Account Based Analytics
Article | August 3, 2022
ABX is about quality, not quantity.
The traditional metrics that have been used to gauge ABM success are not useful in the experience-centric realm. The new and more complex benchmarks for measuring success revolve around:
Relationship analytics
Journey analytics
Attribution analytics
Once you’ve successfully closed accounts, you want to make sure you understand which ABM programs helped to contribute to that sale so you can rinse and repeat. This is where you can evaluate how a vendor measures ABM success and the entire Account-Based Experience. You will want to choose a vendor who can help you optimize your programs from the top of the funnel to the bottom, and grow your customer’s lifetime value.
Some examples of metrics to measure include the volume and velocity of an account as it makes its way through the buyer journey. This helps you understand whether your programs are engaging enough as well as whether your sales cycle is too long.
A strong ABM vendor will also have different methods for measuring attribution since not all businesses are alike, and marketers love seeing attribution models so they can measure the success of their marketing efforts and ROI.
Other metrics to consider include advertising campaigns and website visits – but with an account-based lens. After all, you want to understand whether your advertising is reaching the right accounts and which accounts are engaging on your website. If you find you’re short-staffed, some ABM vendors offer strategic services to help you with your ABM strategy and measurement. To learn more about vendor onboarding and support, read the next section.
Because ABX has a different set of metrics than ABM, when it comes to measuring the performance of the ABM solution from the vantage point of the customer experience, the scope also changes.
The vendors on your shortlist should, among other features:
Offer a dashboard to measure ABM impact from across the funnel.
Track volume, velocity and conversion metrics for each journey stage.
Offer customizable subscriptions for all custom reports.
People and account based heatmaps.
Allow you to combine first party, third party, firmographic and technographic data for segmentation and reporting.
Allow you to compare the performance of different audiences or account lists and evaluate the impact of specific programs.
Enable you to see the engagement and activities that influenced the different stages of a deal cycle.
Measuring a journey and a relationship in the long term requires measuring as much data as possible, so find out if they also:
Centralize your existing data sources in one location?
Track B2B metrics by account?
Track and report on anonymous first-touch visitors by account?
Have strategic services in place to help you set up ROI reporting based on your strategies? Allow you to compare different timeframes for account stages?
Provide advanced BI capabilities for ABM?
The point of measuring is to take action based on knowledge and insights, and having an ABM solution that allows you to bring together all of the relevant data points for your decision-making is pivotal for the success of your business. Our agnostic Definitive Guide to Choosing an Account-Based Marketing Platform provides you with checklists like the one above as well as the reasoning behind the need for each of the features outlined in the ebook. Check it out and take advantage of the printable list we put together for your own use at the end of the guide.
ABX is about quality, not quantity. The traditional metrics that have been used to gauge ABM success are not useful in the experience-centric realm. The new and more complex benchmarks for measuring success revolve around:
Relationship analytics
Journey analytics
Attribution analytics
Once you’ve successfully closed accounts, you want to make sure you understand which ABM programs helped to contribute to that sale so you can rinse and repeat. This is where you can evaluate how a vendor measures ABM success and the entire Account-Based Experience. You will want to choose a vendor who can help you optimize your programs from the top of the funnel to the bottom, and grow your customer’s lifetime value.
Some examples of metrics to measure include the volume and velocity of an account as it makes its way through the buyer journey. This helps you understand whether your programs are engaging enough as well as whether your sales cycle is too long.
A strong ABM vendor will also have different methods for measuring attribution since not all businesses are alike, and marketers love seeing attribution models so they can measure the success of their marketing efforts and ROI.
Other metrics to consider include advertising campaigns and website visits – but with an account-based lens. After all, you want to understand whether your advertising is reaching the right accounts and which accounts are engaging on your website. If you find you’re short-staffed, some ABM vendors offer strategic services to help you with your ABM strategy and measurement. To learn more about vendor onboarding and support, read the next section.
Because ABX has a different set of metrics than ABM, when it comes to measuring the performance of the ABM solution from the vantage point of the customer experience, the scope also changes.
The vendors on your shortlist should, among other features:
Offer a dashboard to measure ABM impact from across the funnel.
Track volume, velocity and conversion metrics for each journey stage.
Offer customizable subscriptions for all custom reports.
People and account based heatmaps.
Allow you to combine first party, third party, firmographic and technographic data for segmentation and reporting.
Allow you to compare the performance of different audiences or account lists and evaluate the impact of specific programs.
Enable you to see the engagement and activities that influenced the different stages of a deal cycle.
Measuring a journey and a relationship in the long term requires measuring as much data as possible, so find out if they also:
Centralize your existing data sources in one location?
Track B2B metrics by account?
Track and report on anonymous first-touch visitors by account?
Have strategic services in place to help you set up ROI reporting based on your strategies? Allow you to compare different timeframes for account stages?
Provide advanced BI capabilities for ABM?
The point of measuring is to take action based on knowledge and insights, and having an ABM solution that allows you to bring together all of the relevant data points for your decision-making is pivotal for the success of your business. Our agnostic Definitive Guide to Choosing an Account-Based Marketing Platform provides you with checklists like the one above as well as the reasoning behind the need for each of the features outlined in the ebook. Check it out and take advantage of the printable list we put together for your own use at the end of the guide.
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Core ABM
Article | June 20, 2023
Dealing with lengthy sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and aggressive sales quotas must not be new for sales leaders like you. However, if you collaborate more closely with marketing and customer success, you will likely achieve better results with your ABM strategy. According to Forrester, highly aligned businesses grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable.
In this article, we will cover four ABM metrics you should be concerned with and how to track them to inform future ABM campaigns.
4 Metrics to Measure ABM Impact on Sales
Pipeline Velocity
When calculating pipeline velocity, compare the progression of opportunities through the sales cycle stages before and after. Measure how the velocity compares to previous cycles, whether you're running an ABM pilot or a mature program. Pipeline Velocity will help sales teams find opportunities during the sales cycle and close those good deals faster.
Average Sales Cycle Length
Measuring the average sales cycle length before and after the launch of your ABM program allows you to see if marketing activities have reduced the time it takes for your team to convert likely buyers from an opportunity to closed-won deals. A shorter sales cycle results in a greater number of closed deals per year and impressive ROI figures for your team.
Average Contract Value (ACV)
Average contract value (ACV) is one of the most important ways to measure the success of account-based marketing (ABM) because one of the main benefits of ABM is to find and convert high-intent, high-value accounts. Gartner found that the average deal size for ABM programs was 20% higher than for traditional demand generation programs. Measuring ACV can give you information about sales results and show how changes to ABM planning and strategy affect the bottom line.
Customer Lifecycle Value (CLV)
Customer Lifecycle Value is an all-encompassing metric that helps you determine how well your ABM program works and lets you predict future ROI. Once you've measured and optimized your CLV, you can assess customer churn and retain your high-value accounts. If you give accounts what they need at every stage of the buyer's journey through excellent customer service and personalized content, your customer churn rate will drastically decrease.
Finishing Up
Any successful ABM program starts and ends with strategic goals, objectives, and data-driven metrics. ABM programs done right can equip sales teams to point to a more valuable pipeline, shorter sales cycles, and more closed-won business.
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Account Based Data
Article | June 29, 2023
There is a New Marketing Landscape and it is critical for companies to rethink their marketing and sales strategy. This is a world of financial uncertainty for your prospects and customers, resulting in decreased budgets, longer sales cycles, and higher churn. It’s also a world of competing priorities. Key influencers and decision makers are drowning in priority issues, making it challenging to earn their attention. Given these new realities, Account Based Marketing/Sales/Customer Success (ABX) is top of mind for marketing and sales leaders given its proven efficiency and effectiveness in engaging and converting priority accounts.
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Targeted Account Strategy
Article | November 26, 2021
Have you browsed about account-based marketing and how successful it has proved for businesses? Do you wonder whether your business fits in the ABM strategy? And even if you practice ABM, what is to be done differently for your business?
Well, we have answers to all your questions.
As Clive Armitage, CEO at Agent3, said,“We have to act as the eyes and ears of marketing innovation for our clients; they trust us to help them navigate the pace of change in the way that the process of marketing is evolving.”
Thus, your marketing and sales team should be on the same page to deliver an excellent and personalized customer experience.
The implementation of ABM in different industries may be different but the challenges faced are somewhat the same.
The baisc challenge for ABM are personalization and quality content.
So, let us dig deeper into how ABM works for different industry segments. And also focus on how each industry should strategize for successful account-based marketing.
How Is ABM Different for Different Industries?
Every company has different products to sell to various companies. Also, if you sell the same product to distinct companies, you need a unique tactic for every organization.
Account-based marketing is crafting such individual approaches for every client that matters.
For example, if you are an advertising company and you need a luxury car brand account, your ABM strategy will be different for different car brands. It can also be designed differently for every decision-maker.
Thus, you have to be very focused and delicately plan strategies for the target account.
Apart from the people you target, also keep in mind the industry segment that you target. It will help to align strategies with both brands.
Now let us discuss some different types of ABM strategies that work for distinct industry segments.
Types of ABM Strategies (with Real-time Examples)
ABM is a beneficial strategy for all types of companies. But it works wonders for organizations that target large companies who have relatively long sales cycles.
According to the State of Account-Based Revenue Engine 2019 report, organizations saw a whooping 91% improved ROI post-ABM implementation.
Hence, let us see how different ABM strategies have their way of working.
Events
Events have proved to be the most successful of all the ABM strategies.
Once target clients accept the personalized invites to the events, the sales team can easily have in-person meetings. Also, a souvenir, gift, or a creative way of a follow-up meeting should be an incorporated strategy of the event.
Example:
Thomas Reuters is an organization that provides news and information tools for professionals. Their challenge was retention and expansion with their key accounts. Thus, they created an event opportunity for these accounts.
In these events, the top executives of the exclusive accounts could speak. And Thomas Reuters would quote them in whitepapers, blogs, and more.
It ensured that the sales team would be in contact with the key accounts all year round. Thus, it increased retention and built good relations.
Webinars
A webinar is an option when the physical presence of clients at a similar geographical location is not possible.
But a webinar allows curating a more personalized experience and at convenient times with less utility of resources.
Example:
HotJar Lightning Talks conference is a webinar hosted by HotJar. This webinar gives the speaker maximum of five minutes to address a particular topic. Thus, no long presentation but just a short glimpse of informative or marketing strategies.
Businesses participate in the webinar to present the challenges and solutions to their prospective clients.
Thus, HotJar had many B2B clients participating in the conference and, the idea became a big hit!
Direct Mails
Gifts, marketing material, and creative packages sent through direct mail are a success in ABM. However, account-based marketing requires personalization and direct mail is the best tactic to deliver that.
Example:
Billing Tree is a technology-driven payment processing organization.
It faced the challenge of scheduling meetings with the targeted accounts. Thus, they mailed 100 locked cases secured with two combinations of padlocks. These cases contained US$ 100 Amazon gift cards. Billing Tree gave the combination once they got the appointment with the account.
And once the client opened the case, the lid had a video player embedded in it that played the video pitch for the account.
Billing Tree generated an account engagement rate of 60% with the ABM strategy of direct mail.
Advertising
Personalized advertising has become an easy thing, thanks to IP targeting and re-targeting technology. It allows you to target the big fishes rather than the traditional wide net fishing.
Example:
DocuSign is an eSignature transaction management and solution provider company. It wanted to generate more traffic and click-through rates to form gated content.
The company executed personalized ad campaigns to the target accounts that contained industry-specific images, content, and peer logos. And with detailed web analytics, they targeted the accounts at specific times.
This personalized ads ABM strategy boosted DocuSign’s age views by 300% with a massive conversion rate!
Personalized Website Experience
Technology these days has expanded its horizons to provide incredible experiences, and personalized website experience is one of those. Once you get the technicalities right, your target accounts can have an out-of-the-world personalized experience when they visit the desired page or the website.
Example:
Savi provides sensor analytics solutions for organizations. Their main client bases are the ones that give critical decisions based on the location and status of people. Thus, Savi has to deal with private and government organizations.
Therefore, as a part of specific marketing and sales strategy, they personalized their home pages differently for different clients.
Thus, when government organizations the homepage was:
And for the corporates, the page was:
Ways to Implement ABM
According to the 2020 State of ABM Report, 94.2% of respondents have successfully implemented this marketing strategy.
Thus, you too can implement account-based marketing with these simple steps.
Identify your high-value clients.
Conduct extensive research on those clients.
Strategize your personalized ABM campaigns.
Implement the account-based marketing strategy.
Analyze the campaign regularly.
Importance of Personalization
Personalization is a crucial part of account-based marketing. Your extensive research about the clients helps you craft unique, creative, and personalized content for them.
A personalized experience ensures an enriched and engaging customer experience.
If a campaign exclusively provides solutions to pain points, clients become customers for life. It also helps to develop good relations.
Remember, account-based marketing is not only about conversions but also about creating brand awareness and relationships.
As Andy Bacon, VP Consulting at Momentum, has quoted, “ABM is all about building better quality relationships; the ROI will follow.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Do different industries need different account-based marketing strategies?
The meaning of account-based marketing is to provide tailored solutions to exclusive clients. So yes, different industries will require different ABM strategies.
One should use distinct and personalized approaches to target different people of the same organization. However, you have to ensure that the marketing message is the same for all, despite the personalization.
What are the different types of account-based marketing methods?
The different types to implement ABM strategies are:
Events
Webinars
Direct Mails
Advertising
Personalized Website Experience
Social Media
What role does personalization play in ABM?
ABM is all about personalization. The more personalized your content is, the more likely the chances are for conversion.
Imagine someone selling you a product designed just for solving your problems. You do not even need convincing if it is the answer to all your pain points. That is the same way in which ABM works.
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