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.