What is a good CES score?

On a 1–7 scale, a CES score above 5.5 is considered good, and above 6.0 is excellent. Scores below 4.0 indicate significant friction that is likely causing churn. The most important benchmark is your own trend over time.

CES vs NPS vs CSAT — which is most important?

Use NPS for overall loyalty tracking, CSAT for satisfaction at specific touchpoints, and CES when you specifically want to identify and reduce friction. For SaaS products, CES is often the most actionable metric because it points directly to the interactions that are causing customers to leave.

What question should I ask for CES?

The standard CES question is: "How easy was it to [complete task / resolve your issue]?" with a 1–7 scale labeled Very Difficult to Very Easy. The key is to ask immediately after the specific interaction, not days later.

How do I reduce customer effort?

Identify high-effort touchpoints through CES surveys, then systematically reduce friction: simplify onboarding flows, improve documentation, reduce the number of steps required to complete key tasks, and speed up support resolution times.

Customer metrics

CES (Customer Effort Score)

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how easy it is for customers to complete an interaction with a product or support team. It's scored on a 1–7 scale where higher scores mean less effort. CES is one of the strongest predictors of customer churn driven by friction and poor user experience.

Formula

CES = Average of all responses on a 1–7 scale

1 = Very Difficult, 7 = Very Easy. Higher scores indicate less customer effort required.

What is CES?

Customer Effort Score asks customers: "How easy was it to [complete this task]?" on a scale of 1 (Very Difficult) to 7 (Very Easy). Unlike NPS (which measures loyalty) or CSAT (which measures satisfaction), CES specifically measures friction. High effort experiences are the leading cause of customer churn according to the Corporate Executive Board's research.

Why CES predicts churn better than CSAT

The original CES research (CEB, 2010) found that reducing customer effort is more effective at improving loyalty than "delighting" customers. 96% of customers who had a high-effort interaction became more disloyal vs. 9% who had a low-effort interaction. Customers don't need to love every interaction — they just need it to be easy.

When to measure CES

CES is most valuable after specific high-friction touchpoints: completing the setup/onboarding flow, resolving a support issue, using a complex feature for the first time, or completing any key workflow in your product. Measuring CES at these moments reveals exactly where friction is costing you customers.

Benchmarks

Level	CES Score
Excellent	6.0+
Good	5.0–6.0
Average	4.0–5.0
High friction	Below 4.0

Free tools

CES Calculator → NPS Calculator → CSAT Calculator →

Collect the feedback that drives these metrics

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Frequently Asked Questions

Related terms

NPS CSAT Churn Rate