Essential ABM metrics

How to build your ABM metrics

Building account-based marketing metrics is a unique process.

I know, I know. I can hear you now.

“Building metrics for any campaign is always a unique process!”

That’s true.

But ABM really is unlike traditional marketing campaigns. So it follows, then, that the metrics on offer are going to be unique as well.

In this post we’ll look at popular metrics account-based marketers use to measure the success of their campaigns.

The indicators of ABM success

Before we get to specific metrics you’ll want to consider for your ABM campaigns, we need to ask a more fundamental question: What makes for a successful ABM campaign? This will (again) vary from company-to-company and from campaign-to-campaign. But there are a few categories into which we can divide ABM success.

Speed

This is just a fancy way of asking: How long did it take us to close out a new deal? One of the key benefits of ABM is to speed up the time between first contact and deal close. That’s what this metric helps you measure.

Engagement

ABM is all about changing how you engage with your (potential) customers.

The whole strategy is built on using a more personalized message to reel in more high-value accounts. So it only makes sense, then, that measuring how well you’re engaging them would be a good indicator of success. How many blog posts have they looked at? Have they reached out to engage your sales team? Which people within your target accounts are engaging more than others? These are the sorts of questions that can help show how well your strategy is working.

Money

This isn’t complicated.

The whole point of ABM is to bring in more revenue for less cost. There isn’t too much else to say. It’s that simple.

Upselling

It’s not just bringing in new accounts.

A key benefit of ABM is selling additional goods and services to existing customers. This isn’t the case for every ABM strategy. But one component of a successful ABM strategy involves upselling.

Closing

Engaging with the accounts you’re attempting to reach isn’t enough. At some point you need to turn that interest into revenue. And to do that you need to close some deals.

Volume

In one sense, ABM isn’t about volume. The goal isn’t to attract as many people as possible then turn whoever demonstrates enough interest into a customer. But in another sense, volume still matters. You want to turn as many of your target accounts into customers as possible.(With the obvious caveat that high-value accounts are more desirable).

Sample ABM metrics

Now that we’ve figured out what makes an ABM successful, we can start mapping out the metrics we want to use for measurement. Your company will want to mix, match and tweak these to create a measurement formula that works best.

ABM revenue

See above.

Again, deciding on this as a metric isn’t complicated. Where you may run into an issue is in deciphering what revenue came from ABM campaigns (as opposed to what is attributed to more general marketing campaigns). But that’s another matter. You may also want to compare the revenue earned from ABM to non-ABM revenue. But beware. ABM takes time to show results. That means you won’t get a very favourable comparison to other marketing revenue in the early days of adopting an ABM strategy.

Key accounts touchpoints

How many times have contacts on your target accounts interacted with you?

It’s not necessarily a great sign of engagement (a lot of touchpoints doesn’t always equate to closed accounts). But it can be a good mid-campaign indicator of whether your tactics are at least getting some attention from your audience.

Marketing qualified accounts (MQAs)

With traditional marketing campaigns leads are the fundamental unit of measurement. But with ABM that unit shifts. Now accounts are what matter. Marketing and sales teams work together more closely in ABM than in regular marketing campaigns. Some of the standard rules of the marketing-sales dynamic still apply, though. This metric will help you to measure how effective your marketing team is in passing accounts on to sales.

Return on investment

ROI still matters in ABM – arguably more so than in regular marketing campaigns. ABM is a relatively new marketing strategy. That means it needs to justify its existence to an even greater degree than more traditional marketing campaigns. One of the key benefits of ABM is also that it delivers higher-value accounts at a lower cost. Measuring ROI is a great way of demonstrating your results.

Reach within an account

ABM is, to a certain extent, about reaching a critical mass within a particular account. You want to be engaging as many key decision-makers as you need to convert accounts into customers. This metric looks at how many of those targets are engaging.

Pipeline velocity

Pipeline velocity is just another way of measuring speed. How long does it take to turn a target account into a customer? At the start of your ABM strategy, these will likely be somewhat long. But, as you progress, they should be getting shorter. After all, reducing the time it takes to recruit a customer is supposed to be one of ABM’s key selling points.

In-funnel conversion rates

The funnel may be different for ABM.

But using it as a measuring stick is still important. You’ll want to define, in advance, how you view accounts moving through the funnel. Then, you’ll want to decide on the indicators that show how your potential customers are progressing. Here it will help to look in more detail at touchpoints. Goals here could include meetings booked, opportunities created and – ultimately – how many accounts in the funnel become customers.