Users on the Move: On Relationships Between QoE Ratings, Data Volumes and Intentions to Churn

Abstract

For a long time, the risk of customer churn, i.e. to leave an operator, has been used as argument in favor of Quality or Experience (QoE) research. However, the understanding of how churn behavior and QoE are related is still limited. This is problematic, as customer retention and churn prediction have grown in importance in face of ever-growing competition on the telecom market. The work presented in this paper aims to make a contribution in this respect, by exploring the relationships between QoE ratings, data volumes and churn risk through a longitudinal user study. Using an Experience Sampling Method-inspired approach we have been collecting weekly feedback on experienced quality, annoyance and intentions to churn from 22 users for up to eight weeks. Additionally, measurements of weekly used data volumes were collected. We observed churning behavior for 3 out of 22 participants and analyze the rating and data usage profiles of churners against non-churners. Furthermore, we investigate correlations of ratings and volumes, and find that "annoyed churners surf less". Our findings point out warning signals for potential user churn as well as promising directions for future studies.