Start With the Right Account-Based Marketing Metrics and Work Backwards

Jointly written with Mark Erwich, Principal

I want to suggest a different way of thinking about account-based marketing (ABM). Start with what you want to measure and work backward. Specifically, which account-based marketing metrics give you a clear picture of how your marketing is improving its outcomes?

This notion came up in a conversation with our new team member, Mark Erwich, a new Health Launchpad principal. Mark is a long-time healthcare technology marketing executive. He has led marketing teams for Nuance, Imprivata and Verato. He is also deeply experienced in ABM. He has forgotten more about account-based marketing metrics than I will ever know and he co-authored this post.

Let’s start with why most healthcare technology firms are moving to ABM.

When ABM is Working, Things Look Different

• Better alignment between sales and marketing
• Average order sizes are bigger
• The team is focused on targeting and engaging larger, more valuable accounts
• There is faster closure (shorter sales cycle)
• Better Conversion
• Higher quality leads and more engaged prospects (not more leads)
• There is a more concentrated effort from Sales and Marketing on selected accounts
• This allows for deeper engagement and relationship-building
• More people from the buyers’ group are touched/engaged
• More key decision-makers (of the prospect) are engaged in the process
• Proposed solutions “customized” for prospects are messaged to those accounts
• Tailored messaging and offerings increase relevance and appeal

ABM is All About Change

Having the Right Account-based Marketing Metrics Tells You How You Are Progressing

If you have adopted ABM, the expectation is that it will result in improved outcomes, most notably, increased revenue, shorter sales cycles, and larger deal sizes.

As a result of ABM, it will take a long time before you close a deal. However, you may quickly see the impact of consistent and targeted messaging on selected accounts, and improvement can be gradual.  ABM requires an investment in time and resources. You need to be able to demonstrate Return on Investment (ROI) progressively.

In addition, ABM involves changing how marketing and sales operate. This will require active involvement from the C-Suite and a change in the way that sales and marketing work together.

It will require a change in expectations about marketing by sales. Specifically, ABM involves a change from quantity of leads to quality of leads. More to the point, it’s about becoming less dependent on filtering through a high quantity of poor-quality leads to being laser-focused on converting a smaller number of higher-quality leads.

Creating visibility for sales management on follow-up efforts is even more important. Are the salespeople working closely with marketing to convert high-quality leads into opportunities?

BDRs are critical in ABM. Their role changes when you move from demand generation to ABM, and tracking their results (whether in Marketing or Sales) is critical.

This means tracking the effectiveness of sales in pursuing high-value accounts and how well marketing is doing in identifying in-market accounts and engaging them.

Having the right account-based marketing metrics will enable you to show progress towards the outcome. It will also help set expectations at the beginning of the project, which is critical since you will request support from Sales.

Building Your Account-based Marketing Metrics Framework

Start by thinking about the audience for these metrics and frequency.

• Who are the key stakeholders who need ABM insights?
• What are the appropriate reporting intervals (weekly, monthly, quarterly)?
• What is the objective of the reporting?
• What is the story you want to tell?

The last question is critical. You need to tell a strategic narrative rather than just report data points. Remember one of the key things about selecting the right account-based marketing metrics is they help you tell the story of how your ABM efforts are making an impact. Above all, you need to be able to align reporting with overall business goals and ABM objectives clearly.

Why Are Account-based Marketing Metrics Different from Demand Generation Metrics?

From a philosophical perspective, ABM metrics are always different because ABM aims to progress accounts, so the metrics are focused on Accounts (rather than leads).

ABM occurs at every stage of the funnel. You will need to track intent and engagement before an account becomes a lead. You also must be able to follow accounts through the entire buyer’s journey.

In addition, ABM is about growth from prospects and customers. You need to be able to include new account acquisition and existing customer expansion. Well-done account-based metrics allow for a comprehensive view of account relationships.

And account-based metrics are about more qualitative detail. They will focus on the depth of engagement within accounts and track the involvement of multiple stakeholders in buying group

Measurement Throughout the Buyer Journey

We use a Buyer-journey model called Total Customer Growth.

High-Level Stages

• Identifying Intent: Accounts showing intent or searching for solutions. They have not yet directly engaged with the company
• Engaged: Accounts interact with the company’s content or representatives. At this stage, the most engaged accounts are prioritized and identified as high-potential targets. They will receive increased focus and resources.
• Conversion: Accounts meeting specific criteria for sales-readiness. Often, this means you have engaged multiple stakeholders from the buying group. Accounts are in active sales process. A clear opportunity has been identified and is being pursued
• Grow: These are closed-won accounts that have been transitioned to customer relationship management. Over time, new opportunities will surface with these accounts, and the cycle will start over.

Most Commonly Used Account-based Marketing Metrics

You should consider These foundational metrics as the primary metrics to track in your dashboard.

• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs): These are traditional metrics focused on individual leads. They are limited in capturing full ABM impact. However, given their familiarity with them, they will be expected to be included.
• Marketing Qualified Accounts (MQAs): Account-level qualification that considers the engagement of multiple stakeholders within the buying group. For example, an account becomes an MQA when 3 members of the buying committee have engaged (e.g., form fill, email clickthrough, new LinkedIn connection, webinar attendance)
• Opportunity-based tracking: This is innovative idea from Mark. Rather than progressively creating new Stage 1 opportunities create opportunities for all target accounts in your CRM with “Stage 0″. As they progress to stage 1 and beyond based on engagement and sales activities you report on the % of your target account list that have become opportunities. This gives a true ABM view of how well you are converting your target account list.

Next Level Account-based Marketing Metrics

In addition to these primary metrics, there are metrics that will help you tell your story over time. Which ones you use depends where you are on your ABM journey

Early-Stage Metrics Examples

• % Penetration of Total Addressable Market (TAM) and Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) by stage
• % target accounts coming to your website
• Number of buyer group contacts for target accounts who have engaged

More Advanced Metrics Examples

• Channel effectiveness
• Average deal sizes measured over time
• Average sales cycle measured over time
• Conversion rate from marketing qualified opportunity to closed-won.

The key is that these types of metrics allow for regular reporting to the board and executives. They demonstrate strategic impact beyond generic demand generation. They also track channel/campaign productivity to optimize the ABM program.

Reports and Reporting Frequency

Mark Erwich has extensive experience reporting performance to the C-suite and board of multiple large healthcare technology firms. He developed this model.

Executive leadership team

• Establish a cadence for reviewing ABM progress and results
• Develop a dashboard of high-level strategic metrics
• Demonstrate traction within the target account list
• Track depth of engagement within target accounts
• Show customer lifetime value for ABM-acquired accounts
• Show how ABM is differentiating the company in the market
• Highlight the contribution of ABM to pipeline and closed deals
• Measure the overall financial impact of ABM efforts
• Quarterly or monthly reporting

Board of Directors

• An abbreviated version of the Executive Leadership report
• Show how ABM is impacting overall business objectives
• Demonstrate the value of focused account approach (e.g., deal size increase)
• Show efficiency gains from ABM strategy
• Highlight the long-term impact of ABM strategy
• Quarterly reporting

Sales leadership

• Align marketing and sales on key performance indicators
• Track stage progression
• Track pipeline and revenue impact metrics
• Weekly or bi-weekly reporting
• Collaborate on targeting and engagement strategies for key accounts

Marketing team

• Detailed campaign, channel, and engagement metrics
• Daily or weekly reporting
• Ensure sales insights inform marketing efforts and vice versa

Why Work Backwards From Outcomes and Metrics

Many of us start with goals, move on to audience and target accounts, and then develop a strategy for achieving the goals. Measurement is not considered until late in the process. What I like about the approach of starting with outcomes and how you will measure progress toward outcomes is that it keeps you focused on the activities that matter. This is a major shift from reporting on activity to reporting on results. You are not measuring activities and events because you can and have to. You are measuring them to see how they are helping you progress towards the goal.

If you liked this post and want to learn more…

1. Check out more posts like this in the Healthtech MarketingLearning Center. It is chock-full of articles, use cases, how-to’s, and ideas. Check out our resource center dedicated to ABM
2. Follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I publish videos and articles on ABM and healthtech marketing.
3. See what other healthcare technology marketers are doing. Check out the State of ABM in Healthcare Technology.
4. Buy Total Customer Growth: Our book on how to win and grow customers for life with ABM and ABX.
5. Work with me directly. Let’s book a growth session and we can explore ways you can improve your marketing using the latest techniques in account-based marketing