1. Customer Effort Score:
a new ‘single’ metric to stare at?
By Geert Martens & Geert Teunkens
Image credit: http://momanddadmoney.com
The Rise of a New Metric
We measure the world by what we see and
If NPS taught us one thing it is that customers are
what we want to reach. With this in mind it is easy to
more likely to share negative experiences as opposed
explain the success of the Net Promoter Score along
to positive ones. Therefore it is not a coincidence that
with the increasing popularit y of social media since
this new metric helps companies focus on internal
20 0 4. Suddenly digitised versions of word- of-mouth
process improvements, still with better customer
had a major impac t on marketing objec tives. NPS, a
experiences at the centre of attention.
simplif ied way to measure customer engagement has
And it sure is simple; the score consists of a 5-scale
proven ver y successful in detec ting how our brands
answer on one single question: How much effort did
and produc ts will sur vive the ultimate market test:
you personally have to put in to get your problem
Will customers promote me among their peers?
fixed? Research has shown CES to be a better
The rise of NPS was a great way to put the customer’s
predictor for customer loyalty then both traditional
opinion back on the agenda of management boards
customer satisfaction surveys and NPS. Should we
around the world, an evolution we at 4C Consulting
stop everything we are doing and simply jump on
can only cheer upon.
the next train? Yes and no. CES offers a lot of value
But the times are ever a-changing and a new metric
is making way: the Customer Effort Score (CES)
introduced by C.E.B. in 2010.
4C Consulting | The pro o f i s i n t he p e o pl e
but no single metric will ever suffice to effectively
evaluate the total customer experience chain. At
4C Consulting we believe the smart thing to do is to
integrate CES in the metric ecosystem.
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2. Customer Effort Score
Introducing ‘Effort-elasticity’
When customers refer to the effort they had
to invest in researching, purchasing or using a product
or service, they are usually referring to the combined
effect of different types of effort:
•
Cognitive effort: the amount of mental energy
required, such as reading terms and conditions;
•
September 2013
was initiated by the customer. As a result, customers
were willing to invest ‘time effort’, and to some
extent even ‘physical effort ’ in this interaction.
Product characteristics can compensate for negative
experiences on single interactions and brand
advocates will even endure very negative experiences
-for a limited time- in order to get to your product.
But what if you would compare ‘Having to wait for
with ‘Having to wait 30 minutes to talk to a contact
Physical effort: the amount of effort to do
center agent to have your internet connection fixed’?
something;
•
hours in a row to buy a ticket for Tomorrowland’
consume or transact;
•
Time effort: the amount of time it takes to wait,
The willingness to invest effort in the latter, would
Emotional effort: how much negative vs positive
energy is required, i.e. the extent to which
something frustrates the customer.
be very low: the outcome is of limited ‘true’ added
value (‘I already pay for an internet connection that
should work all the time’) and a perceived failure of
the supplier triggered the event (‘I didn’t even want to
call you in the first place’).
From the research we do for our clients, we have
The lower a customer ’s willingness to invest effort
learned that a customer ’s willingness to invest effort
into an interaction, the more important for an
into an interaction depends on:
organization to make the interaction as easy as
•
the nature of the interaction
•
the perceived value of the outcome of the
possible and, hence, increasing the value of CES as a
strategic metric for this interaction.
interaction
the reason why the interaction is taking place:
The Metric Ecosystem
intended by the customer or not
•
Customer experiences happen at three levels:
the overall relationship, customer journeys, and
Let’s illustrate this with Tomorrowland, the Belgian
discrete interactions.
dance festival of which, in 2013, the ticketing system
As often seen with new hypes, the ‘new kid in town’
was the victim of its major worldwide popularity.
proves strongest where its predecessor lost track.
With more than a million likes on Facebook it is no
Where NPS is a good way to measure performance
surprise that the festival sold out in a flash even
of the overall brand and distinct end-to-end
when forcing customers to stick to their screens
journeys, it is not always easy to pinpoint actionable
for over eight hours on a sunny day. Tomorrowland
improvement areas for specific interactions. This is
was asking their customers to invest tremendous
where CES offers a major advantage. Since customer
effort in buying a ticket, yet an NPS survey among
effort is best measured on an interactional level
visitors would most certainly still turn out positive
it brings a lot of information exactly on which
since customers promote the festival on a holistic
interactions are causing negative arousal, making
level; DJ’s, catering... not only the ticketing service.
immediate steering possible.
In this example, the perceived value of the outcome
Not only do NPS and CES differ with respect to
of the interaction was very high and the interaction
the level of the experience at which they are best
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3. Customer Effort Score
September 2013
measured, they also measure fundamentally different
effort. As a result, the most effective way to improve
components of the customer experience.
the customer effort score on a distinct interaction,
CES, much like customer satisfaction (CSAT) is a
perception metric. Perception metrics do not measure
combines three approaches:
1. Reducing the actual effort = improve your
reality but, hence the name, measure customers’
subjective perception of their interactions. This
includes measuring what a customer thinks and feels
at every step in the customer journey. CES does not
performance
2. Managing your customer ’s expectations
3. Reducing the perceived effort
tell you an interaction was difficult or easy, but how it
was perceived.
(1) Reducing the actual effort. Within our customer
‘Reality ’ metrics, or descriptive metrics measure
care practice, we have been actively working with our
observable and objective characteristics of customer
clients to minimize customer efforts by:
interactions: when, where,and through which
channels customers touched the company. (Average
call time, Calls lost before answered, Average pages
per visit, Average transaction value,...)
•
improve downstream processes;
•
are likely to do or actually did after their interaction
(Likelihood to recommend, Likelihood to purchase,
Churn rates, Actual purchases made, Policy renewals)
empowering contact centre agents to solve
problems and training them on the emotional
NPS belongs to a third type of metrics: outcome
metrics. Outcome metrics measure what customers
analyzing negative feedback and repeat calls to
side of handling disgruntled customers;
•
minimizing channel switching efforts by
mapping optimal customer journeys for different
customer segments.
NPS is the result of a broader, more holistic view,
summarizing multiple aspects at the same time:
(2) Managing expectations: under-promise, over-
customer effort, brand values, product characteristics,
deliver. Regardless your actual performance,
performance relative to competition, and -most
influencing the expectations of your customers,
importantly- emotional engagement. NPS is a great
will impact their satisfaction levels. Disney has
way to measure the customer ’s opinion across
been applying this insight for years with always
channels, contact moments and experiences and
underpromising-overdelivering waiting queues at
is therefore a very useful source of information on
their most popular rides. Few companies are as
brand advocacy and your position on the market.
celebrated for their ability to manage queues and
The most effective measurement programs evaluate
customer waits as Disney: ‘The Mouse has raised
the customer experience at all three levels of
moving people through lines to a science.’
interaction (brand, customer journey, single
interaction) and use a balanced mix of perception,
description and outcome metrics.
(3) Reducing perceived effort. You have to describe
the intended experience before it happens. Saying
something will be easy, increases the chance of it
How to improve your CES?
Satisfaction is the result of benchmarking
your expectations against your perception of an
actual performance. This also applies to customer
4C Consulting | The pro o f i s i n t he p e o pl e
being perceived as easy. Involving the customer in
order to reach this claim, call it co-delivery if you
will, turns out to be very effective in managing
perceptions. For several years, the baseline of a
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4. Customer Effort Score
September 2013
Contact us
successful international airline carrier was ‘Help us
stay express by carrying less’. By saying this, nobody
Do you agree? Do you have any experience to share
will doubt that your solution indeed will be express,
with us? Please let us know!
as long as they keep their part of the promise. So
in order to reduce the perceived effort for your
customers, you could give your customers specific
instructions to do something (bring documents,
Geert Martens
read instructions, order in advance,...) and explicitly
Partner
T: +32 15 281 281
mention that this will enable you to provide your
E: geert.martens@4CConsulting.com
customers with an effort-free experience...
Tw: @geert_martens
In most of cases switching focus to customer effort
requires a mindset change towards traditional
Geert Teunkens
performance measures. Enabling customers to
Senior Consultant
transfer money with a mobile app decreases home
T: +32 15 281 281
E: geert.teunkens@4CConsulting.com
bank traffic and associated cross sell opportunities.
Tw: @Joeng_Teun
When for a telecom player we included a ‘make-anappointment flow’ at the end of each service call
where a face-to-face contact was required, customers
no longer had to locate the nearest point-of-sale and
stand in line to get service. Average call handling time
for contact agents however, went up. All this has to
be considered together with the long term advantages
that enabled customers bring along.
At 4C Consulting we believe that taking a fresh look at the way companies interact with their
customers can create long-term competitive advantages and unique value. By the work we do for our
clients, we contribute to build a customer driven society in an increasingly complex world.
“ The proof is in the people”: our consultants are seasoned business professionals that leverage
industry, domain and technology best practices and apply proven methodologies to tackle business
challenges in domains such as customer experience management, cross-channel management, CRM,
campaign management, sales force automation, customer analytics, business intelligence and change
management.
Our customer experience practices include customer experience strategy design, customer experience
maturity assessment, segmentation and persona design, voice of the customer research, customer
journey mapping, moments of truth design, customer experience metrics framework, governance and
cultural change.
4C Consulting
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T: +32 15 281 281
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A: Stationsstraat 60/5
2800 Mechelen - BELGIUM
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