Customer Effort Score
The Customer Effort Score (CES) is used if you want to know how much effort it took for a customer to execute a certain action. It is similar to the Bar Rating. However, for CES, you also have the possibility to show labels and reverse the options:
Default settings
By default, the CES element has the below setup. The question asked is How much effort did it take you to achieve your goal?. For the 5 possible answers, the element shows 5 symbols. These symbols cannot be changed via the form builder. Additionally, the textual values and dimensions can be shown. These values and the question itself can be changed via the form builder.
When a CES answer is given we store the numeric value. This is also the value that is in the export, webhook, and API output.
symbol | textual value | numeric value |
|---|---|---|
++ | Very little effort | 1 |
+ | Little effort | 2 |
0 | Neutral | 3 |
- | Much effort | 4 |
-- | Very much effort | 5 |
Calculation options
Although methodological the CES is a category the numeric values allow for various calculations. The chart builder offers the following calculation options.
Count
Average/Mean
Percentage
NES 1 < 5
CES 1< 5
NES 5 < 1
Number of feedback items
CES: % top 2
CES: % middle
CES: % bottom 2
1. Count
Counts how often the CES question has been answered.
2. Average/mean
Calculates the average of the CES answers. The value can be between 1 and 5. The higher the score the less effort.
3. Percentage
Allows to calculate a percentage.
4. NES 1 < 5
The Netto Effort Score where the count of the top 2 scores (4 and 5) is deducted from the count of the bottom 2 scores (1 and 2) divided by the total count of CES answers given. Multiplied by 100. The value can be between -100 and 100.
5. CES 1 < 5
The Customer Effort Score where the count of the top 2 scores (4 and 5) is divided by the total count of CES given. Multiplied by 100. The value can be between 0 and 100.
6. NES 5 < 1
No longer in use.
7. Number of feedback items
Counts the number of feedback items received regardless of whether the CES question has been answered.
8. CES: % top 2
Calculates the percentage of the top 2 scores (4 and 5) compared to the total CES answers. The value can be between 0 and 100 percent.
9. CES: % middle
Calculates the percentage of the middle score (3) compared to the total CES answers. The value can be between 0 and 100 percent.
10. CES: % bottom 2
Calculates the percentage of the bottom 2 scores (1 and 2) compared to the total CES answers. The value can be between 0 and 100 percent.
Chart Example
To build a chart, you could, for example, add the CES three times to your data, and calculate the percentage of values for different options for each series.
Use an alternative element to measure CES
If you prefer an alternative visualization of the CES question you can use for example the emoji or the radio button element. These elements, however, do not have the CES calculation as an explicit option. It is however possible to do a CES calculation with these elements. Below we explain how to do so.
Form builder
Select the radio button element
Give the radio button options the CES values
English | Dutch |
|---|---|
Very little effort | Zeer weinig moeite |
Little effort | Weinig moeite |
Neutral | Neutraal |
Much effort | Veel moeite |
Very much effort | Zeer veel moeite |
Chart builder
Select the radio button element for the 3 series.
(very) little effort
neutral
(very) much effort
Select the Percentage calculation and set the Calculate percentage of values to the above settings.
Under options select Stack datasources and set Stack series to Percentage.
This will result in the below chart where the green series (very little effort and little effort) is also the CES score.