Customer Effort Score

22 October 2013

5 Simple Strategies to Reduce Customer Effort

Idit Aloni-Halfon, Enterprise Portfolio Marketing Manager

We already know that the secret for organizations to increase customer loyalty is by improving the customer experience by focusing on the way customers feel. A key factor in doing so is reducing the amount of effort required by customers to receive the service they expect. Reduced customer effort will lead to improved customer experience and increased customer loyalty, and, as a result, to a higher ROI.

How can this be achieved? Take a look at our five strategies.

By: Randy Brandt

Back in November, 2008 the Corporate Executive Board proclaimed the Customer Effort Score™ or CES to be “the best measure of customer loyalty.” CES is derived from a question asked of customers who have recently contacted a company’s call center or experienced some other specific transaction with that company. “How much effort did you personally have to put forth in order to handle your request?” the customer is asked, and his/her answer furnishes the basis of the CES score.

Five years later, the buzz around CES is starting to build.

Ease the customer down the aisle

New research looks at how consumers rate nine grocery retailers in terms of ‘effort to shop’ and finds that the easier the experience, the more likely customers will remain loyal.

The more effort a customer has to put into a dealing with a brand, the less likely they are to be a loyal customer, according to new research. Customers reporting ’low effort experiences’ are more likely to go out of their way to keep using a brand.

Research agency BDRC Continental generated a Customer Effort Score for nine retailers by asking 1,000 customers to rate the ‘effort’ of an experience on a five point scale, where one equals very low effort and five equals very high effort.

Customer effort? Help or hype?

Customer Effort: Help or hype? from BT Let's Talk

Avaya Customer Effort Impact Study Reveals the Cost of Inconvenience

Customer perceptions shaped by the amount of effort required to obtain service
Repeated, high effort experiences are more damaging to brand and revenue growth than good experiences are helpful
66 percent of customers say they are likely to leave a company after high effort experience

Santa Clara, CA — Avaya today announced the results of a Customer Effort Impact survey that highlights how the amount of work a customer exerts to obtain service affects business priorities of revenue and market growth, brand loyalty and operational margins. The results reinforce the value of a customer experience characterized by a holistic, low-effort, personalized approach to fulfill customers’ needs.

Customer needs and company objectives often appear to be at odds when it comes to the customer experience. Consumers seek excellent service across all divisions of the company; companies look for revenue and market growth while controlling costs and increasing efficiency. To manage this dichotomy, companies need to define efficiency from the customer’s point of view, simplify the effort required and optimize each interaction for an engaged, long-term relationship that multiplies customer lifetime value.

Myth busted: Why content isn't king

In our rich multimedia world where content is abundant, the marketing industry so often says, content is king. After all, great content is needed to capture and engage audiences. Big bold creative concepts with integrated campaigns are exciting and sexy. The internet has made the circulation and delivery of content so cheap that everyone is now a publisher. The ability to find appropriate content through search engines, social networks and content curators gives consumers valuable information and entertainment. What’s more consumers expect content at a very low cost or even free. Given the abundance of content, the real demand is for high quality content.