Introduction
Are you a B2B marketer? Then, you must be on the constant hunt to find a dynamic marketing approach to grow your client’s business.
As we all know, business buyers are now using digital methods to make purchases. Thus, it is vital for marketers to use effective inbound marketing strategies to promote their reach in 2023.
And one of the best and most cost-effective B2B marketing strategies today is account-based marketing. ABM is not a new marketing approach. It was first introduced in 2003 by ITSMA.
But it was later in 2013 when term account-based marketing first time ranked on Google. And since then, ABM has gained the main seat in the B2B marketing funnel.
ABM is a simple marketing strategy that focuses on high-value accounts. Therefore, it can increase marketing ROI, lead generation rate and reduce lead lifecycle.
Is ABM actually that effective?
The answer is YES! However, if you don’t agree with us, check out the top 21 account-based marketing statistics. That is because statistics never lie.
So, let’s better understand ABM with 21 useful statistics.
21 Account-Based Marketing Statistics to use in marketing sector
Account-based marketing might be a two-decades-old marketing concept. But not many marketers are still using it, which is a shame.
That is why we have selected the top 21 must-know account-based marketing statistics to help B2B marketers use the right marketing strategies in 2023. Here’s what ABM is doing in the marketing sector:
1. Global account-based marketing is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2027
The number one breaking account-based marketing statistics is that the global ABM market is flourishing. Despite the pandemic, the ABM market is evaluated at $749.4 million in the year 2020.
Overall, ABM will grow at a CAGR of 11.6% between 2021 and 2022. Here are some other ABM growth projections:
- The US ABM market is projected to reach $202.3 million
- Chinese ABM sector will also grow at 15.2% of CAGR
- Australia, India, and South Korea will lead ABM in the Asian Pacific region
2. There is a 7% decrease in dedicated headcount for ABM teams
Account-based marketing is growing at a feverish rate today. Many marketers have added ABM into their regular marketing campaigns to drive maximum results.
According to Forrester account-based marketing statistics, a 7% reduction in the headcount for ABM teams has been seen lately. This shows how ABM is stepping into the mainstream with more marketing teams adopting it.
In the same Forrester report, it is said that personalization and data management are cornerstones for ABM. As per 56% of marketers, personalized content helps to better target hot accounts.
In addition, 43% of marketers find data management the key factor in implementing ABM strategy. It is impossible to deploy an accurate account-based marketing plan without effective data management.
3. Merely 17% of marketers have a mature ABM strategy
ABM is still a buzzword for many marketers. Despite the large community of B2B marketers investing in the ABM, it is advocated that most marketers don’t have a mature ABM plan.
Accounting-based marketing data presented under the ITSMA benchmark study shows that only 17% of marketers have mature ABM marketing strategies.
That means 83% of marketers are still struggling to find the perfect way to deploy ABM. However, 43% of marketers are working on refining and measuring their ABM campaigns.
So, you can expect some innovative account-based marketing campaigns in the coming years.
4. Budgeting and finding adequate resources is a big challenge for 37% of marketers
ABM is not an easy marketing approach. It involves intensive data management and reporting. It is not easy for small marketing teams to collect, sort, and interpret data in real-time.
According to the Ascend2 research study, 37% of marketers find it challenging to gather adequate funds and resources. They don’t have a sufficient budget to collect the vast database to incorporate ABM strategies.
The research study has further shown that:
- One-third of marketers are still in the implementation stage of account-based marketing strategies.
- 50% of marketers are dedicating their ABM to generating new contacts for sales.
- 64% of marketers found their ABM strategy somehow successful in driving more leads.
5. ABM empowers early adopters to gain higher retention and lifetime value
Another account-based marketing statistic has shown that ABM can benefit its early adopters more.
According to ABM: State Of The Market report from TOPO, early ABM adopters have seen significant improvement in retention rates.
The report was created after consulting over 50 marketers at different stages of ABM maturity. The results show that companies have recorded a lift in annual contract value of 171% after deploying ABM.
Craig Rosenberg, Co-founder and Chief Analyst at TOPO, said,
Strategically, ABM is about lifetime value. Tactically, customer expansion campaigns are often the most successful.
6. Traditional ABM analytics are no longer effective
Account-based marketing is a deeper analytical marketing strategy. Thus, traditional marketing analytics will not be sufficient in ABM.
The new metrics to analyze complex ABM strategies are:
- Relationship analytics to understand the interaction with your accounts
- Journey analytics to find the exact position of leads in your funnel
- Attribution analytics to study resources that have driven lead to your funnel
Marketers need to constantly use these analytics to ensure that ABM programs are delivering the desired results.
7. The right ABM strategy can uplift marketing revenue by 208%
According to MarketingProfs research, Companies that have aligned account-based marketing strategies have seen 208% growth in their marketing revenue. However, the key point here is an aligned ABM strategy.
The aligned ABM strategy means the marketing and sales team are coordinating to target the same accounts. When both your teams are focusing on the same accounts, it can improve efficiency and bring more results in a short period.
Thus, it is vital for marketers to implement aligned account-based marketing campaigns for maximum results. Ensure to put your sales and marketing teams on the same table to include ABM in your next big marketing campaigns.
8. 42% of ABM marketers consider lead generation as the top ABM performance indicator
Do you want to create a mature ABM marketing strategy? Hell yes!
Then, you should put your main focus on lead generation. According to the Terminus State of ABM Report, 42% of marketers found that lead generation was their program’s top 3 performance indicator.
Further, it is revealed in the report that 9% of marketers find new business generation, customer retention, and pipeline acceleration as the main highlights of their mature ABM marketing strategy.
So, based on this account-based marketing statistic, these three indicators can help you create a mature ABM strategy in 2023.
9. Sales and marketing teams alignment can improve deal closing rate by 67%
Another account-based marketing statistic is present that shows how your aligned sales and marketing teams can benefit your business.
A joint Marketo and Reachforce research has shown that businesses can improve their deal closing rate up to 67% by streamlining their sales and marketing teams.
This helps businesses to drive more leads, shorten buyer’s journeys, and close higher-impact deals.
So, to implement a mature ABM strategy in your company, you should organize regular meetups and open up communication channels between your marketing and sales teams. This way, both teams can target the same accounts using accurate data in real-time.
10. 53% of businesses use revenue won to calculate the progress of their ABM approach
According to a collaborative study conducted by HubSpot, Litmus, and Wistia, 53% of businesses use the revenue won to determine the success of their ABM strategy.
To conduct this study, more than 15,000 executive marketers were consulted around the globe. Therefore, the accuracy of this report is quite high.
Besides the revenue won, 43% of marketers said they use accounts won and 40% revenue per account to measure the ABM success.
However, you should measure the success of your ABM marketing campaigns using the method based on your main objective. For example, if you have launched an ABM campaign to generate more high-value accounts, account won is the perfect performance metric in the context.
11. Demand generation and ABM synchronization is essential
Have you implemented account-based marketing campaigns in your organization? But unfortunately, you haven’t received the desired outcome.
In that case, the problem is with your ABM approach. If your ABM is not aligned with your demand generation objectives, it will not deliver adequate results.
According to the DGR 2019 ABM Benchmark Survey, 40% of respondents said they had increased balance between ABM and acquisition strategies via integrating their demand gen and ABM processes.
Thus, if you are not getting adequate results from your ABM strategy, streamline your ABM and demand generation processes to achieve higher results.
Further, this study also emphasizes the benefits of aligning your sales and marketing operations.
12. 57% of marketers are using a combination of demand generation tactics and ABM processes in 2020
According to Demand Gen Report’s 2020 ABM Benchmark Survey, demand generation and ABM processes are more aligned to streamline the marketing efforts.
As compared to 2019, 57% of marketers used demand generation tactics and ABM processes together in 2020.
Besides this, the year 2020 has been dedicated to segmenting target accounts, omnichannel ABM marketing, customized content, and multiple performance measurement metrics.
Though the survey also stated that sales and marketing alignment is the biggest ABM challenge.
13. 98% of marketers are working to deploy ABM
Moving to the Demand Gen Report’s 2021 ABM Benchmark Survey, we found that 98% of marketers already use ABM or plan to use it in 2021.
It is clear that account-based marketing statistics are going upwards. The number of ABM users is increasing rapidly. And, more mature ABM strategies are coming into the limelight.
This report further highlights that content marketing is the most preferred ABM approach right now. Marketers are exploring different content types using the account data to drive organic traffic and generate leads.
14. Companies are still weak at measuring ABM and running full plays
Despite the immense popularity of ABM marketing, still, most companies are weak at measuring ABM progress at an early stage. Companies are more focused on the sales and marketing aspect of ABM that they lack in measuring the performance of their marketing campaigns.
This information is revealed in the DemandBase 2020 Market Research Study. The study also shows account-based marketing statistics like:
- Companies are using information technology and computer software to deploy ABM.
- Marketers said tools required for ABM success are CRM (83%), marketing automation (73%), and LinkedIn (60%).
- 23% of marketers have a pilot ABM program ready by 2020.
15. New ABM is focused on customers
The modern ABM strategies are more inclined towards customer expansion. ABM programs are being designed to expand the customer base.
According to the DemandBase 2021 Market Research Study, 55% of companies say their ABM strategies are based on customer expansion.
This study has unwrapped many other layers of ABM landscape in 2021, such as:
- The annual contract value for ABM-based deals was 33% higher than non-ABM deals.
- Sales dominated companies have 20% more budget allocated to ABM programs.
- The top 3 ABM key performance indicators for 2021 are – sales cycle time, close rate, and conversion rate by stage.
16. ABM is the best way to launch ad campaigns
Are you not getting the expected attraction from your digital ad campaigns? Then, a pinch of ABM can boost your account engagement rate.
The Terminus ebook, ABM Benchmark Report: B2B Digital Advertising, beautifully explains the relationship between ABM and digital ads.
The ebook states that your first-party intent data drives ABM. It allows you to keep a close tab on your potential accounts.
Further, you can leverage this data to design your ad layout and content and define your targeted audience. Then, when you do exactly what your hot accounts want, it will definitely reflect in your revenue and ROI.
This is the same approach that we at UnboundB2B are following to drive maximum engagement on digital ads. We rely on our clients’ intent data to design ads that emotionally connect with the targeted customers.
17. Leading B2B marketing agencies are falling for ABM
The B2B Marketing US Agencies Benchmarking Report 2022 has been a shocker. The report talked about the top B2B marketing agencies in the US.
There are many new names in the report. But, one thing that stood out most is that all leading agencies leverage account-based marketing strategies today.
It shows that ABM has helped agencies map their customers’ journeys and convert them with the right approach.
Further, the SimilarWeb data shows that the search volume for the term “ABM” has been over 100K monthly. Furthermore, the volume has increased by 25% between July 2021 to June 2022. This shows people are searching more for this term and looking for ways to incorporate ABM in their digital marketing campaigns.
18. ABM will be driven force to align sales and marketing teams
As we have already seen in the Demand Gen Report’s ABM Benchmark Survey 2020, sales and marketing alignment is an issue for ABM implementation.
Fortunately, things have changed in the last two years. RollWorks State of ABM report found that 35% of B2B marketing leaders are prioritizing marketing alignment with other departments over the past two years.
As a result, ABM is turning out to be a sales acceleration point for more upstream and higher-quality opportunities, leading to revenue growth.
It found that ABM can help to coordinate sales and marketing operations. Both teams can leverage data to target leads better in 2023.
19. Companies are spending more on the ABM
Small and large companies are now familiar with ABM benefits. Thus, the ABM budget across industries has amplified.
The recent Forrester State Of Account-Based Marketing Survey revealed that 25% of executives spend more in this area. Many firms are spending most of their marketing budget on ABM.
But, we suggest businesses execute marketing budgets smartly. While there is no single right way to spend money on marketing, companies must put a significant chunk of their budget into high-return areas.
Since the small firms were part of the survey; thus, the one-to-one ABM deployment type is not favorable anymore. Instead, small firms focus on new customers, leading to sales reps and business development reps playing significant roles in ABM deployment.
20. ABM success depends upon your account selection
Account-based marketing is all about selecting your account. If you follow the right criteria to select your accounts, you will get the best results from your ABM campaigns.
Recotap’s Unstoppable ABM: The Beginners Guide to Account-based Marketing ebook discloses that an average of 7 stakeholders make purchase decisions for the organization.
Determining which stakeholder has more say in the decision-making is a key to implementing ABM. Therefore, companies need to follow strict criteria to select an account, such as:
- Does your selected account deliver the most value in context to revenue?
- Is the selected account already engaged with your business?
- Does the account look like the existing account that has proven to be highly profitable?
- How much does the account match your ICP?
- Are these accounts already available in your sales pipeline?
- What more benefits can you drive from the account?
21. Hyper-personalization can scale appointment booking by 75%
Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehouse, has seen awesome results after implementing ABM. The platform transitioned to an ABM strategy in 2018. But it went public in 2020 when investors’ shares value scrambled up to $3 billion shares.
Snowflake ABM efforts resulted in significant results, such as:
- One-to-one experience is scaled over 2,000 accounts.
- 75% hike in SDR-booked meetings.
- 3X boost in meeting rate for hyper-personalized accounts.
This study shows that account-based marketing is impactful only when you give it time. So don’t expect instant results with ABM. Instead, start with a small number of accounts, and gradually you will see a growth rate per your imagination.
Where Do Account-based Marketing Statistics Take Us in 2022?
All the discussed account-based marketing statistics have walked us through the challenges, benefits, and future outlook of the ABM market space.
However, if you analyze all statistics carefully, it is clear that ABM is ruling the B2B marketing campaigns. Most B2B marketers are using or planning to use ABM programs in the coming years.
In addition, companies that have already deployed ABM programs only have positive things to share about it.
All in all, ABM is the future of B2B marketing. So, get yourself ready and include ABM in your marketing funnel now!
If you need any help to deploy ABM in your marketing strategy, you can connect with our team today. We have experience and knowledge to implement the perfect account-based marketing strategy in 2023
Gaurav Roy
1 March 2022
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