Assessment

CX Insight:

Customer Effort Score (CES)

“Customers don’t call you because they want to—they call because they have to.”
“You can buy a Tesla from your phone. Yet in B2B, purchasing a machine can’t be completed in a month. Ask the manufacturer and they’ll say, ‘Our process is different.’ But the customer doesn’t see it that way.”
“Your customers don’t see sales as one republic and service as another. They see the company as a whole. But are you operating that way?”
“Hard to reach when there’s a complaint, persistent when it’s time for renewal. Can that really be called an experience?”

depositphotos_14151559-stock-photo-document-signing

#1 Factor

The most critical factor in customer satisfaction is reducing customer effort.

77%

77% of customers say the most important thing is that companies value their time.

52% Churn

52% of customers who experience a poor interaction do not purchase from the same company again.

82% vs 27 %

82% of sellers say they create value, while only 27% of customers agree.

3 Minutes
5 Questions
50+ responses (per touchpoint)
CX Insight

Company-Centric Approach vs. Customer-Centric Approach

Easy
Purchasing

Complex
Purchasing

Company
Friendly

Customer
Friendly

• The purchasing process is complex
• The design is relationship-based
• Sales is opportunity-focused
• Actions are person-dependent
• The customer cannot initiate the process

• The purchasing process is simple
• The design is speed-oriented
• Sales is help-focused
• Actions are person-independent
• The customer can initiate the process

Company-Centric Approach

The purchasing process is complex and relationship-based

Sales is opportunity-focused, and actions depend on specific individuals

Frustrating processes: stamps, signatures, 7-day quotations, forms

Departments operate like “separate republics”

When customers complain, the response is defensive

Renewals are only remembered on day 365

Customer-Centric Approach (with CES)

The process is simple, speed-oriented, and can be initiated by the customer

Sales is support-oriented (other-centered) and independent of individuals

Helpful processes: digital, fast, transparent, omnichannel

All teams share joint responsibility for the customer

Issues are owned proactively, rather than waiting for customers to discover them

Renewals are treated as a 12-month experience starting from day one

What Is It?

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that measures the effort a customer must expend to complete an interaction or resolve an issue. It was developed in 2010 by Dixon, Toman, and DeLisi. After an interaction, customers rate the statement “It was easy to get my issue resolved” on a 1–7 scale (1 = Very Difficult, 7 = Very Easy).

Critical point: CES is not only a post-support survey. It measures the level of effort customers experience at every touchpoint with your organization—from marketing and sales to service and support. Forty years ago, customers contacted companies by phone. Twenty years ago, they moved to the web. Today, they expect messaging-based interactions.

depositphotos_47347193-stock-photo-financial-advisor-shaking-hand-with

Friction (Examples)	Revenue Impact
No phone number on the website, no chatbot, a contact form with 10 fields, response takes 3 days	Leads leave before converting—you lose the first interaction
Aggressive ads, misleading headlines/content, spam, unsolicited outbound marketing	Brand trust erodes, opt-out rates increase, CAC rises
No alternative channels offered (only form/email), inability to start a quick conversation	The customer is on WhatsApp—you are still saying “please fill out the form”
Example: Turkcell — 5 Superbox subscriptions cannot be billed together; payments must be made separately	Even a simple process tires the customer → loyalty declines

SALES — Decision

If decision-making is slow, trust declines.

Friction (Examples)	Revenue Impact
Weak other-centered approach: the salesperson focuses on company targets rather than the customer and comes unprepared to meetings	The customer feels misunderstood → loss of trust
The proposal takes 7 days, a maze of stamps and signatures, difficulty reaching the salesperson	The customer made the decision on day 3 → went to a competitor
Technology resistance: salespeople say “our customers wouldn’t adapt.” CRM is not updated; data is kept in notebooks	Hidden cost: a task that should take 1 hour takes 1 day → operational costs increase → reflected in pricing
In B2C, customers can start and complete the process independently. In B2B, it cannot start without the salesperson	The process depends on the salesperson’s availability or preference → lost deals

SERVICE — Delivery

Delivery is where promises are tested.

Friction (Examples)	Revenue Impact
Sales–service gap: what the salesperson promises ≠ what service delivers. The customer feels the difference	Trust breaks → upsell and cross-sell become nearly impossible
Handover chaos: the customer does not know who their point of contact is; multiple different people become involved	The customer becomes exhausted; the perception of “separate republics” emerges
Operations teams focus on their own metrics and disconnect from the customer’s reality. “We don’t have such a process.”	Customer responsibility is deflected → defensive reflex → churn
Renewal blindness: they call on day 365. Silence all year, then “Would you like to renew?”	The 12-month experience resets → low renewal rate

SUPPORT — Trust

Support reflects the true character of a brand during moments of crisis.
Every day 2.2 billion customers message businesses via WhatsApp (98% open rate).
Customers are online—so you must be online as well.

Friction (Examples)	Revenue Impact
Channel mismatch: the customer writes on WhatsApp, the company says “please call us.” If the customer is online, you should be too	The company appears unreachable → the customer calls as a last resort
Emails go unanswered: no acknowledgment, no resolution timeline. In B2B there is no centralized support system—everything depends on individuals	No response/resolution KPIs → the customer is left in the dark
Complaint friction vs aggressive renewal: “Call another department” for complaints, but 2–3 calls per day for renewal	Perception of double standards → loyalty erosion → churn
Defensive reaction: complaints answered with personal ego. Support teams have limited authority; call-center mentality	The customer escalates the issue to Instagram/TikTok/X → negative word of mouth
Omnichannel disconnect: if they tweeted, respond on Twitter; if they wrote on Facebook, respond there; if they called, immediately send someone	Customers who cannot get a response in their preferred channel accumulate negative perceptions → enter the next interaction with bias

What Does It Deliver? — Financial Impact Map

Globally, poor customer experience threatens $3.7 trillion in sales potential. Friction reduces revenue at every touchpoint. The table below shows the direct financial return of eliminating friction through CES.

Challenge	Financial Impact (Global Data)	CES Solution	Financial Benefit
High Friction → Low Retention	Repeat purchases drop to 4%. 96% loss of loyalty. Churn = revenue loss + higher CAC.	Touchpoint-based effort measurement + early warning	Low-effort → 94% repeat purchase. Revenue retention strengthens.
Silent Exit & Churn	12-month retention is 73% higher for low-effort experiences. High-effort customers leave without complaining.	Friction mapping + periodic CES tracking	Churn decreases → LTV & CLV increase significantly.
Operational Friction	Repeat calls increase by 40%, escalations rise 50%, channel switching increases 54%.	Process simplification + omnichannel effort measurement	Support costs decrease by 40%+, operational efficiency improves.
Slow Closures	Sales cycles lengthen → pipeline risk → forecast deviations. Cash flow slows.	Effort mapping of the purchasing process	Sales cycles shorten, pipeline health improves.
Department Silos	Cross-sell rates decline. Customers perceive “separate republics.”	Shared customer responsibility mapping	Cross-sell / upsell potential increases.
Weak CX → Revenue Risk	Globally: $3.7T sales risk. Customer-centric companies achieve 49% higher profitability.	Integrated measurement: CES + NPS + CSAT	41% faster growth, 51% higher retention, 49% higher profitability.

Customer Voice

“We applied CES not only to our support function but also to our sales process. Our proposal turnaround time was five days — and we realized customers were going to competitors while waiting. After reducing the process to the same day, our closing rate increased by 23%.”

— Sales Director

B2B Manufacturing

“Our onboarding process had seven steps, and 35% of customers dropped off at step four. We reduced it to three steps, cut activation time in half, and support requests decreased by 40%.”

— VP Operations

SaaS Company

“Our customers were contacting support via WhatsApp, while we were telling them to ‘please send an email.’ After moving to an omnichannel model, first response time dropped from four hours to 12 minutes. CSAT increased from 68 to 89.”

— CX Manager

E-commerce

Technical Specifications (Overview)

5 questions

Number of Questions

3 minutes

Duration

Quick (Transactional)

Type

7-point Likert (1 = Difficult, 7 = Easy)

Scale

50+ responses (per touchpoint)

Minimum Participants

QuestionPro (online)

Implementation

TR / EN

Language

Dixon, Toman & DeLisi (2010)

Methodology

Industry + touchpoint + periodic trend

Benchmark

CES 2.0 (Effortless Experience)

Version

CES Score + Friction Map + Segment + Trend

Reporting

Project Manager

Available

Friction Workshop, Effortless Design, CES-Churn Linking

Optional

Periodic repetition (T1 vs T2)

Follow-up

CXG-ASS-CESC-SP-CXD-CRO-GRO-ENG-112

SKU

ENGAGE

Flywheel

CXG | GROC | PERC | INSM | EXG | RESC

Challenge

CRO

Persona

CXD (Customer Experience Design)

Expertise

Growth (GRO)

Responsibility