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CES measures how hard something was, not how much someone liked it. It is the right question after a task with a clear finish line — opening an account, changing a plan, getting a refund — because effort predicts whether people come back better than satisfaction does. Phrase it as a statement to agree or disagree with, not a question. “Opening my account was easy” reads more naturally on an agreement scale than “How easy was opening your account?”.

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Elements

The CES question type in the survey editor

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Title

Write the statement the respondent is agreeing or disagreeing with, and keep it to one task. A statement covering two steps produces an answer you cannot act on.

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Description

Provide an optional description with further instructions.

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Scale

Choose how the points are displayed:

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Range

CES supports 5 or 7 points. Seven is the more common convention for agreement scales and gives respondents a finer choice; five is quicker to answer and easier to read on a phone. Pick one and keep it, since scores from different ranges are not comparable.

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Labels

Add labels for the lower and upper ends, for example “Strongly disagree” and “Strongly agree”.

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Add color coding

Adds red, orange and green colour codes to the options.

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How to choose between CES, CSAT and NPS

  • CES — how much effort did this take? Ask after a task the customer had to complete.
  • CSAT — how did this interaction go? Ask straight after it.
  • NPS — how do you feel about the company? Ask periodically, not after a single event.