ABM platforms such as SalesForce, Marketo and HubSpot have developed from CRMs – others have developed from profiling or personalisation – such as 6sense, Demandbase, Terminus and LeanData.
Here are key features you should consider when evaluating ABM platforms:
- Account Targeting and Segmentation:
- Advanced Segmentation: Ability to segment target accounts based on various criteria such as industry, company size, location, and revenue.
- Predictive Analytics: Predictive modelling to identify high-value accounts likely to convert.
- Account Profiling and Insights:
- Account Intelligence: Detailed insights into target accounts, including company information, key decision-makers, industry news, and social media activity.
- Intent Data Integration: Integration with intent data sources to identify accounts showing interest in relevant topics or products.
- Personalization Capabilities:
- Content Personalization: Ability to personalize content and messages for specific accounts or account segments.
- Dynamic Content: Dynamic content generation based on account characteristics and behaviour.
- Multichannel Engagement:
- Email Campaigns: Automated and personalized email campaigns targeting decision-makers within accounts.
- Social Media Targeting: Social media advertising and engagement tailored to specific accounts.
- Direct Mail Integration: Integration with direct mail services for personalized offline engagement.
- Sales and Marketing Alignment:
- CRM Integration: Seamless integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems like Salesforce, allowing sales and marketing teams to work with the same data.
- Lead-to-Account Matching: Matching leads to the appropriate accounts for a unified view of account engagement.
- Campaign Orchestration:
- Workflow Automation: Automated workflows for lead nurturing, account progression, and sales follow-ups based on account behaviour and interactions.
- Campaign Analytics: Comprehensive analytics to measure the effectiveness of campaigns at the account level.
- Measurement and Reporting:
- Account-Level Reporting: Detailed reporting and analytics at the account level, allowing you to track account engagement, conversion rates, and ROI.
- Attribution Modeling: Advanced attribution models to understand how different touchpoints contribute to conversions.
- Scalability and Integration:
- Scalability: Ability to scale the platform as your ABM strategy grows, accommodating a larger number of accounts and interactions.
- Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with other marketing technologies, advertising platforms, analytics tools, and CRM systems.
- Export of data: Easy to export data into CSV or Excel for further analysis
- Compliance and Data Security:
- Compliance: Adherence to data privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, ensuring the platform helps maintain compliance.
- Data Security: Robust data security measures to protect sensitive customer and account data.
- Customer Support and Training:
- Support Services: Access to responsive customer support for troubleshooting issues and getting assistance.
- Training Resources: Access to training materials, webinars, and documentation to help your team effectively use the platform.
When integrating many tech solutions together the most commonly overlooked feature (in ExtraDigital’s experience) is the export data feature. Most bolt-on products that provide something (such as segmentation or profiling) provide limited reporting and detailed analysis. The ability to export and make use of more sophisticated analysis is rarely given enough consideration at the evaluation phase.
Another key consideration is staff - do your staff have the skills and knowledge to interpret the data and use in the most effective manner? An ABM platform is a very useful tool to help good staff make the right decisions and improve ROI from your marketing budget. These platforms don’t perform as well without good marketing staff.
