The Top 7 Account-Based Marketing Metrics for Tracking Success

Account-based marketing (ABM) has exploded in popularity over the past few years – and for good reason. Organizations using ABM report 208% higher revenue from their marketing efforts (Source: ITSMA). But as more teams invest in an account-based approach, it‘s critical to have the right metrics in place to track performance and optimize for success.

ABM requires a significant shift from traditional demand generation metrics focused on lead volume and short-term conversion rates. Instead, account-based metrics focus on engaging and influencing a targeted set of key accounts most likely to deliver substantial revenue over time.

"ABM success isn‘t about hundreds of leads converting into a few closed deals," shares Joe Chernov, CMO of data orchestration platform Insightsoftware and long-time ABM practitioner. "It‘s about making an impact on the accounts that matter most to your business. And that takes a very specific set of metrics to manage."

So what exactly should you be measuring? Here‘s a deep dive into the top seven categories of ABM metrics every team needs to track:

1. Coverage

Before you can market to target accounts, you need comprehensive, accurate data about them. Coverage metrics reveal whether you‘ve done sufficient research and have the right contacts in your database to market and sell effectively. Ask:

• What percentage of your target accounts have you fully profiled and documented?
• How many key stakeholders and decision-makers have you identified per account?
• What percentage of your ABM contacts have complete and valid data like email, phone, title and location?

Coverage can be quantified using this formula:

Total ABM Accounts Researched / Total Target Accounts	x 100 = Coverage %

For example, if you‘ve researched 50 out of 100 target accounts, your coverage is 50%.

Dig deeper by calculating coverage for specific data points like decision-makers identified, since engaging them is critical to ABM success. According to SiriusDecisions, the average B2B buying decision now involves up to 10 stakeholders. Aim for at least 75% coverage of key decision-maker contacts.

2. Awareness

Is your brand getting noticed by target accounts? Awareness metrics reveal how effectively your ABM programs are reaching key stakeholders. Important awareness metrics include:

• Website visits from target accounts
• Target account visitors by department, seniority level and location
• Email opens and click-through rates from ABM contacts
• Social media mentions, follows and shares from ABM accounts
• Brand searches and direct website traffic from ABM accounts

Awareness can be measured by tracking the growth of these key engagement metrics over time. For example, set a goal to:

• Increase website visits from target accounts by 20% this quarter
• Get at least 5 key stakeholders from each account to attend your next webinar
• Boost email click-through rates from target accounts from 3% to 5%

3. Engagement

Beyond initial brand exposure, engagement metrics show how deeply target accounts are interacting with your company. Engagement is typically quantified by two key factors:

1. Time spent: The number of minutes ABM contacts cumulatively spend with your brand across channels (e.g. on your website, in product demos, etc.)

2. Number of interactions: The total number of touchpoints with an ABM account across channels (e.g. email clicks, content downloads, event attendance)

By combining these two factors, you can calculate an engagement score for each ABM account. For instance:

Minutes Spent + # of Interactions = Account Engagement Score

Establish scoring thresholds to create account engagement tiers, such as:

• 0-99 = Low Engagement
• 100-499 = Moderate Engagement
• 500+ = High Engagement

Track what percentage of accounts fall into each tier and aim to move more accounts into moderate and high engagement over time.

4. Reach

You may be producing stellar ABM content, but is it actually influencing key accounts? Reach metrics help quantify this by tracking how effectively your programs are penetrating target departments, locations and decision-makers.

Calculate ABM reach with metrics like:

• Percentage of target accounts reached through each program or channel
• Percentage of target decision-maker personas engaged
• Percentage of target geographies penetrated

For example, if your ABM program delivered 500 e-book downloads and 250 came from target accounts, your program reach would be 50%.

The average ABM program influences only 17% of target accounts (Source: RollWorks), so set a stretch goal of at least 25-30% reach across all key personas.

5. Influence

Revenue impact is the ultimate measure of ABM success. But you also need leading indicators to gauge whether your efforts are influencing key aspects of the sales cycle before deals close.

Key influence metrics include:

• Number of meetings and demos with target accounts
• Acceleration in opportunity-to-close speed
• Increase in average contract value
• Improvement in win rates
• Growth in post-sale retention, upsell and cross-sell

Regularly review this data to identify trends and determine which ABM programs are having the greatest effect. For instance, if you find that accounts nurtured with competitive intelligence content have 26% higher win rates, you know to double-down on that tactic.

"Tracking influence metrics was a game-changer for us," notes Rachel Yehezkel, Director of ABM at cybersecurity firm Transmit Security. "We could directly correlate the accounts we engaged through ABM with better sales outcomes. It was incredibly validating."

6. Sales Activity

Successful ABM requires tight alignment between marketing and sales. Therefore, it‘s critical to track how well your account-based sales development team is executing their plays.

Key activity metrics to track include:

• Number of accounts researched and contacts added
• Number of touchpoints (calls, emails, social) per account
• Number of meetings scheduled
• Percentage of target accounts with activity logged in the past 30/60/90 days

Set activity goals for each ABM sales rep and regularly review metrics together. Celebrate wins and coach through any barriers preventing effective account outreach.

7. Sales Outcomes

Ultimately, sales results are what matter most. Track these outcome-based metrics for your ABM sales development efforts:

• Number of opportunities generated
• Value of pipeline created
• Percentage of closed-won deals from ABM accounts
• Average revenue per ABM account

Also calculate sales velocity metrics to see how ABM impacts deal speed:

• Opporutnity-to-close time
• Length of each pipeline stage

Measure ABM sales outcomes against a control group not receiving ABM support to gauge program effectiveness. TOPO reports that organizations see a 150% increase in lifetime value for ABM accounts – how do you stack up?

Bringing It All Together

While each of the seven key ABM metrics are important on their own, the real magic happens when you view them holistically. Together, these metrics provide a complete picture of the health and success of your ABM strategy.

Create an ABM scorecard that tracks each metric over time and review it regularly with key stakeholders. Use the insights to inform program planning, experiment with new tactics, and report wins to leadership.

Metrics are also essential for keeping sales and marketing aligned. "Having a shared set of ABM metrics completely changed our relationship with sales," shares Yehezkel. "We started speaking the same language and working from the same playbook. The impact was tremendous."

Next Steps

As you build out your ABM metrics muscle, remember it‘s a process. Don‘t try to boil the ocean from day one. Start by tracking 2-3 metrics in each category and build from there as your sophistication grows.

Lean on the proven benchmarks and formulas shared here to guide your goal-setting. But also leave room to adjust and personalize your metrics to your company‘s unique ABM maturity and objectives.

Most importantly, don‘t just report on the data. Dig in, ask questions, hypothesize and test ways to improve. ABM metrics are only as valuable as the optimizations they inform.

Stick with it and the results will speak for themselves. As Chari Smith, VP of Marketing at Level Legal sums it up, "ABM metrics are the difference between playing a game of darts blindfolded and having a clear line of sight to the bullseye."

Sources

• ITSMA, ABM Benchmark Study, 2022
• SiriusDecisions, B2B Buying Study, 2019
• RollWorks, The State of ABM Report, 2023
• TOPO, Account-Based Benchmark Report, 2019