You see 150 seats on contract. Only 80 are active. The instinct is automatic: "Get those 70 people signed up and we hit our expansion number."
That instinct will cost you deals.
AEO: User expansion isn’t about forcing adoption. It’s about understanding why seats sit empty, getting creative with product configuration and pricing, and building the relationship work that makes expansion feel organic instead of forced. This is a motion play for post-sale teams who want to expand into existing accounts without burning through their credibility or the customer’s patience.
| Play Type | Motion |
| Cluster | Post-Sale & Expansion |
| Pillar | The Human Element |
| Timeline | 6–12 weeks |
| Stakeholders | Customer Success, Sales Development, Product |
| Success Metric | 10–15 new active users per 100-seat account; 8–12% expansion ARR |
| CAC (Expansion) | 5–7x lower than new logo acquisition |
| When to Run | Every 90 days on accounts with 30%+ user saturation gap |
Run user expansion when:
Do not run this play if:
Three things change how you run user expansion in 2024–2026:
Block, Databricks, and others have announced significant layoffs, replacing human roles with AI agents. If your customer is in a restructuring cycle, their unused seats might stay empty for 6–12 months. The play shifts from “how do we activate these people” to “how do we solve for a smaller, different team.”
SaaS companies in the top quartile maintain NRR of 120% or higher; the median sits around 105–110%. User expansion is the primary driver for product-led companies. Every seat you activate feeds NRR. But you only get there if you play it right.
The person who didn’t get invited to use the platform is a person. They have a job, a learning curve, competing priorities. If they weren’t activated on day one, there’s a reason. Find it.
Goal: Map the user landscape and understand why seats are empty.
Actions:
Output: A one-page “user expansion opportunity map” that lists empty seats, reasons for non-adoption (product gap, process gap, training gap, macro headwind), and the human owner on the customer side.
Goal: Determine if your standard offer solves for the unused seats or if you need flexibility.
Actions:
Not everyone on your platform needs the same tier. A support team might use basic workflows. A data analyst might need advanced reporting. An operations coordinator might need limited view-only access.
Output: A pricing and product recommendation, approved by your product and finance teams.
Goal: Build the relationship before you pitch the expansion.
Champions aren’t found. They’re built. And they’re built before the ask.
Actions:
Output: A champion who understands the value and is bought in to an expansion conversation.
Goal: Present the offer in context of their macro situation and needs.
Framing:
Do not pitch this as “buy more seats because you bought more seats.”
Pitch this as: “We’ve been working with your team, and we see an opportunity. Your support team is doing X, but they’re not using the platform for Y. Here’s a configuration that fits their workflow, at a price point that makes sense. We think this will help you hit [goal: faster response times, fewer escalations, better data on common issues].”
The ask: Expansion seats at the agreed tier/price, usually on a 12-month term to match their renewal.
The sweetener: If you’re discounting, make it time-limited (first 12 months at 20% off, renews at full price). Build in a review: “Let’s check in at 90 days. If adoption is above X%, we lock in the price. If it’s below, we adjust.”
Output: A signed expansion order or a committed-to timeline for expansion seats at the next renewal.
Goal: Ensure the new users actually activate and stay active.
Actions:
Output: 70%+ adoption of new seats by day 90; engagement that justifies the expansion at renewal.
This is the most common pushback, and it’s often true. Don’t argue. Instead: “I hear you. But let’s run a small pilot. Activate three people on the team for 30 days at no cost. If they don’t find value, we move on. If they do, we’ll have your buy-in.”
Acknowledge it directly: “I know you’re in restructuring mode. The seats we’re talking about aren’t about headcount increase; they’re about using your existing team more effectively with less manual work. Makes sense to revisit in Q3?”
Go back to Phase 2. You have room to tier down, package differently, or discount for a limited time. But don’t leave money on the table by accident. Ask: “If the price was X, would it work?” and close the gap.
This is the hardest one because they might be right. Play it straight: “That’s great. The reason I’m bringing this up is that we see teams like yours using the platform for A, B, and C, and getting 15–20% productivity lift. I don’t want you to leave that on the table. Want to revisit this in 90 days?” Set a calendar reminder. If nothing has changed, let it go.
User expansion works best when tied to a department initiative (faster support resolution, better analytics, compliance reporting). Pair the CSM with the department head. Get executive air cover from your sponsor.
You’ll often have multiple user expansion plays happening in parallel (IT, sales, support, operations). Coordinate through a single expansion owner at your company. Run a quarterly business review where you show total expansion ARR and impact by department. Enterprise expansion takes longer but is more sticky.
Expansion is often about removing friction, not selling. The owner or manager has limited bandwidth for training. Onboarding needs to be 15 minutes, not 2 hours. Tier down aggressively. Pricing flexibility matters more than features.
AI changes the macro context, not the play itself.
The shift: Customers are right-sizing after over-hiring. That means fewer people, more powerful tools, and higher expectations for what those tools can do. A team of five is replacing a team of fifteen. Those five need the platform more than ever, but they need it configured differently.
The tactic: In Phase 1, ask about AI adoption and automation roadmaps. Is the customer deploying AI agents? If yes, the expansion play might not be about more people, but about different people (analysts, prompt engineers, AI ops roles you didn’t think about). The seats you’re expanding into are different seats.
The opportunity: AI is eliminating low-skill work. The remaining roles are higher-skill, higher-value work. Those people are more likely to adopt your platform because it directly impacts their ability to do their job. Expansion revenue becomes more predictable, not less.
Run a user expansion motion for [account]. The customer has [X] seats on contract, [Y] active. Before we pitch expansion, I need: 1. Their org chart today and projected org chart in 6 months (hiring, layoff, restructuring?) 2. AI/automation roadmaps they’ve shared (we need to know if the empty seats are staying empty) 3. A tiered pricing option that fits three scenarios: (a) they hire, (b) they stay flat, (c) they reduce further 4. A champion interview summary: why aren’t the other seats being used? 5. A success metric tied to their goal, not our goal (faster resolution, more revenue per employee, compliance, etc.) Once I have that, I’ll pitch. Not before.
You earned the expansion, or you didn’t.
If your product provided value, if your CSM delivered on the promise, if the customer hit their goal in phase one, expansion is not a campaign. It’s organic. It’s the customer asking for more.
If you have to pitch hard, if adoption is slow, if you’re discounting to close, then you didn’t earn it yet. Go back to phases 1–3. Build more relationship. Prove more value. Then the ask becomes easy.
That’s the motion play. That’s how you turn unused seats into real, sticky, predictable revenue.
How do I know which accounts to run this play on?
Start with accounts that have 30%+ user saturation gap (seats on contract vs. active users), solid health (NPS 40+, flat or positive usage trend), and renewal coming in the next six months. Those are your highest-probability targets.
What if the customer says the seats are for future hires?
Push back gently: “I understand. Future hires will need training and onboarding anyway. But we see most teams benefit from having 1–2 power users first, who can then train the next wave. Want to start with two seats and add more when the hires land?” You’re solving for actual adoption, not seat count.
How aggressive should the discount be?
Only discount if you have to. Most successful expansion plays don’t need heavy discounts because the value is clear. If you’re discounting more than 15–20%, go back to phases 1–2. The gap isn’t price; it’s value clarity or product fit.
What’s the minimum expansion ARR to make this worth running?
Probably around $15K–20K annual seat value. Below that, the effort doesn’t pay off. Above that, every point of adoption percentage multiplies quickly.
How do I handle it if a user activates but then goes dormant?
This is normal. At 90 days, segment your new users into active and dormant. For dormant: one last CSM touch (a call, not an email) to understand friction. If there’s a real issue, fix it. If adoption just wasn’t going to happen, accept it and focus on the cohort that did activate.
About the Author
Brandon Briggs is a fractional CRO and the founder of It’s Just Revenue. He’s built revenue engines at six companies — including Bold Commerce, Emarsys/SAP, Dotdigital, and Annex Cloud — scaling teams from zero to eight-figure ARR and helping build partner ecosystems north of $250M. He now helps growth-stage companies fix the gap between activity and revenue. Connect on LinkedIn.
Part of the It’s Just Revenue Sales Plays Library — practical frameworks for revenue teams who want to stop the theater and start closing.