• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 1, 2019

Most brand marketers have heard of account-based marketing (ABM), a strategy for acquiring, retaining and nurturing high-value customers: it replaces old-fashioned lead-based marketing. But how many firms are actually using it? 

Fewer than half, judging by Strategies, Tactics and Trends for Account-Based Marketing, a new study from Ascend2.

Of the companies polled, 21% say they have a measurable ABM program in place, and 24% are now rolling out an ABM pilot program. 

Another 40% are planning to implement ABM at some undisclosed date in the future, and 19% are not. 

Those using ABM are good at it, at least in their own telling: 23% say they are very successful, while 65% say they are somewhat successful and 6% say they're unsuccessful. 

Email plays a role, and is doubtless used by both the sales and marketing sides.

This doesn’t only concern B2B, by the way — of the companies surveyed, 46% were B2B, 38% were B2C and were 16% both equally. 

Why do they bother with ABM? Here are their goals: 

• Increasing existing account revenue — 56%
• Increasing accounts and contact — 53%
• Improving marketing/sale alignment — 47%
• Reducing sales cycle time — 30% 
• Attributing marketing efforts to revenue — 27% 
• Improving online personalization — 19%
• Improving data quality issues — 17%

Their main ABM challenges are in a slightly different order:

• Increasing accounts and contacts — 43% 
• Improving marketing/sales alignment — 43%
• Increasing existing account revenue — 39% 
• Attributing marketing efforts to revenue — 37%
• Reducing sales cycle time — 33%
• Improving data quality issues — 26%
• Improving online personalization — 25% 

When targeting accounts for email and other forms of outreach, the most effective selection criteria are: 

• Profitability of account deal — 53% 
• Business needs fit solution — 48% 
• Higher yield accounts — 44%
• Aligned with sales strategy — 40%
• Faster deal velocity — 25%
• Territory supporting sales — 19% 
• Competing products used — 16% 

How do they measure success? The main metrics are:

• Sales revenue generated — 67%
• Marketing & Sales qualified accounts — 41%
• Account engagement — 38%
• Closing rate — 34% 
• Average contract value — 29%
• Pipeline value created — 27%
• Deal velocity — 14%

Want to get started with ABM? You’ll probably need outside help, if this study is any indication. It shows that 57% use a combination of outside and in-house resources. Another 33% do it entirely in-house, and 10% rely exclusively on outside help.

Ascend2 and its Research Partners surveyed 293 marketers.