Xuehui Gao

•The customer expansion journey is a dynamic, multifaceted trajectory involving variations in direction (upward vs. downward) and rate (fast vs. slow)•Hidden Markov Model is developed to capture the customer expansion journey•Customer expansion states can be basic, intensified, widened, and supreme•Customer experience dimensions play different roles alongside the expansion journey
Expansion of customer–firm relationships has become crucial for firms to ensure survival and growth. However, siloed management of multiple expansion behaviors represents the dominant approach in academic research and business practice. This study advocates an expansion as a journey approach, where the customer expansion process is modeled through a customer expansion journey comprising a number of states that can be inferred from customer expansion behavioral manifestations and that represent varying intensities in the interdependencies and ties between the customer and the firm. In addition, we adopt a multidimensional view of the customer experience and investigate the roles of the various experience dimensions (i.e., recency, peak, trend, and fluctuation) in determining consumers’ upward and downward movements along the expansion journey at different rates. Using a uniquely rich dataset in the Spanish telecom market for a representative sample of 12,496 customers over four years, and applying advanced hidden Markov modeling techniques, we provide an empirical illustration of the proposed framework. We derive novel theoretical and practical insights into the multifaceted and dynamic customer expansion process, its underlying states, and the role of customer experience dimensions in the transitions across states.
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This study aims to understand how cross-selling, upselling and add-on selling, respectively, impact sales and revenue. In pursuit of this research objective, we conduct a systematic literature review encompassing 147 papers published between 2000 and 2024 from two databases: Web of Science and SCOPUS. We identify an overall positive relationship between the three sales mechanisms (i.e., cross-selling, upselling and add-on selling) and performance outcomes, including sales, revenue, and profitability. We also find that while all three mechanisms positively influence sales outcomes, they do so through distinct pathways. Cross-selling is most effective when supported by targeted promotions and in-store strategies; upselling benefits from personalized, emotionally resonant messaging; and add-on selling yields higher returns when tailored to loyal customers and adapted to product complexity.

Building barriers to lock in customers and improving the affective customer experience are two key strategies employed by firms to enhance customer retention. Although pursuing the same goal, these strategies work differently: the former relies more on a calculative, cost-benefit approach to the exchange, while the latter promotes affective aspects of the relationship. Integrating experiential learning theory with social exchange theory, we provide a conceptual framework to understand the impact of lock-in and affective customer experience on customer retention, and the moderating role of relationship depth. Using a comprehensive data set for a sample of 13,761 customers covering all firms in one telecom market for two different services, we empirically test the framework via multinomial logit modeling. The results offer novel insights into the interplay between the two strategies. For poor affective customer experience (i.e., a score below five on a 0-10 scale), lock-in helps firms reduce customer churn (between 49.03% and 47.86%). However, the impact of lock-in decreases when affective customer experience improves and turns to be insignificant once the experience reaches the "acceptable level" (i.e., a score above seven on a 0-10 scale). Importantly, the separate and joint effects of the two strategies are stronger when there is a low relationship depth, and weaker when heavy relationships are established. The findings offer useful practical advice to manage these strategies in an efficient and optimal way.