MAKE IT EASY: Customer Effort Score in 2024

Customer loyalty is more challenging to maintain nowadays than ever. With Customer Service known to be a key differentiator, companies are going above and beyond to "amaze" customers, assuming that their loyalty will increase in return. For example, they offer a lucrative refund program, an extended trial period, or sending a technician over within 24 hours when needed.

Even though such initiatives are essential and impact customer acquisition and retention, one aspect of the customer's experience needs to be more recognized.

The customer effort score (CES) is one of the most crucial elements in understanding and improving customer service strategies.

This often overlooked metric is pivotal in shaping the customer experience and can significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty. Its importance cannot be overstated, with some experts arguing that CES may be a better predictor for customer retention than Net Promoter Score (NPS).

The effort of the customer is relevant for all of the touchpoints throughout the customer's journey:

1. Subscription / Sign Up
2. Account creation
3. Product search
4. Checkout
5. Interactions with support
6. Finding information and documents
7. Billing, refunds and invoicing

A 2010 study published by the HBR showed that most customers prefer a quick and straightforward solution to their issues over an empathetic and courteous agent. This study surveyed over 75,000 customers recently interacting with various support centers (hotels, airlines, internet, and cable TV).

The main reasons that led to friction and decreased loyalty were:

1. Having to re-explain the same issue more than once (56%)
2. Having to switch from web to phone (57%)
3. Investing too much time in explaining the issue (59%)
4. Report being transferred to another entity (person, team, etc.)(59%)
5. Having to contact the service provider more than once to resolve an issue (62%)

One example I can relate to is the need to provide the agent with my ID number, even though I submitted it as soon as the call went through to bring up my account, or even worse! When the call is transferred to the second agent, I'm asked for my ID number for the third time! ARRR

<taking a deep breath>

Even though the survey was conducted 14 years ago, the key takeaways are more relevant in 2024 than ever. Why is that? Our (Lack of) Patience.

There are several reasons for our decreased patience over the years:

1. Technology and Instant Gratification: Rapid technological advances have revolutionized how we access information and services, making them more immediate and accessible. This has significantly altered customer expectations, leading to a perceived decrease in patience. For instance, we now expect instant replies to messages online and effortless access to information. Understanding and adapting to these changes is crucial for businesses in today's market.
2. Attention Span: Some studies suggest that attention spans have shortened over time due to the constant influx of information. With social media, notifications, and multitasking, people may need help to focus and often find it challenging to wait patiently.
3. Culture and Expectations: Cultural norms play a significant role in shaping our perception of patience. Patience is highly valued in some societies, while efficiency and speed take precedence in others. As cultural norms evolve, so does our perception of patience. Awareness of and respecting these cultural nuances can help businesses cater to diverse customer expectations, fostering a sense of inclusivity and understanding.
4. Stress and Busy Lives: Modern life can be hectic, with work, family, and personal responsibilities. Stress and busyness might make people less patient, especially when faced with delays or inconveniences.
5. Generational Differences: Different generations may exhibit varying levels of patience. For example, older generations might have grown up with slower communication methods (snail mail, landline phones), fostering more extraordinary patience. Younger generations, accustomed to instant communication, may perceive delays differently and often find it surprising that they must wait for something.

How do you assess the CES of your customers?

By Data analysis and surveys.

Some low-hanging fruit to start with:

1. Dig into your database of support tickets and see what percent of cases get resolved during the first contact (First Contact Resolution)
2. What percent of cases are re-opened? (meaning that the customer had to call again after realizing that the problem remained relevant)
3. Assuming you already have a feedback request system, check the lowest scores received and investigate these cases. This is where valuable information awaits!
4. What percent of cases are escalated or transferred to another owner?
5. What is the initial response time? Would you wait X minutes to speak or chat with a live agent?

Another path is surveys.

Ask your customers, "How easy was it to..." on a scale of 1-7 (7 is the easiest while one is the hardest)

1. Open an account
2. Complete the onboarding process
3. Find the product
4. Place an order
5. Contact support
6. Return the product
7. Receive the replacement or refund

How to calculate the CES?

The score is calculated as The sum of all scores divided by the number of scores.

A score higher than six is where you want to be on all journey points.

Before we discuss ways to decrease the CES, let me show you what the impact of the CES is on your business:

25% of your customers are likely to say something

positive about their experience to a friend or relative

65% are likely to say something negative

48% of customers who had a negative experience shared it with Ten or more others, compared to 23% who had a positive experience.

Lastly, let's see how we can decrease the CES and, by doing so, massively impact customer satisfaction and retention. I recommend prioritizing based on your findings following the data analysis suggested above.

Decreasing the CES:

1. Omni-Channel—Offer your customers numerous ways to contact you. Remember that your customers are different in age, persona, and culture. For example, customers over 50 often prefer to call and speak with an agent, while customers under 30 prefer to chat or email. Customers in North America, generally speaking, like calling, while European customers use email, especially in non-English-speaking countries, due to the language barrier. Companies should consider adding chat, email, and web forms to address their customer base's expectations.
2. Self-service tools have come a long way. Nowadays, the options are virtually endless, from answering questions to structured troubleshooting and various actions performed manually by an agent in the past. 57% of customers contacting your company with a query have already been through the self-service tools, so further enhancing the options will definitely pay off.
3. Empower your agents to address issues independently without transferring or escalating the call. Based on my experience, at least 90% of cases should remain with the first responders. Analyze the escalated instances to see what it takes to achieve that.
4. Implement systems that provide the agents with all the information they need to handle a case seamlessly.
5. Remember that most customers use their mobile phones during the contact process. Make sure that your website, self-service tools, and FAQs are mobile-friendly.
6. Brave decisions: Review your policies and challenge them. Do I need to ask the customer to send the broken product back to me so that I can send a replacement? If so, can I arrange a pick-up at my expense instead of asking the customer to go to the post office and return the parcel himself? Do you need a manager to approve a refund of $75? What about extending a trial period by 14 more days?
7. Simplify: Help your customers throughout their journey by streamlining their access to data—your contact information, operating hours, policies, and troubleshooting steps should be easy to find and use. This may require a comprehensive re-design of your website, but the efforts are well worth it.

In summary, the CES has a very high impact on your business's future. The greater the effort, the greater the risk of losing customers.

As suggested above, start by evaluating the current status and gradually reduce the effort by making small changes first and then moving to the heavy lifting. Remember to check and verify the impact of the changes you make on the CET to confirm that you are on the right track.

Good luck :)