Research commissioned by Folloze, Campaign Stars and Terminus Reveals that Transforming the Martech Stack to Deliver Personalization Is Key to Eliminating Roadblocks to ABM for Most Companies

Folloze, provider of the world’s leading Personalized B2B Marketing Platform, today announced the results of the second annual “State of ABM” survey, created to understand where companies are on their Account-based Marketing (ABM) journey. Folloze partnered with Campaign Stars, Terminus and Canam Research to survey close to 300 senior-level sales and marketing professionals to explore key ABM issues and challenges, including relevant technologies, use of ABM pillars, and companies’ confidence in implementing and scaling ABM.

Overall, more than half (53.85%) of the professionals surveyed say they are confident that ABM is the right strategy for their business, and approximately 15% want ABM capabilities, but most have not yet started its implementation.

Marketing Technology News: Techstart Ventures Backs In-Game Ad Platform Adinmo in $500k Seed Funding Round

Nearly one-third (31.20%) were neutral on ABM as a strategy, likely due to the need for most companies to build out business processes, as well as the martech stack, in order to successfully execute ABM. Only 9% were unfamiliar with ABM overall, illustrating growing recognition of ABM and a new understanding by sales and marketing teams that personalized customer and prospect experiences – including delivery of curated content at scale – are necessary in today’s crowded and noisy marketplace, particularly due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the recent dramatic shift to online-only marketing campaigns.

The current market situation also suggests that the need for ABM will continue to grow, being driven by sales departments’ desire to reach more customers in an individualized fashion. Some 56% of respondents say that sales is driving decisions around ABM technology. ABM requires that prospects are guided on a personalized, individual buying journey, yet the road to effective ABM is blocked by numerous gaps in the martech stack, as well as a perceived or real failure to execute. The survey respondents revealed that:

• Only 25% were confident in their firm’s ability to execute ABM at a scale of 1,000 accounts or more
• 51% of respondents say they struggle to create personalized experiences at the account and vertical level
• Over 21% of respondents don’t create personalized experiences at all, and over 31% say they must personalize manually
• Only 10% were confident that sales teams can help create personalized experiences
• Less than 25% were confident that sales can accurately share approved personalized messaging
• Only about 7% have automated the delivery of customized messaging, content and imagery to prospects

While there is clearly room for improvement, today’s ABM solutions are poised to address current marketing challenges, and a number of firms are experiencing success with ABM techniques. Survey data shows that nearly 75% of respondents say they are using ABM to accomplish key account selection and targeting, while some 68% are personalizing content by vertical to drive the customer journey.

According to Etai Beck, CEO and co-founder of Folloze, ABM can help B2B marketers successfully weather the current storm, build stronger and longer-lasting customer relationships, and ultimately attain their revenue goals. “This survey data illustrates that many companies haven’t yet started their ABM journey, but it also shows that early adopters are experiencing real sales pipeline success,” he said. “ABM was already an important strategy for many B2B marketers, and the urgency to implement ABM has never been greater, given today’s economic disruptions.”

Marketing Technology News: Programmatic Job Advertising Leader Joveo Appoints Mike Werner as Global Head of Sales

Increasing Confidence in ABM Solutions

Greater adoption means that sales and marketing professionals will continue to gain confidence in ABM, leveraging it to deliver personalized content experiences at scale, while addressing issues with data quality, campaign tracking, and managing buyer personas and messaging.

And while ABM has traditionally been equated with small numbers of prospects, modern ABM platforms now enable enterprise marketers to instead drive engagement at scale, a capability that is more important than ever in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Such solutions enable firms to orchestrate truly personalized ABM programs at scale, helping them respond quickly to disruptive market conditions like the coronavirus pandemic. The need for companies to move quickly and confidently forward with ABM, despite market turmoil, will be addressed as part of a live webinar on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, presented by Campaign Stars, Folloze and Terminus. This thought leadership event will include a review of Canam Research ABM research findings and will offer actionable ABM strategies to help companies deliver fast, powerful personalization at scale.

Featured webinar presenter and CEO of Campaign Stars Henry Bruckstein said, “This webinar is a must-attend for those who want to learn more about ABM’s value in terms of new customer acquisition and account retention and expansion, as well as customer success. We’re excited to share how companies can get started with leveraging ABM and hyper-personalization at scale, because they are so effective at putting and advancing leads through the funnel.”

“Marketers are hungry for a single source of truth, and delivery of integrated ABM is what we envision as the future of marketing,” added Justin Keller, VP of Marketing at Terminus. “Full-funnel ABM requires aggregating first and third party data into a single ABM platform so sales, marketing, and customer success managers can take action with the right message at the right time.”

Marketing Technology News: Programmatic Job Advertising Leader Joveo Appoints Mike Werner as Global Head of Sales