficult to answer or time-consuming for customers, then your C.E.S. would be 24 (3 x 8). In this case, the C.E.S. is extremely high.

The effort score is often calculated by taking the number of questions (questions here are considered "steps" in the process) and multiplying it by 1, 2, or 3 based on how difficult they think each step was. Based on the results, he scores them between 1-100 to evaluate which companies have an easy or hard time shopping.

What does a high CES look like?

According to CEB data, companies with high CES scores tend to see greater retention rates, lower prices for customers, and a higher share of wallets. In contrast, companies with a low CES score tend to have high prices, higher churn rates, and lower market shares.

A few of the CEB’s findings from their research on CES scores:

• Low-CES companies only capture 25 percent of wallet share compared to high-CES companies which capture 40 percent.

• High-CES companies have 6 percent lower churn rates, which means they are 6 percent more likely to keep their customers.

• Low-CES CEOs are 70 percent less likely to get a “definitely yes” when asking for the business.

What does a low CES look like?

Low CES companies tend to have fewer loyal customers, higher prices for consumers, and fewer shoppers. Respondents also report that it’s harder to shop at these retailers than competitors.

What is the average score? What could I expect if my score was average or below average?

The average Customer Effort Score is 75.3, which means that it takes most customers about three to four efforts to complete the same tasks compared to a company with an average CES score. If your score is below average, it means that you’re not only costing more money for consumers but also costing more effort on the part of customers.

Conclusion

The customer effort score is a great metric to help you understand your customers’ pain points. It can be used in digital marketing efforts, but also for product management and market research. If it seems like your business needs an overhaul of its online strategy, contact us! Our team will work with you to improve both conversion rates and sales using our latest insights on human behavior. What are some examples where the CES has been applied?