CES (Customer Effort Score)
CES (Customer Effort Score) measures how easy it was for a customer to get their issue resolved, usually as an agree/disagree rating where a higher score means less effort.
CES surveys ask customers to rate the effort required to resolve their problem — not whether they were satisfied, but how hard they had to work. Research suggests that reducing customer effort is one of the strongest drivers of loyalty: low-effort experiences reduce churn even more reliably than delightful ones.
The common modern format (CES 2.0) sends a single statement after a resolved interaction — "The company made it easy to handle my issue" — on an agree-to-disagree scale, where stronger agreement means less effort. Scores are averaged across responses.
CES is especially useful for identifying friction in support processes — confusing self-service, too many handoffs, or having to repeat information. It pairs well with FCR: a high FCR alongside a high effort score means customers resolved their issue easily, in one go.