How Can You Measure Customer Satisfaction Fast Enough

Understanding the difference between CES and NPS

No business can survive without satisfied customers. Yet, measuring satisfaction can be trickier than you imagine. The sooner you learn what frustrates customers, the quicker you can improve the experience.

The challenge isn’t only measuring results but knowing how to measure it fast enough. Let me help you understand standard scores and how and when to use them. Here’s what we will cover:

• What are NPS, CSAT, and CES?

• Why do companies use more NPS than CSAT and CES?

• What are their differences?

• How CES can accelerate insight creation

• Real-world example

• Key takeaways

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What Are NPS, CSAT, and CES?

In short:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures loyalty

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) measures satisfaction

• Customer Effort Score (CES) measures easiness of getting a job done

Now, let’s give some more details for each.

NPS is the longest to measure as it focuses on loyalty. It aims to answer a simple question, “How willing are you to recommend us to a friend?” Often, it follows a scale from 0 to 9, where 0 means not at all and 9 is entirely willing. Within that, you can understand customer loyalty by identifying the following:

• Detractors (0-6): These customers will harm the brand

• Neutral (7-8): Such customers will neither do good nor harm

• Promotors (9): These customers will bring the brand-new clients

CSAT can be used on a product level or experience. In either case, it focuses on evaluating customer satisfaction. For example, after getting a product, customers answer the question, “How satisfied are you with it?” The recommended scale is 1 to 5, where 1 means completely unsatisfied, and 5 means totally satisfied. The same could apply after concluding an activity, e.g., creating a wishlist or returning a product.

CES focuses on identifying experience hurdles, such as when customers struggle to solve an issue with customer service or receive a refund. Customers answer the question, “How easy was it for you to solve the issue ‘A’?” The scale is often from 1 to 5, where 1 means not easy at all, and 5 means completely easy. This reveals how intuitive the experience is.

Why do companies use more NPS than CSAT and CES?

After 17+ years of working with digital products, I observed that NPS is the most used metric. Unfortunately, it’s often over-used and slows teams down. In short, NPS will show you have detractors when they have already diminished your brand. It will be tough to recover the damage.

You may wonder why companies use and “abuse” the NPS. I can give my opinion. It’s the most straightforward metric to implement. It has become a standard, and many tools can already automate it.

As we discussed, NPS measures loyalty, which is essential but won’t tell you where you lose your customers. You will learn you lost them without knowing why unless they tell you.

CSAT and CES probably require more effort to implement as they focus on experiences. Yet they reveal crucial information. You’ll quickly learn where customers get dissatisfied or struggle to conclude tasks.

Let’s understand what to expect from each metric and how to use them best.

What are their differences?

NPS = Loyalty

CSAT = Satisfaction

CES = Easiness

Understanding the above is fundamental to benefit from each NPS, CSAT, and CES. I don’t want you to think NPS is a poor score because it isn’t. It’s the best I know to help you understand customer loyalty, but it won’t give you insights fast enough on improving customer experience.

CSAT and CES have an inevitable overlap in how you implement them. Let me take an example and clarify the nuances. Suppose you bought a product and want to return it; then you figure it out and finish the job. Both CSAT and CES could work:

• CSAT: “How satisfied are you with the return service?”

• CES: “How easy was it for you to return the product?”

They measure different aspects. So, what’s the real difference? CSAT helps you understand the satisfaction of your experience, while CES enables you to learn pain points. I prefer CES for a simple reason: It helps you understand the perception of effort to conclude a task, giving you valuable insights to improve the customer experience.

How CES can accelerate insight creation

Companies lose customers on the small things. Here are some examples that frustrate customers:

• Struggle to reset password

• Troublesome sign up

• Complicated refund process

• Difficult to find the wishlist

The more friction your product has, the more customers you lose.

Customers feel annoyed when they have difficulty getting a job done, and nobody likes that. CES will help you understand where customers struggle to finish tasks—ultimately enabling you to craft a more intuitive product that customers use without friction.

Here’s how you can implement CES in your product:

1. Name the tasks customers execute. Some examples would be: sign up, setting up a wishlist, requesting a refund, referring the product to a friend, etc.

2. Set up the CES. After concluding the task, ask customers, “How easy was it for them to complete it?” Also, give them a chance to write a comment.

3. Measure: For each part you implemented the CES, measure the results so you understand how straightforward your customer experience is.

4. Learn: Look for opportunities to enhance customer experience. Whenever customers struggle, you can simplify for them. Don’t judge customers; learn from them.

5. Adapt. Continuously evolve your product based on what you learn.

The beauty of CES is that it gives you the chance to solve small frictions before your customer becomes a detractor. You can react faster.

Real-world example

Let me give you an example of a translation tool I often use, Deepl. Being an expat, I struggled to understand documents in German. I found my solution with Deepl and have used the tool since moving to Germany.

From a product perspective, I like how they combine NPS, CSAT, and CES. Here are the examples I noticed:

• CES: When I sent my first document to translate, I received a question: “How easy was it for you to upload the document?” I promptly replied, costing me no more than a few seconds.

• CSAT: A day after I got my first translated file, I received an email with one question: “How satisfied are you with our translation?” That gave me the chance to provide feedback on the result.

• NPS: After three months of using Deepl, I received an email asking, “How willing are you to recommend us to a friend?”

The above shows an efficient way of benefiting from CES, CSAT, and NPS. The core of everything is to shorten the feedback cycle so you can learn fast enough.

My ultimate recommendation is unconventional. Start with CES, and then add CSAT and NPS. The reason is simple: It will tell you where you’re about to lose customers before the problem becomes too big.

Key takeaways

• NPS isn’t a silver bullet that gives you all the answers. Alone will let you learn your customers like or like your brand too late, making it hard to recover detractors.

• CES helps you uncover where customers struggle, enabling you to enhance your customer experience.

• CSAT focuses on product or interaction satisfaction, which helps you understand whether your service is satisfying customers well enough.

• Your objective should be to reduce the learning cycle. That said, start with the CES instead of the CSAT and NPS because the CES helps you identify gaps that the other scores cannot show you fast enough.

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