Account-based marketing (ABM) isn’t just another marketing buzzword. It’s an effective strategy, and it’s all about creating hyper-personalized experiences with individual accounts, which leads to better ROI and stronger relationships with customers. An important part of any ABM program? Email campaigns.
Account-based marketing emails, done right, can revolutionize your outreach, enabling you to convert your top prospects while strengthening the relationships with your most valuable accounts. But how do you build ABM email campaigns that work? So this guide is here so you can cover some of the most important bases — including personalizing your emails, converting them with CTAs, and knowing how to track and analyze the results with ease.
What Is ABM and Why Is It Important?
At heart, ABM is a reverse funnel. Abandoning a catch-all dragnet, ABM targets its most desired accounts. It’s focusing on quality over quantity, to make every touchpoint in marketing, not only email, pinpointedly tailored to meet the unique needs, problems, and goals of the target account.
Why does ABM matter? Simple. It works. ITSMA’s Report states that 87% of marketers say that ABM generates higher ROI than any other marketing approach. When you target the right accounts with the right messaging, you build that trust, develop relationships, and shorten sales cycles.
Emails and ABM are a match made in heaven. With their directness and personalization possibilities, they do lend themselves to a tailored, one-to-one approach. But don’t expect to blast off an email and call it good. You’ll need to take a laser-focused approach instead.
Creating Individualized ABM Emails
At the end of the day, successful account based marketing emails are built on top of the theme of personalization. Your readers are to feel that your words are meant just for them — not simply copied and pasted from a template. Here’s how to do it:
Begin With Hyper-Targeted Subject Lines
Your subject line is your only, maybe-later-on, perhaps-only chance to get the recipient to pay attention to what your email message is all about. Make it count by being specific, relevant and engaging. Talk about their pain points, or bring up a recent interaction. For example:
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“How [Product Name] Can Aid [Company Name] Toward [Another Goal]”
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“Loved your recent webinar! Here’s a sequel you can get behind.”
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3 ways we can streamline [Company Name] operations
Call Out to the Person Directly
Make the content of your email as individualized as you can. Mention their company, troubles in their industry, or some kind of news for them to light up about. For example:
“Hey [Name], I noticed [Company Name] just launched in Europe recently. We hope to become a more fluent partner in helping your transition go even more smoothly…”
Offer Unique Value
Your email should not only be about selling. Instead, your messaging should center around alleviating a problem, providing value, or giving something practical. This could be a private whitepaper, a consultation, or a demonstration tailored to his needs.
Write plainly, and avoid complex jargon. The key is to build trust and form a genuine connection, after all.
Segmenting ABM Email Strategies
Segmentation is key to effectively targeting the right accounts with the right message. Here’s how you can break up your email lists for a more intelligent ABM campaign:
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By Industry or Vertical
Customize your emails according to the industry of your prospects. For instance, a healthcare company will need very different approaches than a tech startup. -
Company Size
The struggles of a scale-up are new compared to a large company. Segmenting based on company size can be helpful in addressing these nuances. -
Buyer Personas
Move beyond generic titles such as “decision-maker.” Develop thorough buyer personas, which illustrate specific roles, goals, challenges, and communication preferences in your ideal accounts. -
Accounts at Sales Funnel Stage
Segment your audience according to their position in the sales funnel. That’s right: cold email copy won’t look anything like nurturing messages to accounts that your sales team is already romancing. -
Past Engagement
Use what you already have on how each account has engaged with your brand in the past. Did they download some sort of whitepaper? Attend a webinar? You can leverage this information to personalize your follow-ups.
Evaluating the Impact of Your ABM Email Campaigns
Proving the ROI for your account-based marketing emails will require tracking the metrics that really matter. Here are metrics to track:
Engagement Metrics
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Open rates and click-through rates (CTR):
These numbers show how well your subject lines and content are resonating with your audience. Greater engagement activities mean both of you are in the same page. -
Emails Read:
This is a great signal of the quality of content.
Account-Specific Metrics
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Account penetration rate —
Are you reaching multiple people in the accounts you are targeting? -
Deal velocity —
Are your emails contributing to moving deals faster through your pipeline?
ROI Measurements
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The percentage of revenue came from ABM and email campaign.
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CPA for Email Targeted Accounts.
And of course, test everything with A/B testing of email subject lines, content and call-to-actions to find what resonates most with your audiences.
Tools and Tech to Super Power Your ABM Email Efforts
You don’t have to handle ABM emails by yourself. There is no shortage of tools that can help you personalizing and tracking. Here are some of the best:
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Solutions
System of record platforms such as Salesforce or HubSpot CRM can help you see all the interactions you’ve had with target accounts. This is gold when writing your personalized emails.
Email Automation Tools
Tools like Market or Mailchimp can help automate personalized emails at scale.
Engagement Tracking Software
Use software from companies like Outreach and Yes ware to monitor how your accounts are interacting with your emails.
Data Analytics Platforms
Leverage resources like Tableau or Google Analytics to track campaign success in real terms.
AI-Powered Copywriting Tools
Platforms such as Jasper or Grammarly Business can help to keep your email content polished, engaging and easy to understand.
Level Up Your ABM Email Game
ABM emails are an effective strategy to build deeper relationships with priority accounts. When personalization and smart segmentation are top of mind – and the ability to measure what matters is a consistent part of your approach – your ABM strategy can be the competitive advantage your company needs.
Finally, the tools and approaches covered here are just the beginning. If you’re ready to take your email game to the next level, try a free trial of next-gen email that can automate, personalize and optimize your ABM initiative.
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