A customer effort score (CES) is a customer experience metric that measures how much effort a customer must put in to resolve an issue, get support or complete a task. It reflects how easy it is to do business with an organization. A lower CES indicates smoother, more effortless experiences — key to driving customer loyalty and retention.
“Like NPS, customer effort score uses a single question to gauge customer satisfaction. CES asks customers to evaluate how much effort they had to put into reaching a resolution. Typical responses range from ‘Very low effort’ to ‘Very high effort.’ CES is measured on a five-point or a seven-point scale. Companies that use this scoring model can apply the following formula to calculate CES.”
High-effort experiences — like repeating information or navigating multiple touchpoints — erode customer satisfaction. Enterprises use the customer effort score to identify friction points across voice, chat and digital channels. By analyzing CES data, organizations can streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks and orchestrate more seamless experiences using the Genesys Cloud CX® offering.
Self-service channels are only valuable when they actually make life easier for customers. CES helps enterprises evaluate whether chatbots, FAQs or IVR menus truly reduce effort. When paired with conversational AI and Agent Assist, businesses can refine self-service designs to ensure customers resolve issues quickly without escalation.
Agents often struggle to deliver effortless support when they lack visibility into customer history. By tracking CES alongside interaction analytics, enterprises can equip agents with context through Agent Copilot and predictive engagement. This enables faster resolutions, fewer transfers and experiences that feel connected rather than disjointed.
Enterprises combine CES with Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) to gain a comprehensive view of the customer journey. CES pinpoints operational challenges, while NPS and CSAT reveal emotional outcomes. Together, they inform AI-driven orchestration strategies that continuously improve both efficiency and empathy in every interaction.
With insights from CES surveys, organizations can identify systemic barriers that frustrate customers — like long verification processes or slow ticket routing. Enterprises use this data to automate back-end workflows, simplify authentication and create proactive recovery programs that boost satisfaction while lowering service costs.
Improving your customer effort score means removing friction from every step of the customer journey. With Genesys Cloud CX, enterprises can unify data, AI and automation to deliver faster, easier and more empathetic experiences — reducing effort while strengthening customer relationships.
See how Genesys Cloud CX helps organizations lower CES and deliver effortless customer experiences. Learn more about Genesys Cloud CX.
