Customer Effort Score(CES)

Hello ,

...and welcome??.

We begin with a tale of two lovers.

Susan and Michael had been going steady for six months.

Everything was going fine just like in a fairy tale until Michael started noticing that Susan was no longer as accessible as she used to be.

She no longer picked his calls nor return them and the odd times she did ,she always had excuses . She also didn’t respond to texts or chats as enthusiastically as she used to and never wanted to admit responsibility for her part in whatever was happening between them.

Michael kept putting so much effort in trying to get across to Susan ,even going as far as driving out of his way to go pick her up at her office on the Island all the way from his on the mainland.

He would wait outside her office until work was over and watch her come out with her colleagues laughing heartily, but as soon as she set her eyes on him, her face would assemble into a frown .She would then nod her head at him and continue on her way without so much as a backward glance.

Michael continued exerting effort to communicate with Susan for several months until he stopped trying and quietly walked away. He had given it his best shot.

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Just like Michael, do your customers have to exert so much effort to interact with your brand for any reason ?

That effort is called ' Customer Effort’ and is measured with the use of one of the KPIs of Customer Service; Customer Effort Score(CES)

It is the ease of interaction between a customer and an organization. It gauges how much effort a customer must exert to:

???? Get issues/ complaints resolved

???? Get an answer to their inquiries/requests

????Complete a transaction with regards to a product/ service

CES is basically measured through feedback. It is done through the use of a simple survey question:

EXAMPLE:

Question- "On a scale of 1-5, how easy was it for you to order our product online?"

Answer -(1 = Very Difficult,2=Difficult ,3=Fairly Difficult,4=Easy ,5 = Very Easy)

Using CES as a KPI to track how well your customers are serviced has the following benefits:

??Helps Identify customer pain points:

• Areas customers struggle with are tracked allowing room to address and improve them e.g long hold times on transferred calls,lack of omni channel of communication etc.

??Helps improve customer experience:

• Reducing effort customers use to interact enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.When customers are attended to promptly and their issues resolved in the shortest time possible ,this leaves a memorable impression in the mind of the customers.

??Helps reduce churn:

• When interactions are easy ,it leads to increased customer retention. Customers tend to be loyal to brands that make transacting business with them frictionless and without hassles .

??Helps boosts efficiency:

• Reducing effort for customers and support staff alike helps to streamline processes thereby boosting staff productivity and customer interactions.

??Helps enhance competitiveness:

• Organizations that prioritize low effort scores can make themselves stand out from competitors and be visible . Customers will always talk about them to friends and family and may even rave about them online.

CES vary from organization to organization

Score: 4.0-5.0(This is EXCELLENT. Customers find interactions very easy)

Score:3.0-3.9( This is GOOD. Customers find interactions relatively easy)

Score: 2.0-2.9: (This is FAIR. Customers find interactions neutral)

Score:1.0-1.9(This is POOR. Customers find interactions difficult)

Tracking your Customer Effort Score(CES) allows you prioritize what needs to be improved, processes that need to be optimized and activated for a more seamless customer experience.

Michael and Susan at the start of this newsletter can be typified as the former being the customer and the latter the company.

When customers exert so much effort in their interaction with a brand ;always calling without a response ,unwilling to communicate, not taking responsibility when issues go wrong even when customers pay a visit to your business premises, getting ignored repeatedly, just like Michael the customer will walk away and find a new ‘relationship ‘ .

As a business, don’t be like Susan. Make your processes seamless. Allow customers be able to reach you via various means( mails , social media, phone etc) and be ready to listen, be accountable and receptive.

Taking note of your CES can be a decider for customer churn or retention. Pay attention to customer feedback whether manually (verbal complaints)as a small business or through technology(online tools) as a bigger business that deploy such.

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Till next time ,

Yours Truly ,

Kemmy

#happycustomer

#customerexperience

#customereffort

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#ease

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