Customer Effort Score Examples: Surveys for Every Touchpoint
The best way to understand Customer Effort Score is to see it in action. The same effort question adapts to almost any moment in the customer journey — you simply name the interaction and ask how easy it was to complete. This guide collects ready-to-use CES survey examples for the touchpoints where effort matters most.
Each example below shows the exact effort question, a recommended open-text follow-up and the moment to send it. Copy any of them directly, or use them as a starting point and tailor the wording to your business. For the full method behind the metric, see the cornerstone Customer Effort Score guide, and for a deeper question bank see customer effort score questions.
All examples use the standard effort scale on this platform: a 1–7 rating from Very difficult to Very easy, where a higher number means less effort. You can build any of these with AI or start from a ready-made design in the template library.
Customer support CES example
Support is where CES was born, and it remains the most common place to measure effort. Send it right after a ticket is resolved or a chat ends, while the interaction is fresh.
- 1Resolving your issue today was easy. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
- 2What made your support experience easy or difficult? (open text)
- 3Optional: Was your issue fully resolved? (yes / no)
Immediately after the ticket is closed or the chat ends. Effort fades from memory fast, so a same-day survey captures the most accurate answer.
Checkout experience CES example
A high-effort checkout is a direct cause of abandoned carts. Measuring it tells you whether payment, shipping options or account creation are getting in the way of a completed purchase.
- 1Completing your purchase was easy. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
- 2What made checkout easy or difficult? (open text)
On the order-confirmation screen or in the confirmation email, right after the purchase completes.
Delivery experience CES example
Effort does not end at checkout. Tracking, delivery windows and handoff all shape how easy the fulfilment felt, and problems here often drive support contacts and returns.
- 1Receiving your order was easy and hassle-free. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
- 2What made the delivery easy or difficult? (open text)
A day or two after the order is marked delivered, so the customer has actually received and opened it.
Returns experience CES example
Returns are a moment of truth: a low-effort return often keeps a customer even after a bad product experience, while a painful one can lose them for good.
- 1Returning your item was easy. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
- 2What made the return easy or difficult? (open text)
Once the return is processed or the refund is issued, so the customer has seen the whole process through.
Onboarding and self-service CES examples
For SaaS and digital products, the first setup and everyday self-service are where effort quietly builds up. High effort here shows up later as churn or support volume.
- Onboarding: Getting started with [product] was easy. (1–7) — send after the customer completes initial setup.
- Self-service: Finding the answer in our help center was easy. (1–7) — send after a knowledge-base session or search.
- Feature adoption: Setting up [feature] was easy. (1–7) — send after the customer first uses a key feature.
Pair each with the same 'What made it easy or difficult?' follow-up. For more wording by touchpoint, see customer effort score questions.
Mobile app CES example
On mobile, small friction — an extra tap, a slow screen, a confusing gesture — adds up quickly. A short in-app CES survey catches it while the customer is still in the flow.
- 1Completing [task] in the app was easy. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
- 2What made it easy or difficult in the app? (open text)
As a brief in-app prompt right after the task completes — one tap to rate keeps response rates high on mobile.
Turn these examples into a live survey
You do not have to rebuild any of these from scratch. Start from a ready-made design in the template library and edit the wording for your touchpoint, or describe the moment you want to measure in AI Studio and it generates a tailored CES survey with the follow-up already wired up.
Once responses arrive, AI theme detection and sentiment analysis group the open-text answers into recurring friction themes, so you see what is causing effort across every touchpoint instead of reading comments one by one.
To calculate a score from the answers you collect, use the CES calculator, and to interpret it see CES benchmarks.
Frequently asked questions
Keep reading
Everything about Customer Effort Score: what it is, how to measure and calculate it, benchmarks, the best questions, a full survey example, common mistakes and AI-powered effort analysis.
How to word the CES question correctly, which scale to use, and 20+ ready-to-use effort questions for support, checkout, delivery, returns and self-service.
How to calculate CES step by step: the average-score formula, worked examples on 1–5 and 1–7 scales, top-2-box alternatives and how to report the result.
How to interpret your Customer Effort Score: what counts as good on common scales, why benchmarks vary by touchpoint and industry, and why your trend matters most.
A step-by-step playbook for improving CES: find high-effort touchpoints, mine comments for friction themes, fix root causes, close the loop and track the trend.
Why effort — not delight — drives loyalty, and the strategies that reduce it: self-service, channel continuity, proactive updates and effort-aware processes.
Browse ready-made CES surveys and edit them for any touchpoint.
Calculate your Customer Effort Score from raw counts.
Describe the interaction and generate a tailored CES survey.