customer effort score - top 10 tips
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1 A guide to customer experience | Future Thinking | May 2016
A guide for successful (and easy) implementationCustomer Effort Score (CES) is a measure of the ‘effort’ a customer feels they have to expend in order to transact with a business. The basic premise is that, by reducing customer effort, organisations can create loyal customers.
It is claimed that CES is more predictive of churn than other more established metrics, such as NPS or CSat; therefore, it comes as no surprise that many organisations now look to include a measure of effort in their customer experi-ence trackers. Below we outline the top tips for successfully using CES within your business.
1 BE CLEAR ON YOUR OBJECTIVESAn obvious starting point; what are you trying to achieve as an organisation? Is CES appropriate for your business at this moment in time? This could constitute a paper in itself! Our guide (click here) sheds more light on this subject.
2 CUSTOMER EFFORT IS NOT APPLICABLE TO THE ENTIRE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
So don’t force it.
For effort to be measured, it stands to reason that a customer interaction must have taken place. Touchpoints are predominantly (but not exclusively) related to contact with customer service centres. In other words, key elements of the relationship are ignored; value for money, product quality, service reliability and so on. So,
while CES can be used for virtually any customer interaction, there may well be a more relevant measure for some touchpoints.
Customer Effort Score
May 2016 | Future Thinking | A guide to customer experience 2
3 ASK THE RIGHT CUSTOMER EFFORT QUESTIONS
The currently recognised construct is to ask the question on a seven-point scale from ‘Strongly Disagree’ to ‘Strongly Agree’.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
“The company made it easy for me to _________”
The ending of the question can be modified to suit the relevant touchpoint e.g.
“The company made it easy for me to renew my policy”;
As long as the question construct is consistent, we can compare touchpoints. This ques-tion wording has proved easier to grasp than previous iterations and returns better results.
4 ENSURE DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS ARE INCLUDED
Like many measures, the power of CES is only unlocked if we can actually understand what is driving the ups and downs. Key Driver Analysis related to CES will be able to identify the processes where improvement would have the greatest overall effect on effort and ultimately retention.
As with any good research, the trick is to include the correct diagnostic questions alongside the effort question(s) in the survey. For businesses in the early stages of customer experience meas-urement, qualitative approaches are often a good starting point to understand what a survey should be covering.
5 EFFORT ISN’T EVERYTHINGIf the customer touchpoint is purely transac-tional (e.g. changing your details, paying a bill), then there is a clear desire to make the whole process as quick and effortless as possible.
For certain touchpoints, interpersonal and emotional factors come into play. Basic cour-tesy is seen as a hygiene factor but empathy and friendliness can play a major part. The message is that other measures should be included alongside pure CES to get a more rounded picture of the complete experience.
“FOR CERTAIN TOUCHPOINTS, INTERPERSONAL AND EMOTIONAL FACTORS COME INTO PLAY
3 A guide to customer experience | Future Thinking | May 2016
6 DON’T USE CES AS A STANDALONE MEASURE
NPS and CSat can be viewed as macro KPIs; they measure overall perceptions of the entire experience. The measurement of customer effort relates more to individual touchpoints i.e. the micro level. Macro indicators are not always a good fit at touchpoint level; in this respect CES is a valuable new tool.
So, following on from Tip 5, when monitoring customer experience, all businesses would be wise to consider both macro and micro level KPIs. Customer Effort isn’t really suited to be a standalone measure but, in certain circum-stances, it could be a lead measure.
7 DON’T IGNORE THE ROOT CAUSESMany interactions are not desirable; in these cases, it is usually better to concentrate on solu-tions that will negate the need for customers to contact the company in the first place. An obvious statement, but an angle that is often ignored.
For instance; any contact related to a product/service issue, billing mistake or any other problem is best avoided. Instead of concen-trating on how such touchpoints can be effortless for the customer, the priority has to be to eradicate the root causes.
8 IMPLEMENT ACTIONS Actionable Insight! No paper related to market research can be complete without these two words; but how does CES stack–up in this respect? We know how much effort our customers are putting in and we know the process elements that are causing them pain. The final step is to implement actions that improve the situation.
Dependent on the issue, the fix may be obvious. Open-ended questions should also be included, so that customers can provide more specific feedback on how to make their interactions easier. If worded correctly, additional insight can be shed on even the most obvious actions.
9 SELL THE CONCEPT THROUGHOUT THE BUSINESS
A familiar challenge for those who are involved in the measurement of customer experience is getting the rest of the business to actually buy-in to the process. The introduction of a new measure often requires an organisation to re-focus priorities and even a cultural change. Customer effort is an easy concept to grasp and that is one of the advantages when it comes to communicating this through a business.
The use of visual tools such as posters and info-graphics should help; and, if you really want to get people’s attention, bonus-able targets should do the trick! y
When monitoring customer experience, all businesses would be wise to consider both macro and micro level KPIs. Customer Effort isn’t really suited to be a standalone measure but, in certain circumstances, it could be a lead measure
May 2016 | Future Thinking | A guide to customer experience 4
Speak to Future Thinking We have been using CES with our clients for a number of years; we have a firm understanding of the measure. For more information on how to successfully incorporate customer effort into your trackers or to run standalone research, please contact:
Craig Strudley, Research [email protected] | 01865 336 452
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