Why CES will give you more insights than CSAT and NPS

No business can survive without satisfied customers. Yet, measuring satisfaction can be trickier than you imagine. The sooner you learn what frustrates customers, the quicker you can improve the experience.

The challenge isn’t only measuring results but knowing how to measure them fast enough. Let me help you understand standard scores and how and when to use them. This article covers what NPS, CSAT, and CES are, as well as when to use them and real-world examples of them in practice.

What are NPS, CSAT, and CES?

In short, your:

• Net promoter score (NPS) measures loyalty
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) measures satisfaction
• Customer effort score (CES) measures easiness of getting a job done

NPS is the longest to measure as it focuses on loyalty. It aims to answer the question, “How willing are you to recommend us to a friend?” Often, it follows a scale from 0 to 9, where 0 means not at all and 9 is entirely willing. Within that, you can understand customer loyalty by identifying the following:

• Detractors (0-6) — These customers will harm the brand
• Neutral (7-8) — Such customers will neither do good nor harm
• Promotors (9) — These customers will bring the brand-new clients

CSAT can be used on a product level or experience. In either case, it focuses on evaluating customer satisfaction. For example, after getting a product, customers answer the question, “How satisfied are you with it?” You use a scale between 1 to 5, where 1 means completely unsatisfied, and 5 means totally satisfied.

CES focuses on identifying experience hurdles, such as when customers struggle to solve an issue with customer service or receive a refund. Customers answer the question, “How easy was it for you to solve the issue ‘A’?” The scale is often from 1 to 5, where 1 means not easy at all, and 5 means completely easy. This reveals how intuitive the experience is.

Why do companies use more NPS than CSAT and CES?

After 17 plus years of working with digital products, I observed that NPS is the most used metric. Unfortunately, it’s often overused and slows teams down. Unfortunately, NPS tends to show you that you have detractors after they’ve already diminished your brand.

You may wonder why companies use and “abuse” NPS. I think it has to do with the fact that it’s the most straightforward metric to implement.

NPS measures loyalty but won’t tell you where you lose your customers. CSAT and CES probably require more effort to implement as they focus on experiences, however they reveal crucial information. With them, you’ll quickly learn where customers get dissatisfied or struggle to conclude tasks..

How do NPS, CSAT, and CES differ?

To successfully measure customer satisfaction, you need to understand the difference between these three metrics. Try breaking them down by:

CSAT and CES have an inevitable overlap in how you implement them. Suppose you bought a product and want to return it. In this case, both CSAT and CES could work:

• CSAT — “How satisfied are you with the return service?”
• CES — “How easy was it for you to return the product?”

That said, they measure different aspects. So what’s the real difference? CSAT helps you understand the satisfaction of your experience, while CES enables you to learn pain points. I prefer CES as it helps you understand the perception of effort to conclude a task, giving you valuable insights to improve the customer experience.

How CES can accelerate insight creation

Companies lose customers on the small things. Here are some examples that frustrate customers:

• Struggle to reset password
• Troublesome sign up
• Complicated refund process
• Difficult to find the wishlist

The more friction your product has, the more customers you lose.

Customers feel annoyed when they have difficulty getting a job done. CES will help you understand where customers struggle to finish tasks — ultimately enabling you to craft a more intuitive product that customers use without friction.

Here’s how you can implement CES in your product:

1. Name the tasks customers execute — Some examples include sign up, setting up a wishlist, requesting a refund, referring the product to a friend, etc.
2. Set up the CES — After concluding the task, ask customers, “How easy was it for them to complete it?” Also, give them a chance to write a comment
3. Measure — For each part you implemented the CES, measure the results so you understand how straightforward your customer experience is
4. Learn — Look for opportunities to enhance customer experience. Whenever customers struggle, you can simplify for them. Don’t judge customers; learn from them
5. Adapt — Continuously evolve your product based on what you learn

The beauty of CES is that it gives you the chance to solve small frictions before your customer becomes a detractor.

Real-world example

Let me give you an example of a translation tool I often use called Deepl. Being an expat, I struggled to understand documents in German. I found my solution with Deepl and have used the tool since moving to Germany.

From a product perspective, I like how it combines NPS, CSAT, and CES. Here are the examples I noticed:

• CES — When I sent my first document to translate, I received a question: “How easy was it for you to upload the document?” I promptly replied, costing me no more than a few seconds
• CSAT — A day after I got my first translated file, I received an email with one question: “How satisfied are you with our translation?” That gave me the chance to provide feedback on the result
• NPS — After three months of using Deepl, I received an email asking, “How willing are you to recommend us to a friend?”

My ultimate recommendation is unconventional. Start with CES, and then add CSAT and NPS. It will tell you where you’re about to lose customers before the problem becomes too big.

Key takeaways

Despite its popularity, NPS isn’t a silver bullet that gives you all the answers. By itself, you’ll end up learning whether your customers like your product too late to recover detractors. Try supporting NPS with CES, which helps you uncover where customers struggle, and CSAT, which focuses on product satisfaction.

Your objective should be to reduce the learning cycle. Start with CES instead of the CSAT and NPS because CES helps you identify gaps that the other scores cannot show you fast enough. Good luck, and comment with any questions!

Featured image source: IconScout