Quality of Experience (QoE) is a comprehensive metric that reflects the user’s subjective perception of the quality of a digital service: a website, mobile application, video communication, streaming platform, cloud solution, or network connection. QoE shows how comfortable and convenient it is for a person to interact with a service under real conditions, taking into account technical, visual, and behavioral factors.
Unlike QoS, which describes network parameters, QoE measures the user experience itself — how well the service meets expectations in terms of speed, stability, and usability.
Essence of QoE
QoE reflects how users perceive the quality of a service rather than simply measuring technical characteristics. For example, even high bandwidth does not guarantee a good experience if the interface is inconvenient or if a video call freezes regularly. QoE combines technical metrics, user behavior patterns, and psychological expectations: loading time, latency, content adaptation, interface smoothness, design, and interaction logic.
How QoE is measured
QoE can be evaluated using two groups of methods: objective and subjective.
- Objective methods include analyzing technical parameters such as latency, bandwidth, packet loss rate, server response time, number of errors, and application stability. These data are collected automatically through monitoring systems or SDKs embedded in the service.
- Subjective methods are based on user perception: surveys, NPS, in-app ratings, user testing, and behavioral observation. Standardized scales such as MOS (Mean Opinion Score), where people rate the quality of interaction, can also be used.
The final QoE rating is formed by combining both approaches, which makes it more accurate and reflective of the real user experience.
Factors affecting QoE
Key factors can be divided into three groups:
- Network factors: latency, bandwidth, connection stability, packet loss.
- Technical factors: server performance, application optimization, video encoding algorithms, cloud architecture.
- User factors: interface usability, intuitive navigation, responsiveness of UI elements, visual stability, and absence of abrupt UI changes.
Some factors can compensate for others. For example, good video adaptation to network speed reduces the negative impact of unstable connections, and proper caching can mask high latency.
Where QoE is used
QoE is used in telecommunications, streaming platforms, application development, cloud platforms, web projects, gaming, and corporate digital systems. Telecom operators use QoE to assess mobile internet quality and optimize networks. Streaming services use QoE to adjust bitrate and video quality. Mobile app developers analyze QoE indicators to improve conversion, retention, and interaction speed.
For example, when watching a video service, the system evaluates how quickly the stream starts, how often buffering occurs, and whether the quality adjusts to network conditions. All these factors directly influence the user’s perception of the service.
Advantages of using QoE
QoE helps companies accurately assess digital product quality from the end user’s perspective. This increases loyalty, reduces churn, improves retention, and reveals weaknesses that are not obvious in technical reports. QoE is used to prioritize improvements, optimize architecture, tune networks, and precisely determine how changes affect user perception.