Failure to maintain customers: antecedents and consequences of service downgrades

PurposeDespite service downgrades' undisputed practical relevance, service downgrades (e.g. customers shifting the price tier downward) have received surprisingly little attention from scholars. Previous studies have focussed on either the public policy issue of tiered pricing or optimal pricing by the service provider. Only a few studies have examined why customers shift across different price tiers and how such activities indicate their future behaviour.Design/methodology/approachBased on customer data collected from a major telecommunications company, the authors use a logistic regression model to investigate how two service modification levers (i.e. transaction- and relationship-level factors) influence the likelihood of service downgrade. The authors apply a survival model to study how service downgrades affect customer churn.FindingsTransaction-level factors such as service usage (e.g. the frequency and recency of underuse experiences) are positively associated with the likelihood of a downgrade. However, relationship-level factors (e.g. relationship duration and customer status) are negatively associated with the likelihood of downgrades. Customers engaging in downgrades are more likely to churn in the future.Originality/valueThe authors focus on downgrade behaviour, which can be perceived as customers' choice to move down the price tier, which likely ruins the service provider's performance. The authors conceptualise two fundamental driving forces behind a service downgrade: the misfits between the actual usage and the service plan chosen and the deteriorating relationships. The authors' empirical findings on the factors influencing downgrades provide insights for service providers seeking to prevent such behaviour.