With any sort of demand generation, setting objectives before you start is critical to success. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, you’re going to fail.
But for ABM, the hyper-focus on select accounts means you can’t use “old” lead metrics like quantity of new leads or downloads. Instead, you need to base success on the quality of leads, depth of engagement from your target account base and how quickly they convert to sales. Before you kick off your ABM program, consider using some of these metrics as your program objective:
- Increased velocity or movement down the pipeline
- Closed business
- Size of deal, including increased product purchase from customers
- Anything that shows you saved money by moving to ABM – things like lower cost per lead or cost per sale
- If you have a long sales cycle, consider tracking meetings with key accounts to get feedback more quickly
- Coverage – percent of key names in target accounts that you’ve gotten opt-in permission for and the total number of target accounts identified
- The percent of your database that you’ve eliminated because they’re not qualified prospects
- Which programs had the most positive ROI with target accounts and which programs or channels have the highest reach into key accounts
- Touchpoints with target accounts that show that you’re working them more frequently or working them better
- Engagement which can be tracked in nurture programs, by tracking total minutes responding to marketing efforts, engagement with the product or with the sales team.
- Low unsubscribe rates. With a smaller, targeted list, you can’t afford to burn any names so make sure you’re not seeing spikes in opt outs
- While it’s not a quantifiable objective, see if using ABM means you’re making better use of your marketing resources. Are you able to pare down infrastructure or accomplish more?
- And is your sales team happy? Are they showing that they love the leads you’re sending by immediately opening them in your CRM? Are they actively working and closing them? Are they thanking you?
Setting objectives at the beginning means you’ll be able to more clearly prioritize efforts and also to gauge success. Look for our later blog on reporting to learn how to review your analytics.
Authors:
Diptii Tiiku, Senior Director of Marketing, Ridecell
Jackie Walts, Consultant, Principal, Jackie Walts Consulting