CES Benchmarks by Industry
CES Benchmarks 2026
What Is a Good Customer Effort Score?
CES is measured on a 1–7 scale - higher means less effort. B2B SaaS benchmarks typically sit between 5.2–5.8. Here is how to know if yours is on track.
How CES Is Calculated
CES is calculated from one statement: “The company made it easy for me to handle my issue” rated 1–7 (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree).
Unlike CSAT - which counts only top-box responses - CES is a true average of all ratings. Every response contributes to the score. A single very low rating pulls it down noticeably.
Formula
CES = Sum of all ratings ÷ Total responses
Scale: 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree)
Example: 10 responses
7 - Strongly Agree
6 - Agree
5 - Somewhat Agree
4 - Neutral
1–3 - Disagree
Sum = 57 ÷ 10 responses = CES 5.7 (Good)
CES Score Ranges
Virtually no friction. Strong retention signal - customers find you easy to work with.
Low effort. Above industry average for most sectors. Maintain and protect this.
Industry average for B2B SaaS. Specific friction points exist - identify which interactions are pulling the score down.
Below-average for SaaS. Customers are noticing friction. Prioritize the interactions with the lowest individual scores.
Significant friction. Strong churn risk - customers at this level are likely already looking for alternatives.
CES Benchmarks by Industry 2026
CES scores vary significantly by industry and interaction type. B2B SaaS support CES typically sits between 5.2–5.8. Use your industry range - not an overall average - as your baseline.
Industry
Typical range
Strong score
B2B SaaS
5.2–5.8
6.0+
Consumer SaaS
5.5–6.0
6.2+
eCommerce
5.3–5.9
6.0+
Financial Services
4.9–5.5
5.7+
Healthcare
5.0–5.6
5.9+
Telecom
4.6–5.2
5.5+
Retail
5.2–5.7
5.9+
Insurance
4.8–5.3
5.6+
Benchmarks reflect aggregated industry data. Your actual target should account for your product category, support channel mix, and customer segment.
B2B SaaS CES Benchmarks
CES benchmarks vary significantly by product stage and interaction type. B2B SaaS typically runs 5.2–5.8 - but the gap between early-stage and mature products is wide.
5.0–5.4
Early-stage SaaS
Normal for products under 2 years old. Self-service and documentation are still being built. Focus on first-contact resolution.
5.5–5.8
Growth-stage SaaS
Healthy for most B2B SaaS. Core support flows are established. Focus on reducing repeat contact and async resolution.
6.0+
Category leaders
Rare in B2B SaaS. Usually signals strong self-service, proactive support, or a product that rarely generates support needs.
Why your overall CES score is misleading
A B2B SaaS company with an overall CES of 5.6 might look fine. But if you segment by interaction type:
6.2
Onboarding flows
Well-documented, guided
5.1
Billing inquiries
Requires back-and-forth
4.3
Technical support
Escalations, slow resolution
Technical support - the interaction with the highest churn risk - is at 4.3. The blended 5.6 masked the problem. Always segment CES by interaction type before deciding where to invest.
What Affects Your CES Score
First contact resolution
High impactIssues resolved in one interaction score dramatically higher than those requiring follow-up. Every escalation or callback chips directly into effort score.
Self-service availability
High impactProducts with a strong help center and in-app guidance deflect tickets and reduce effort before customers ever need to reach out. Low self-service = high effort by default.
Response time
High impactWaiting longer than expected to hear back is one of the top effort drivers regardless of outcome. Even a quick "we got your ticket" response improves perceived effort.
Number of contacts required
High impactCustomers who need to contact you multiple times to resolve one issue rate effort far higher than those resolved in a single interaction. Track "contacts per issue" alongside CES.
Channel availability
Medium impactForcing customers to use an inconvenient channel (e.g., email only when they want chat) adds friction before the issue is even addressed. Match channels to how your users naturally communicate.
Product UX and documentation
Medium impactCES is not just a support metric. Complex or unintuitive product flows generate effort before a customer contacts support. Poor UX and bad docs show up in CES scores.
How to Improve Your CES Score
Improving CES means removing friction from specific interactions - not optimizing the survey itself.
01
Segment by interaction type first
Run CES separately for support tickets, onboarding, billing, and any other key interaction. Your lowest-scoring interaction type is where you invest first - not where the most volume is.
02
Prioritize first-contact resolution above everything
The single biggest driver of low effort is resolving an issue in one interaction. Track "contacts per issue" alongside CES. If the same problem requires multiple contacts, fix the process before fixing anything else.
03
Build self-service for your top 10 repeat issues
Identify the 10 most common support topics from open-ended CES responses. Turn each into a help article, in-app tooltip, or proactive onboarding step. Every deflected ticket is a guaranteed CES improvement.
04
Act on open-ended responses within 24 hours
Always follow the CES score with "What made this experience difficult?" The open-ended answer is where the friction lives. Review weekly, identify patterns across 20+ responses, then fix systemic issues rather than individual cases.
05
Track CES alongside churn cohorts
Customers who gave low CES scores are more likely to churn. Compare CES scores from 3–6 months ago against your current churn cohort. The correlation tells you how predictive your effort score is - and how urgently to act on low scores.
Track CES by interaction type, not just overall
Run CES surveys inside your product after support, onboarding, and billing interactions. Every response links to a real user - filter by plan or segment to find where friction is highest.
Run Free CES SurveyFree plan · Unlimited responses · CES template included
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good CES score?+
On a 1–7 scale, a CES score of 5.5–5.9 is good for B2B SaaS, 6.0–6.4 is great, and 6.5+ is excellent. Scores below 5.0 indicate significant friction and a meaningful churn risk. Always compare against your industry average rather than a universal threshold.
What is the average CES score for B2B SaaS?+
The typical B2B SaaS CES sits between 5.2 and 5.8 on a 1–7 scale. Early-stage products often run 5.0–5.4 while mature products with strong self-service and documentation reach 5.8–6.2. The interaction type also matters - support CES tends to run lower than onboarding CES.
How is CES different from CSAT?+
CES measures the effort required to complete an interaction - it is scored as an average of all 1–7 ratings. CSAT measures satisfaction and counts only top-box (4 or 5 out of 5) responses. A customer can be satisfied (high CSAT) while still finding the interaction effortful (low CES). Use both: CES after support and transactional touchpoints, CSAT for broader experience signals.
When should I run a CES survey?+
Run CES immediately after a discrete interaction - within 24 hours of a support ticket being closed, an onboarding session ending, or a billing inquiry being resolved. Timing is critical: send it too late and the memory of the effort fades. CES is a transactional metric, not a periodic one like NPS.
Does a low CES score predict churn?+
Yes. CES is one of the strongest predictors of churn at the interaction level. Customers who rate interactions as high-effort are significantly more likely to churn than those who found them easy, even if they are otherwise satisfied. Gartner research found that 96% of customers who had a high-effort interaction became more disloyal, versus 9% who had a low-effort experience.
CES vs CSAT: When to Use Each
CES and CSAT are both transactional - but they measure different things. Use both, for different purposes.
CES — Effort
“The company made it easy to handle my issue”
- ✓Best predictor of churn at the interaction level
- ✓Use after support, onboarding, and self-service tasks
- ✓Score is an average of all 1–7 ratings
- ✓High effort = high churn risk, even if satisfied
- ✓Identifies friction that CSAT masks
CSAT — Satisfaction
“How satisfied were you with this experience?”
- ✓Best for measuring overall experience quality
- ✓Use after support, purchase, feature releases, onboarding
- ✓Score is % of respondents who rated 4 or 5 out of 5
- ✓High satisfaction does not guarantee low churn
- ✓Broader emotional signal than effort alone