61 Effective Customer Effort Score (CES) Questions
Table of contents
To improve something, you need to measure it. That holds true for customer experience as well.
One of the easiest yet effective ways to measure your customer’s experience is to find out how easy or difficult it was for them to take a specific action—be it submitting a request or getting in touch with your support.
And the way to do that is to measure the customer effort score or CES.
CES is the effort a customer has to take to resolve an issue, fulfill a request, or answer a question. The goal is to understand how easy or complicated the process is for the customer.
This guide explores 61 CES questions to help you accurately measure customer effort and gain valuable insights.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
- How is CES different from NPS and CSAT?
- How to Interpret Customer Effort Score
- 5 Most Possible Reasons for a Low Customer Effort Score
- When should you send a Customer Effort Score Question?
- 5 Common Methods to Collect Customer Effort Score
- 61 Customer Effort Score Questions that Measure Ease of Customer Interaction
- Customer Effort Score Questions for Customer Service Team:
- Customer Effort Score Questions for People Success (Human Resources) Team:
- Customer Effort Score Questions for IT Service Management (ITSM) Team:
- Customer Effort Score Questions for your Finance Team:
- Customer Effort Score Questions for your Logistics Team
- Final Word
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How is CES different from NPS and CSAT?
Customer effort score (CES),Net Promoter Score (NPS),and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score are three of the most popular customer experience metrics. They all measure different aspects of the customer experience and have different strengths and weaknesses.
How to Interpret Customer Effort Score
The higher the score, the lower the effort perceived by the customers. This means a better customer experience and a low CES score. Calculating CES involves sending a survey to your customers, usually after an interaction with your business, asking them to rate their effort on a specific task.
The standard CES question is, “On a scale of 1-7, how easy was it to interact with our company?”
- A CES score of 7 or 6 indicates that customers easily interacted with your business. This is a good sign. This means that customers are satisfied with your products or services and are likelier to do business with you again.
- A CES score of 5 or 4 means customers found it reasonably easy to interact with your business, indicating an excellent but improvable experience.
- A CES score of 3 or 2 signals that customers find it somewhat challenging to engage with your business. This indicates potential dissatisfaction.
- A CES score of 1 or 0 indicates that customers had difficulty interacting with your business. This is a warning sign. Customers are not very happy with your products or services.
But why do customers give a low CES?
5 Most Possible Reasons for a Low Customer Effort Score
A low Customer Effort Score (CES) indicates that customers need help or exert high effort to interact with your business, product, or service.
This could be a result of several factors, including:
1. Complex user interfaces
Whether it’s a physical product, software, or website, customers will struggle if the interface is difficult to navigate or understand. Software with a complex design and unclear guidelines can make it difficult for users to use, causing them to put in more effort.
2. Inadequate customer service
This could involve long waiting times, unresolved issues, or interactions with staff who need more knowledge to assist customers effectively.
For example, a client may contact your customer support team about a technical issue and be left on hold for a long time, only to finally connect with a representative who cannot solve the problem.
3. Long processes
If processes, such as making a purchase, returning an item, or signing up for a service, are convoluted or time-consuming, customers will perceive these as high-effort experiences. Unnecessarily complex buying, returning, or subscribing procedures can lead to higher customer effort.
Take the example of a return policy that requires customers to mail the product back at their own expense, fill out a lengthy form, and wait an extended period for a refund.
4. Lack of Self-Service Options
Customers increasingly prefer self-service options for their convenience and efficiency. If your business lacks these or is difficult to use, it can result in higher customer effort.
When customers cannot find answers to their questions or resolve issues on their own, their effort increases. For example, customers may have a common question about your service, but there is no FAQ or knowledge base on your website, forcing them to contact customer service.
5. Poor Communication
Receiving different or contradictory information from various representatives can confuse customers. They may need extra time to verify the correct information or redo steps based on incorrect guidance, increasing their overall effort.
Did you know?Gartner research says that loyalty for 96% of customers with a high-effort service interaction or a bad user experience is drastically reduced.
When should you send a Customer Effort Score Question?
The timing of a Customer Effort Score (CES) survey can significantly impact the number of respondents and the accuracy of customer feedback.
The survey should be sent immediately after a customer interaction or action. Here are some specific instances when you should send a survey question:
1. After a Customer Support Interaction: Sending a CES survey right after a support interaction lets you capture the customer’s immediate feelings about the experience. This provides real-time feedback that is more accurate and reflects the actual service received, enabling a more precise assessment of customer effort.
2. Post-purchase: A post-purchase CES survey helps you gauge the ease or difficulty of the purchase process, from finding the product to completing the transaction.
3. After Onboarding: If you run a software as a service (SaaS) business or any business with a user onboarding process, consider sending a CES survey after onboarding. It’s a great way to gain insight into how smooth and effortless the client’s experience was when they started using your service.
4. After a Free Trial: Sending a Customer Effort Score (CES) survey after a free trial ends helps assess users’ product usage and understanding. This feedback is important for improving the product, customer support, and converting trial users into paying customers.
5. Post-Cancellation of Subscription: You can find out two things when you send a CES survey after a canceled subscription. First, how easy it was for the customer to cancel their service. Second, whether or not high-effort experiences influenced the customer’s decision to cancel the service.
5 Common Methods to Collect Customer Effort Score
Customer Effort Score (CES) questions can be presented using various methods depending on the nature of the customer interaction, your objectives, and the medium through which you collect survey responses.
Here are some standard methods:
1. Direct CES surveys/Likert Scale
These surveys ask customers to rate their overall experience with your business on a scale of 7-point-scale, with 1 being “very difficult” and 7 being “very easy.” For example, you could ask the following question:
How easy was it to interact with our business?
1 = Very difficult
2 = Difficult
3 = Neutral
4 = Easy
5 = Very easy
2. Emoticon CES surveys
These surveys ask customers to rate their overall experience with your business by selecting an emoticon, such as a smiley face, a neutral face, or a frowny face. For example, you could ask the following question:
How easy was it to interact with our business?
- 😊 Very easy
- 🙂 Easy
- 😐 Neutral
- 🙁 Difficult
- ☹️ Very difficult
3. Open-ended CES surveys
Open-ended questions like asking customers to provide their own feedback about their experience with your business. This type of survey can be helpful for getting more detailed insights into what customers are experiencing.
For example, you could ask the following question:
“What could we have done to make it easier for you to interact with our business?”
4. Barter scale
This scale is similar to the Likert scale, but it uses phrases instead of numbers. For example, the phrases “very difficult” and “very easy” might be replaced with “took a lot of effort” and “took very little effort.” For example:
How easy was it to interact with our business?
- Took a lot of effort
- Took some effort
- Took a little effort
- Took very little effort
- Didn’t take any effort
5. Semantic differential scale
This scale uses a series of bipolar adjectives to measure customer perception. For example, you might ask customers to rate their experience on a scale of “easy” to “difficult” and “pleasant” to “unpleasant.” For example:
How easy was it to interact with our business?
Pleasant ( ) – – – – – Unpleasant ( )
61 Customer Effort Score Questions that Measure Ease of Customer Interaction
These 53 CES questions are intended to cater to various interactions and touchpoints that a customer might have with your business. Make sure to send these surveys at the most appropriate times – ideally, soon after the specific interaction has occurred.
Customer Effort Score Questions for Customer Service Team:
Being on the frontline, your customer service team interacts directly with customers daily. Tracking CES allows customer service teams to pinpoint inefficiencies in their interactions.
A low CES indicates that customers find their interactions with the company easy and hassle-free. High-effort experiences can lead to customer frustration and churn.
By asking the right questions in your customer effort score survey, you can identify areas of friction in the customer service process and take steps to simplify and enhance the customer journey.
- How easy was it to reach out to our customer service team?
- How simple was it to explain your issue to our customer service representative?
- How would you rate the ease of understanding the solution provided by our representative?
- How much effort did you put into resolving your issue after contacting our customer service team?
- How easy was it to find our customer service contact information?
- How would you rate the accessibility of our customer service across various channels (phone, email, live chat, etc.)?
- How simple was it to schedule a follow-up call or support session?
- How easy was it to escalate your issue to a manager or supervisor?
- How effortless was the process of returning a product or requesting a refund with the help of our customer service team?
- Was it easy to follow the troubleshooting steps suggested by our customer service representative?
- How easy was it to find self-help resources or FAQs related to your issue on our website?
- How would you rate the ease of use of our automated support (like chatbots or automated phone systems)?
- How simple was it to receive and implement feedback from our customer service?
- How effortless was the process of filing a complaint with our customer service?
- How easy was it to understand the terms and conditions or policy details explained by our customer service representative?
- How would you rate the ease of submitting documents or additional information requested by our customer service team?
- How simple was it to renew or cancel your subscription with the help of our customer service?
- How effortless was it to track the status of your service request?
- How easy was it to navigate through our customer service portal?
- How simple was it to change or update your personal or account details with the help of our customer service team?
- How effortless was your experience with our multilingual customer service?
- How easy was it to receive assistance from our customer service team outside of regular business hours?
- How simple was it to provide feedback or rate your interaction with our customer service representative?
Customer Effort Score Questions for People Success (Human Resources) Team:
In the People Success or HR function, we use CES to measure the employee experience. The main goal of the HR team is to make it easy for employees to access and use HR services.
This includes updating personal details, using employee benefits, and exploring career development options. When employees have a low-effort experience, they are happier and more engaged.
CES helps us understand how much effort employees need to interact with HR so we can improve our processes, systems, and policies for better employee satisfaction.
- How easy was it to submit your leave request through our HR portal?
- How simple was it to find policy information in our HR resources?
- How would you rate your experience with the employee onboarding process?
- How easy was it to submit your expense reports?
- How effortless was it to schedule a meeting with the HR team?
- How simple was it to find and participate in our employee engagement activities?
- Was it easy to access and understand your employee benefits package?
- How effortless was it to nominate a peer for our recognition program?
- How easy was it to provide feedback in our employee survey?
- How easy was it to complete your career development plan in our system?
Customer Effort Score Questions for IT Service Management (ITSM) Team:
In IT Service Management, the focus shifts to how easily end-users can access and use IT services. ITSM is a critical support function in any organization, and any obstacles in IT service can lead to significant productivity loss.
CES in ITSM evaluates how easy and efficient IT support and processes are, such as fixing problems, installing software, or setting up new devices. It uses questions to identify where users have difficulties and how to simplify IT processes
- How easy was it to report an IT issue?
- How much effort was required to set up your new workstation?
- How easy was it to access our IT resources remotely?
- Was it easy to install the software provided by our IT department?
- How effortless was it to update your system as per the instructions given by our IT team?
- How simple was it to recover your forgotten password?
- How easy was it to request new hardware or software from our IT team?
- How effortless was it to follow our IT security guidelines?
- How easy was it to understand the IT alerts and notifications sent to you?
- How simple was it to connect your devices to our office network?
Customer Effort Score Questions for your Finance Team:
In finance, the Customer Effort Score (CES) gives insights into how easily customers can access and manage their financial products or services.
It includes understanding loan terms, setting up direct deposits, disputing a transaction, and managing an investment portfolio. The goal is to make financial services more user-friendly and effective by identifying pain points in the customer journey.
- How easy was it to apply for a new line of credit with us?
- How much effort did you have to put in to manage your portfolio on our platform?
- How easy was it to find tax information related to your account?
- How effortless was it to set up direct deposits with us?
- How simple was it to withdraw funds from your account?
- How easy was it to dispute a transaction on your account?
- Was it easy to find and understand the terms and conditions for our services?
- How simple was it to request a higher credit limit?
- How easy was it to close your account with us?
- How effortless was it to use our online banking services?
Customer Effort Score Questions for your Logistics Team
In logistics, tracking customer effort scores help find areas where customers are experiencing pain points. These could include tracking a shipment, arranging deliveries, or requesting a return.
By measuring CES, logistics teams can evaluate their internal processes and fix bottlenecks. For instance, if customers say that tracking packages is high-effort, you can implement a digital portal where customers can see the status of their package in real time.
Questions to help calculate CES in Logistics:
- How easy was it to track your shipment?
- How straightforward was the process of arranging a delivery time?
- How easy was it for our customer support to get your issue resolved?
- How effortless was communicating with our support team regarding your logistics query?
- How easy was it to understand the information provided about your shipment status?
- How clear and helpful were the updates you received about your delivery?
- How easy was it to use our online tools to manage your delivery?
- How effortless was it to find the information you needed on our website?
Final Word
Measuring customer effort score (CES) is essential for understanding and improving customer experiences.
The 61 CES questions provided can help you gather valuable insights to streamline interactions and reduce customer effort.
At Hiver, we make it easy to deliver effortless support directly from Gmail. Our platform allows you to seamlessly collect CES data, identify pain points, and enhance customer satisfaction.
Try Hiver today to see how simplifying support can lead to happier, more loyal customers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the Customer Effort Score (CES)?
Customer effort score measures the level of effort customers have to put into completing an action – be it contacting support or tracking a delivery. This metric is usually measured on a scale of 1 to 5.
2. How is the Customer Effort Score calculated?
CES is calculated by asking customers a simple question: How easy was it to resolve your issue today? Usually, after a support interaction or transaction, Customers respond using a numerical scale where 1 stands for ‘Very Easy’ and 5 stands for ‘Very Difficult.’
3. Why is Customer Effort Score important?
CES is important because it directly correlates with customer loyalty and satisfaction. Research shows that reducing customer effort increases customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth, as customers are more likely to return to businesses where they can seamlessly get things.
4. How can businesses improve their Customer Effort Score?
Businesses can significantly enhance their CES by reducing customers’ steps to complete a specific action.
5. What are the benefits of tracking Customer Effort Score?
Companies can make data-driven decisions to streamline customer interactions and boost service quality by regularly monitoring CES.
