Account-based marketing is an expensive and resource-hungry strategy. With so many moving parts, you need advanced metrics and reporting capabilities to track success effectively.
At the start of your ABM project, you will have set your sights on identifying and cultivating key accounts. But you need to establish KPIs that can tell you if you are succeeding and what you can do to tweak and optimise results.
Awareness, engagement, penetration and sales are the big four metrics of account- based marketing that are vital for you to track.
Creating dashboards to monitor these will help you see at a glance how you are doing in moving from early account targeting to conversion, and then into post-sale account development.
Here are some of the key metrics that will help you track success as your ABM strategy progresses:
| Metric | Definition | Importance | Formula |
| Web traffic by target account | Measures the number of visits from your target accounts to your website. | Indicates the level of awareness and interest from these accounts. | (Target account website visits / Total website visits) = Web traffic by target account |
| Target-account reach | Percentage of decision-makers at a target account who are engaged with your marketing efforts. | Helps you see which accounts are engaging and which need more focus. | (Decision-makers engaged / Total decision makers at target account) = Target account reach |
| Marketing-Qualified Accounts (MQAs) | Accounts that meet engagement criteria set by the marketing team. | Provides a holistic view of account engagement. | Aggregate engagement scores over time to understand trends and forecast performance. |
| Sales-Qualified Accounts (SQAs) | Accounts that meet engagement criteria set by the sales team. | Ensures multiple decision-makers are involved before qualifying an account for sales. | Aggregate engagement scores over time to understand trends and forecast performance. |
| Deal velocity | The speed at which target accounts move from being marketing-qualified to a closed-won customer. | Helps in planning and optimising strategies to shorten the sales cycle. | ([Total opportunities x Average deal size x Conversion rate] / Sales cycle length) = Deal velocity |
| Average contract value | The average value of contracts from closed-won accounts |
Provides insights into profitability and the impact of your ABM strategy. |
[Total customer contract value / Total new customers] = Average contract value |
| Metric | Definition | Importance | Formula |
| Cross-sells | Selling additional products to existing customers. | Indicators of customer satisfaction and the success of your customer marketing efforts. | (Total customers cross-sold / Total customers) = Cross-Sells |
| Up-sells | Selling higher-end products or upgrades to existing customers. | Indicators of customer satisfaction and the success of your customer marketing efforts. | (Total customers up-sold / Total customers) = Upsells |
| Referrals | Measures how many new customers come through referrals from existing customers. | A high referral rate is a strong indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty. |
(Referred customers / Total customers) = % Referred Customers (Customers who have referred a peer/Total customers) = % Referring customers |
| Net Promoter Score (NPS) | Measures customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend your brand. | Predicts business growth and customer loyalty. | Based on responses to "How likely would you be to recommend this business to a peer or colleague." |
ABM can present extreme challenges in tracking and attribution. Here are some of the major obstacles you’ll need to overcome to assemble the reports that will measure success.
Challenge:
ABM focuses on engaging specific high-value accounts rather than individual leads. Measuring account engagement is more complex as it involves tracking interactions across multiple stakeholders within an account. You’ll need to track target accounts by IP address to monitor anonymous interaction to get a full picture of engagement.
Solution:
Implement a robust ABM platform like Terminus or Demandbase. These platforms consolidate data from various sources (email, CRM, social media) and use advanced analytics to identify patterns and insights across stakeholders, providing a comprehensive view of engagement.
Challenge:
ABM uses various channels, such as email, events, advertising, and sales outreach, to engage accounts. Due to the orchestrated nature of ABM programs, attributing revenue impact to specific channels and activities is difficult.
Solution:
Adopt multi-touch attribution models using tools like Marketo or Bizible. These solutions provide detailed tracking of interactions across channels, allowing for accurate attribution of revenue impact to specific ABM activities. Continuously analyse and refine attribution models to improve accuracy.
Challenge:
ABM involves multiple technology tools for different functions, such as advertising, email marketing, and sales automation. Integrating data from these disparate sources to get a unified view of account engagement and impact is a significant challenge.
Solution:
Use integration solutions like Segment or MuleSoft to connect different tools and platforms. These solutions help create a unified data repository, ensuring data consistency and accuracy. Establish standard data governance practices to maintain a single source of truth and enable comprehensive ABM reporting.
Challenge:
ABM programs need to align their metrics with overall business objectives, such as revenue growth, customer lifetime value, and average deal size. This alignment is difficult due to the long sales cycles and multiple touchpoints involved in ABM.
Solution:
Define clear, measurable objectives that align with business goals. Use platforms like HubSpot to create customisable dashboards that link ABM metrics to these objectives, ensuring visibility and alignment. Regularly review and adjust your strategy based on performance data.
Keeping all your teams aligned around engagement and conversion goals is crucial for ABM success. But you’re never going to keep the focus of your internal audience unless your data is accessible and visible.
Like any other marketing initiative, you must agree on the definition of success and track your efforts to achieve those goals. When you formalise this process, you’ll have the tools in place to optimise and repeat success at scale.