Quick Answer (TL;DR)
Customer Effort Score (CES) measures ease of completing a task or resolving an issue. The formula is Average score on 1-7 scale. Industry benchmarks: >5.5 is good. Track this metric when measuring support or UX friction.
What Is Customer Effort Score (CES)?
Ease of completing a task or resolving an issue. This is one of the core metrics in the referral metrics category and is essential for any product team serious about data-driven decision making.
Customer Effort Score (CES) measures the organic growth potential of your product. Referral and word-of-mouth metrics are powerful because they represent growth that does not require proportional increases in marketing spend.
Understanding customer effort score (ces) in context --- alongside related metrics --- gives you a more complete picture than tracking it in isolation. Use it as part of a balanced metrics dashboard.
The Formula
Average score on 1-7 scale
How to Calculate It
Apply the formula Average score on 1-7 scale using data from a consistent time period. Pull the values from your analytics platform or data warehouse, compute the result, and compare against the benchmarks below.
Benchmarks
>5.5 is good
Benchmarks vary significantly by industry, company stage, business model, and customer segment. Use these ranges as starting points and calibrate to your own historical data over 2-3 quarters. Your trend matters more than any absolute number --- consistent improvement is the goal.
When to Track Customer Effort Score (CES)
When measuring support or UX friction. Specifically, prioritize this metric when:
You are building or reviewing your metrics dashboard and need referral indicators
Leadership or investors ask about referral performance
You suspect a change in product, pricing, or go-to-market strategy has affected this area
You are running experiments that could impact customer effort score (ces)
You need a quantitative baseline before making a strategic decision
How to Improve
Make sharing frictionless. Reduce the steps required to refer someone. Pre-written messages, one-click sharing, and in-product referral prompts dramatically increase participation rates.
Incentivize both sides. The most effective referral programs reward both the referrer and the referred user. Two-sided incentives increase conversion 2-3x compared to one-sided rewards.
Time referral asks strategically. Ask for referrals immediately after a user experiences a moment of delight --- completing a milestone, receiving positive results, or upgrading their plan.
Close the feedback loop. Collecting scores is only valuable if you act on them. Route low scores to the right team for follow-up and track improvement over time.
Common Pitfalls
Survey fatigue. Over-surveying your users leads to low response rates and selection bias. Collect scores at strategic moments rather than constantly.
Measuring program activity instead of outcomes. Referral invites sent is a vanity metric. Track actual conversions and the downstream revenue generated by referred customers.
Measuring without acting. Tracking this metric is only valuable if you have a process for reviewing it regularly and a playbook for responding when it moves outside acceptable ranges.
Related Metrics
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) --- satisfaction rating for a specific interaction
Review Rating --- average rating on third-party review sites
Invites Sent Per User --- average referral invitations per active user
Social Shares --- number of times your product/content is shared
Product Metrics Cheat Sheet --- complete reference of 100+ metrics