---
title: "Customer Effort Score"
description: "A metric that measures how easy it was for a customer to complete a task or get help, lower effort means higher loyalty."
category: "Feedback & Sentiment"
canonical: https://featureos.com/glossary/customer-effort-score
markdown: https://featureos.com/glossary/customer-effort-score.md
source: FeatureOS (https://featureos.com)
---

**Customer Effort Score (CES)** is a survey metric that measures how easy it was for a customer to complete a specific task, like resolving a support issue or finishing onboarding.

The standard question is: "How easy was it to [do the thing]?" on a 1-7 scale from Very Difficult to Very Easy.

## Why effort matters

Reducing friction builds loyalty more reliably than delighting customers. Customers who have to jump through hoops don't stick around, even if the core product is good. High-effort experiences are a quiet churn driver that NPS often misses.

## CES vs NPS

They measure different things.

- **NPS** is a relationship metric. Send it periodically to understand overall loyalty.
- **CES** is a transactional metric. Send it right after a specific interaction, like finishing onboarding or closing a support ticket.

Use NPS for general sentiment, CES to find out if a specific workflow is frustrating. CES is especially useful when ease of use is a competitive differentiator.

Set up targeted CES surveys at the right moments with [FeatureOS Forms and Surveys](/forms-and-surveys).

---
Source: FeatureOS — https://featureos.com/glossary/customer-effort-score
FeatureOS: product feedback, roadmaps & changelogs — https://featureos.com