Customers don’t want to jump through hoops, repeat information, or wait endlessly for support. Instead, they expect quick, simple, and consistent interactions that respect their time. This is where the concept of customer effort comes in. Measuring and reducing customer effort has become a critical priority for organizations that want to retain loyal customers, improve efficiency, and differentiate themselves in crowded industries. By focusing on effort, businesses can uncover friction points, streamline journeys, and ultimately deliver experiences that customers remember for the right reasons.

What is customer effort?

Customer effort refers to the amount of work a customer has to put in to resolve an issue, complete a transaction, or get support from a company. It’s not just about whether the problem gets solved but how smooth and stress-free the journey feels along the way. A customer who feels like they had to “fight” to get an answer is more likely to walk away dissatisfied, even if their issue was technically resolved.

To measure this, businesses often use the Customer Effort Score (CES), a focused metric that asks a single, practical question: “How easy was it for you to get your issue resolved?”

Customers typically respond on a scale (for example, from “very difficult” to “very easy”), and the aggregated results reveal how much friction exists in the service experience.

Why CES matters

Unlike broad measures like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) or loyalty-oriented metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), CES cuts straight to the heart of the experience: how much strain the customer endured. Research has consistently shown that effort is one of the most reliable predictors of future behavior.

96% of customers who report high-effort experiences eventually become disloyal, while only 9% of low-effort customers churn.

Reducing effort can directly lead to a 40% increase in customer loyalty.

It also drives a 37% reduction in service costs, since fewer customers need to follow up or escalate issues.

In short, effort isn’t just a customer experience concern, it’s a business performance driver.

Benchmarking CES

Industry benchmarks suggest that the average CES is around 5.5 out of 7. Companies that achieve 6.2 or higher are considered best-in-class, delivering consistently low-effort interactions across channels. Reaching this level usually requires:

• Eliminating friction points in both digital and human touchpoints.
• Streamlining processes to reduce repeat contacts.
• Empowering frontline staff with the tools and authority to resolve issues quickly.

Importantly, low customer effort must be designed into the entire journey, not just customer service interactions.

How CES fits with other CX metrics

CES is powerful, but it isn’t a complete picture of customer experience on its own. It’s most effective when used alongside other KPIs. To correctly measure your CX, you must take a holistic approach when establishing your metrics. Other important metrics to consider are:

• First Contact Resolution (FCR): measures whether issues are solved on the first try, directly impacting effort.
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): shows how pleased customers are with specific interactions.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): indicates long-term loyalty and advocacy potential.
• Average Handle Time (AHT): tracks efficiency in case resolution.

Together, these metrics create a balanced scorecard of customer experience. But CES is often considered the cornerstone because it bridges customer outcomes (loyalty, advocacy) with business efficiency (cost savings). Some businesses ignore the importance of customer effort when analyzing their business outcomes. You can make the difference by evaluating ways to decrease your customers’ efforts.

How to reduce customer effort

Reducing customer effort means making every interaction smoother, faster, and more intuitive. Customers value three things above all else: speed, simplicity, and consistency. Research underscores this, 90% of customers consider an “immediate” response important, with 60% defining “immediate” as under 10 minutes. When organizations fail to meet these expectations, customers often have to follow up repeatedly, which leads to frustration, higher service costs, and eventual disloyalty.

The key to lowering effort is shifting the burden of resolution away from the customer and onto the business. That requires redesigning processes, investing in the right tools, and empowering employees to anticipate and resolve issues before they escalate.

Strategies to reduce effort

1. Simplify interactions

Customers should never feel like they’re “starting over” every time they engage with a company. High-effort experiences often come from repeating details, long wait times, or being transferred between departments. Organizations can reduce this friction by:

Building integrated systems that share customer data across touchpoints.

Using automation to pre-fill forms or capture data once and apply it everywhere.

Streamlining escalation paths so issues are resolved quickly without multiple handoffs.

This not only saves customers time but also increases operational efficiency.

2. Enable effective self-service

Customers increasingly prefer to solve problems themselves, 69% say they’d rather use AI-powered self-service tools for quick answers. A strong self-service ecosystem includes:

A searchable knowledge base with clear, concise articles.

Guided workflows and FAQs that address common issues.

AI chatbots that can answer routine questions or guide customers to the right resource.

When designed well, self-service empowers customers, reduces the load on agents, and delivers instant value.

3. Offer omnichannel access

Today’s customers expect to connect with businesses in the channels they use daily, whether that’s live chat, email, SMS, or messaging apps like WhatsApp. But access alone isn’t enough. Customers want channel continuity, meaning they can switch from one channel to another without repeating themselves.

By implementing omnichannel platforms that unify conversations, businesses can deliver seamless support that feels personalized and effortless.

4. Empower agents with context

Even the best-trained support teams struggle if they don’t have the right information at hand. Giving agents real-time access to customer history, past interactions, and product details allows them to resolve issues quickly and confidently.

This context eliminates unnecessary back-and-forth, reduces handle time, and leaves customers feeling heard and understood.

5. Proactively resolve next issues

Many customer interactions generate secondary needs. For example, someone asking about a refund might also need guidance on shipping a product back. By anticipating and addressing these “next issues” proactively, organizations can prevent repeat contacts.

This approach, called next-issue avoidance, saves customers time while reducing long-term service volume.

6. Smarter prioritization and routing

Not all issues are created equal. Grouping similar tickets and routing them to the most qualified agents helps resolve problems more efficiently. Additionally, prioritizing urgent or high-value customer cases ensures that critical requests are addressed without delay.

This creates a balance where resources are allocated to maximize both customer satisfaction and business efficiency.

The role of AI in reducing effort

While all these strategies can be applied manually, artificial intelligence amplifies their impact by:

• Automating repetitive tasks, such as form completion or ticket categorization.
• Predicting customer needs using behavioral data and past interactions.
• Optimizing workflows at scale, ensuring consistency across thousands of interactions.

AI doesn’t replace human service, it complements it by removing low-value tasks and allowing agents to focus on high-value, empathetic interactions.

How AI helps reduce customer effort

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly emerged as the single most powerful driver of low-effort customer experiences. Unlike traditional support models that rely heavily on manual intervention, AI introduces automation, prediction, and personalization at scale. This transforms the customer journey from reactive and fragmented to seamless and proactive.

Adoption is accelerating quickly: 79% of customer service specialists already value AI in their daily work, and by 2025, 95% of customer interactions are expected to involve AI in some form. For businesses, this represents not just a shift in technology but a new standard in customer expectations. Fast, easy, and personalized support delivered instantly.

These are some ways AI reduces effort:

How AI helps reduce customer effort

1. Immediate resolutions for common issues

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can independently handle up to 50% of customer queries. From order tracking and returns to password resets, these tools provide instant answers without human intervention.

• Customers no longer wait in queues or face escalations for routine requests.
• Businesses save costs by deflecting high volumes of simple inquiries.

Agents are freed to focus on complex, high-value interactions.

2. Guidance that prevents future issues

AI doesn’t just solve the problem at hand, it anticipates the next one. During troubleshooting, AI can recommend related fixes or preventive steps, helping customers avoid repeat contacts. For example:

• Suggesting a device software update during a connectivity issue.
• Offering billing reminders to prevent payment-related service interruptions.

This proactive approach reduces friction while lowering overall contact volumes.

3. Analyzing tone of voice and sentiment

Frustration is one of the strongest predictors of churn. AI tools equipped with natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis can detect stress or dissatisfaction in real time.

• Conversations flagged for urgency are routed to experienced agents.
• Supervisors can step in before a customer loses patience.
• Tone adjustments can be suggested to agents for more empathetic responses.

By intercepting frustration early, AI prevents escalation and safeguards loyalty.

4. Sharing tailored resources

Generic answers waste customers’ time. AI fixes this by pulling the most relevant knowledge base articles, forum threads, or product documentation based on a customer’s specific query.

Instead of “one-size-fits-all” information, customers get precise solutions aligned to their issue or context, making problem resolution quicker and more accurate.

5. Preventing repetition across channels

One of the biggest pain points in customer service is having to repeat information every time a case changes hands. AI solves this by maintaining context across interactions and channels.

• A conversation started in chat can seamlessly continue via phone or email without starting over.
• Customer history and prior responses are automatically presented to the next agent or bot.

This continuity spares customers the frustration of re-explaining and makes the process feel effortless.

6. Personalizing product recommendations

AI goes beyond problem-solving by adding value through personalization. By analyzing past purchases, browsing behavior, and preferences, it can suggest relevant products or services.

• Customers receive recommendations that feel helpful rather than like generic upselling.
• Businesses generate additional revenue while still enhancing the customer experience.

This creates a win-win: personalization reduces effort while driving growth.

Ultimately, AI ensures that customer support is not only faster, but smarter. By predicting effort, preventing frustration, and personalizing every interaction, AI shifts the burden of resolution from the customer to the business, exactly where it belongs.

Enhance customer support with Horatio

Customer effort has emerged as one of the most telling indicators of long-term loyalty and business performance. A smooth, low-effort journey not only keeps customers satisfied but also reduces service costs, empowers agents, and strengthens brand advocacy. With tools like the Customer Effort Score (CES) and technologies like AI, businesses now have the ability to measure, predict, and actively minimize friction across every interaction. The message is clear: the easier you make it for customers to engage with your brand, the more likely they are to stay, spend, and recommend.

For businesses ready to turn this into action, Hire Horatio offers end-to-end customer support solutions that seamlessly integrate technology and human expertise: see how at Horatio or reach out via our contact page.