Do you know your customer effort score? Do you have a grasp of what it is?

Your customer effort score (CES) measures what your customers think about how easy or difficult your business makes it for them to complete an action.

The CES measures how many hoops your customers have to jump through to get what they need. For example, are they looking for info on your website and can’t find it? Or, are they getting a busy signal each time they call customer service?

One study says it is 25% more predictive of customer loyalty than the next best metric. Combined with the Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction Score, you should have a working knowledge of how your customers feel about you.

Because it’s so important, in this article, we look at why you should care about your customer effort score.

The Customer Effort Survey

First, let’s look at how you get this information.

The CES survey involves a single question that is scored on a scale from one to seven.

The question might look like this:  X (your name) made it easy for me to get what I needed (or find an answer, or some variable of this).

The answer options are: strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, neutral, somewhat disagree, disagree, strongly disagree.

If you get a negative score, you can use your survey to send them to another question that is empathetic and looks something like this: “It looks like we could have done a better job helping you. Please let us know more about your experience.

You would then list seven options underneath for them to click on. For example, answers might be: I was on hold too long, your website was confusing, no one answered my question, etc.

Now let’s look at why it matters.

You Can Improve Your Service

Using your CES data can help you improve your customer satisfaction. It can help you get your customer service right the first time, so you don’t have unsatisfied customers.

If your score is low, you want to train your staff to not only respond quickly but to respond with empathy and knowledge. If they aren’t trained correctly, they will fall short.

The CES helps you learn where your staff and your company fall short and where you can improve.

You Can Improve Your Speed

Customers waiting too long on hold? Or, are they spending a lot of time on your website and not finding answers?

Speed is so important in the 21^st century. In a world of immediacy, people are not willing to wait.

So, surprise them and speed things up.

If your CES shows that customers are waiting too long, you can add staff and improve your processes.

You Can Improve Your Options

Oftentimes, people are happy to solve their problems on their own, but they need the right information to do so.

You can help your customer service process by exploring your self service tools.

Your most modern customers will be glad to look for some answers on their own. Make these easy to find, and always offer the option of talking to a person, too.

Final Thoughts

If your customers have to expend too much effort to get what they want and need from you, they aren’t going to return.

Effort is a good predictor of how loyal your customers are and will be in the future.

Your customer effort score can help you understand where your company, products/services, and staff fall short so you can improve. (tweet this)

Today’s marketplace is all about providing the best possible customer service, and that includes how much effort your customers have to spend to get what they want.

When you reduce their effort, you increase their loyalty.

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Image: Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash