In-app CES Surveys: Setup and Best Practices

Eh, some products make things so ridiculously easy.

But others make you feel that you want to throw your laptop out the window, right?

The problem is that, in most cases, you, the founder, have no idea which one you’re building.

To you it all makes sense.

UI is dead clear.

The product is perfect.

Your users might feel differently about it, though, and Customer Effort Score (CES) helps you figure that out .

In this guide, I’ll show you how to use in-app CES surveys to measure friction at the source, right when it happens, inside your product.

What Is a Customer Effort Score (CES) Survey?

CES is one of those metrics that’s so simple, it’s feels impossible that it can also be so powerful.

And yet, it’s what it is.

CES tells you how easy or difficult it was for a user to do something in your product. Not how satisfied they were. Not whether they’d recommend you. Just how much effort it took.

That might sound narrow, but it’s exactly what makes CES so useful. It gives you a clear signal about friction, and friction is what kills retention.

A typical CES question looks like this:

“How easy was it to [complete this task]?”

You can use a 1–5 or 1–7 scale to collect responses.

The higher the number, the easier the experience (though some teams flip the scale, just be consistent). Some tools use emoji or slider formats, but the core idea stays the same: was this a pain or a breeze?

💡 Definition: Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how much effort a user feels they had to exert to complete a task, action, or workflow. It’s typically collected immediately after that experience using a simple 1–7 scale.

Here’s the magic of CES: it points to UX problems that satisfaction scores can’t catch.

A user might be happy overall (CSAT) or even willing to recommend your product (NPS), but if setting up a core feature was a hassle, CES will surface that pain right away.

That’s why I like using CES during onboarding flows, setup wizards, integrations, or after a help doc or live chat. It catches what’s hard—and tells you where to fix it.

Why Use In-App CES Surveys?

Blunt but true: If you’re only collecting CES via email, you’re missing the moment.

You see, CES works best when it captures immediate friction.

If a user just finished setting up your Slack integration, or got through a support flow, or completed a long checklist, you want to know right then: was that easy or not?

Email surveys don’t cut it. They arrive too late. They interrupt. They’re disconnected from the experience. By the time the user opens it (assuming they open it at all!) they’ve already moved on.

That’s where in-app CES wins.

With in-app CES, you show the survey while the task is still fresh. You’re not asking users to recall how something felt. You’re asking while they’re still feeling it.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say your user just finished connecting your product to their Stripe account. You can trigger a one-question CES survey that says:

“How easy was it to connect Stripe?”

And boom, you get your answer in context. You’ll know if the UX is smooth or if your flow is driving people nuts.

Another example: a user opens your help center, reads a few articles, then returns to the product. That’s a great moment to ask:

“How easy was it to find the answer you needed?”

That kind of in-app survey helps you catch whether your docs are doing their job, or if people are still stuck.

And unlike email surveys, in-app CES is fast. One question. Takes a few seconds. Feels native. Doesn’t get in the way.

That’s exactly why I recommend using CES inside the product. You get:

• Higher response rates (30–50% is realistic)
• Cleaner insights tied to real product behavior
• Less guesswork about what the user was doing
• Actionable feedback that points to where things are breaking down

And if you’re using Refiner (disclaimer, this is my tool), you can:

• Trigger surveys based on exact events (like “integration complete”)
• Segment users by plan or lifecycle stage
• Keep it all styled and branded to feel seamless

The point is: friction is a UX killer. CES helps you find it. And in-app CES lets you catch it before it turns into churn.

In-App CES vs Email CES: Quick Comparison

Feature	In-App CES	Email CES
Timing	Instant, right after the task is done	Delayed, often hours or days later
Context	Tied directly to the action taken	Detached, requires memory recall
Response Rate	Higher (30–50%)	Lower (5–15%)
UX	Feels native to the product	External, sometimes ignored
Actionability	Real-time insight into specific flows	Often vague or too late to act on
Setup	Quick with tools like Refiner	Requires email automation setup

When Should I Trigger an In-App CES Survey?

As with any other in-app survey, with CES, timing is key.

Trigger your survey too early, and the user hasn’t done enough to give you real insight. Trigger it too late, and the memory has faded (or worse, the frustration has already turned into churn.)

The sweet spot? Right after the user completes a meaningful task.

Here are some examples of moments I’ve seen work really well:

• After onboarding is complete. That’s when users have (hopefully) seen the value—and any sticking points are still top of mind. Ask: “How easy was it to get started with [product]?”
• After feature activation. If someone just used a key feature like importing contacts or setting up an automation, that’s the perfect moment to ask: “How easy was it to complete this setup?”
• After completing a workflow. For example, once a user publishes something, schedules a campaign, or exports data. These flows can have a lot of steps, and CES helps you know if you’re overcomplicating things.
• After using help resources. If someone just browsed your help center or used in-app chat, ask: “How easy was it to find what you needed?” This tells you if your support content is doing its job.
• After integrations or settings changes. These are often hidden UX pain points. If you’ve ever connected two SaaS tools together, you know how quickly “just follow the steps” can become “why is this broken?”

And don’t forget this one:

• After failing at something. That’s right. Sometimes the best CES data comes from users who didn’t complete a task. If someone starts a workflow and bounces halfway through, that’s a perfect time to ask why it felt hard.

🔁 Reminder: CES is about effort, not success. Even if someone finished the task, it might have felt clunky. That’s still a problem worth fixing.

Here’s how I’d break it down:

Trigger Scenario	Sample Question
Onboarding complete	“How easy was it to get started with our product?”
Integration finished	“How easy was it to connect [tool]?”
Feature used 3+ times	“How easy is it to use [feature name]?”
Help center viewed	“How easy was it to find the help you needed?”
Support chat ended	“How easy was it to resolve your issue today?”

Bottom line: if a user just completed something (or struggled to), that’s your cue to ask about effort.

And if you ask at the right moment, the insights you get are immediate, emotional, and actionable.

What Are the Best Practices for In-App CES Surveys?

✅ Quick Summary: Want your CES survey to do more than check a box? Here’s how to get real results:

• Be specific—ask about exactly what the user just did
• Make the survey blend in, not stand out
• Add a follow-up so users can tell you why it felt easy or hard
• Don’t overdo it—set caps and limits to avoid survey fatigue
• Segment like a pro so your data actually means something
• And most important: don’t just collect scores, act on them

Once you’ve figured out when to trigger your CES surveys, the next step is getting them right. It’s easy to assume CES is “just one question,” but if you want good data, not just numbers, you need to treat it with a little more care.

Here’s what I’ve learned from building a CES survey tool and running in-app CES surveys:

1. Keep the question specific and relevant

Don’t use a generic question like “How easy was your experience?” Be specific. Tie the question to what the user just did:

• “How easy was it to set up your integration?”
• “How easy was it to find the answer you needed?”
• “How easy was it to complete this workflow?”

Vague CES questions get vague answers. Make it clear what you’re asking about.

2. Make it feel native

The survey should look and feel like part of your product. Same fonts. Same colors. Same tone. The goal is to make it feel invisible, like a natural part of the experience, not some third-party interruption.

In Refiner, you can completely customize the survey widget. Match your product’s UI, tweak the wording, add your tone. Users are far more likely to respond when the survey feels trustworthy.

3. Add a follow-up field

The CES score gives you the what. But the follow-up question gives you the why. Even a simple “What made this easy or difficult?” can reveal insights that help your product, UX, and support teams.

I’ve seen clients find out about missing tooltips, slow-loading modals, confusing permissions, just from reading the comments behind a 4-star CES score.

4. Limit how often it appears

You don’t need to ask for effort scores every other session. Use frequency caps to avoid burning out your users. For example:

• Only show the survey after specific events
• Only show it once per user every 90 days

That way, you’re still collecting signal, without becoming annoying.

5. Segment your audience

You’ll get better insights when you tailor CES surveys to different user types. New users experience things differently than power users. Free plans often have different workflows than enterprise accounts.

Use traits, plan types, or activity levels to control who sees what. Refiner makes this easy with built-in segmentation and behavioral logic.

6. Actually use the data

This one sounds obvious—but it gets ignored all the time.

If someone leaves a low score and explains why, follow up. Fix the flow. Tag it as a UX issue. Loop in product. The worst thing you can do is collect CES data and let it rot in a dashboard.

CES is your early warning system. Treat it like one.

How Does CES Compare to NPS or CSAT?

I hear this question often. Teans often ask me whether they should use CES, NPS, or CSAT.

But the truth is, these surveys aren’t the same. They all measure different things. And if you’re only using one, you’re probably missing something.

Here’s how I usually break it down:

• CES helps you understand effort. It’s about task-level friction—how hard or easy something felt.
• NPS measures loyalty. It’s a pulse check on whether users like your product enough to recommend it.
• CSAT is about satisfaction. It asks how users feel about a specific interaction or experience.

If CES tells you what’s frustrating, CSAT tells you how users feel about that experience, and NPS tells you how all of it adds up over time.

Let’s say a user sets up a feature. If it was easy, CES captures that. If they enjoyed it, CSAT captures that. If it contributed to a great overall experience, NPS will reflect that.

A lot of teams I work with use all three—but in different parts of the journey:

• CES right after someone completes a key flow or task
• CSAT after support interactions or critical workflows
• NPS on a regular cadence, like every 90 days

Here’s a quick breakdown of how they compare:

Category	CES	CSAT	NPS
Goal	Measure effort	Measure satisfaction	Measure loyalty
Trigger	After a task or workflow	After an interaction	Periodically or post-purchase
Question	“How easy was it to [do X]?”	“How satisfied are you with [experience]?”	“How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?”
Scale	1–5 or 1–7	1–5 or 1–10	0–10
Use case	Feature setup, onboarding, docs, support flows	Customer support, product interactions	Lifecycle emails, renewal periods
Insight	Friction and UX pain points	Experience quality	Brand perception and retention risk

Each one gives you a different kind of signal. And when used together, they give you a full picture—from micro UX to macro loyalty.

NOTE: With Refiner, you can run all three seamlessly, target them based on behavior or stage, and feed insights straight to your product and support teams.

So no, it’s not CES or NPS or CSAT. It’s CES and CSAT and NPS, each one doing what it does best.

And that’s it

That’s all you need to know to run successful in-app CES surveys.

Good luck!

Frequently Asked Questions About In-App CES Surveys