How to Evaluate ABM Platforms for Growth

Henry McIntosh
Oct 7
17 min read

Choosing the right ABM platform can transform how your business targets high-value accounts, aligns sales and marketing, and drives revenue growth. But making the wrong choice can lead to wasted resources, poor integration, and missed opportunities. Here's a quick breakdown of how to evaluate ABM platforms effectively:

Key Steps to Evaluate ABM Platforms:

Define Your Business Goals: Align platform features with your objectives, such as entering new markets, increasing deal sizes, or shortening sales cycles.
Understand Your Target Accounts: Look for tools that support stakeholder mapping, intent data, and multi-decision-maker engagement.
Check Scalability: Ensure the platform can handle future campaign growth, advanced personalisation, and complex audience segmentation.
Review Pricing and Flexibility: Examine tiered pricing models, potential cost increases, and contract terms to avoid surprises.
Verify Integration: Test compatibility with your CRM, marketing automation tools, and APIs to prevent data silos.
Assess Core Features: Prioritise intent data, dynamic personalisation, audience segmentation, and account-level reporting.
Plan for Implementation: Start with a pilot programme, train teams thoroughly, and maintain regular vendor communication.

Quick Overview:

Scalability: Can the platform grow with your business?
Integration: Does it sync seamlessly with your existing tools?
Features: Does it offer intent data, personalisation, and reporting?
Pricing: Are costs transparent and aligned with growth?
Support: Is help available during UK business hours?

By focusing on these areas, you can select a platform that aligns with your strategy, improves campaign performance, and supports long-term growth.

Discover the Power of ABM and Demandbase for Revenue Growth

Know Your Business Goals and ABM Needs

Before diving into platform features or pricing, take a step back and clearly define your business objectives. Your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy should be a direct extension of your broader goals. Whether you're aiming to enter new markets, increase deal sizes, or speed up sales cycles, these ambitions should guide your platform choices from the very start.

Set Clear Growth Objectives

Start by identifying specific, measurable outcomes that directly impact revenue. Are you looking to expand within your current accounts, target high-value prospects, or reduce the length of your sales cycles? Each goal will influence the platform features you need.

For example:

If you're focusing on account penetration, look for stakeholder mapping tools.
If new prospecting is your priority, platforms with high-quality intent data are essential.
To speed up sales cycles, prioritise advanced personalisation features.

Tie these growth objectives to revenue targets. Establish clear pipeline benchmarks and ensure your timeline for growth aligns with the platform's capabilities.

Map Your Target Account Profiles

Understanding your ideal customers is key. Go beyond basic demographics and dig into factors like their technology stack, growth stage, funding status, leadership changes, and buying patterns. This deeper analysis will help you choose a platform that aligns with your target audience's complexities.

For UK-based organisations, ensure the platform can handle local market specifics and help identify the right regional contacts, whether you're targeting domestic businesses or multinational firms.

If your accounts involve multiple decision-makers, select a platform that supports multi-stakeholder mapping. This ensures you can engage all relevant parties throughout the buying process.

Get Team Alignment and Set KPIs

Sales and marketing alignment is critical for ABM success. Each team will have its own priorities:

Marketing teams often need tools for creating campaigns, segmenting audiences, and tracking attribution.
Sales teams value detailed account insights, real-time engagement alerts, and seamless CRM integration.
Leadership focuses on pipeline visibility and measuring return on investment.

To keep everyone on the same page, define shared criteria for account qualification and engagement. Choose an attribution model - whether it’s early-stage, closing-focused, or multi-touch - that reflects your sales process. Make sure the platform supports your chosen model.

Finally, set up regular reporting cycles and KPIs that link your overall business goals to actionable team metrics. Once these foundations are in place, you’ll be ready to evaluate platform capabilities and integration options.

Check Platform Growth Capacity and Flexibility

Your ABM platform should grow alongside your business. It's not just about how it performs today but whether it can handle the demands of tomorrow. Make sure its capabilities align with your growth plans and the target account profiles you've already defined. Start by assessing how well the platform manages increasing campaign demands.

Test Campaign Growth Capacity

First, dig into the platform's technical limits. Ask pointed questions about its maximum account capacity, how many campaigns it can run at the same time, and how quickly it processes data. While platforms might claim they can handle large-scale operations, they often struggle when managing thousands of accounts simultaneously.

Put the platform through a stress test. Use your full account list, run multiple campaigns at once, and see how it performs with large data sets. Pay attention to its ability to deliver scalable personalisation and manage complex audience segmentation.

Think about where your campaigns are headed. Basic email campaigns might work for now, but what happens when you introduce more intricate strategies? Test how the platform handles advanced, multi-touch campaigns that combine email, LinkedIn, direct mail, webinars, and personalised landing pages. Look for features like timing dependencies and conditional logic to ensure it can support your future needs.

Review Pricing Models and Contract Terms

Once you're confident in the platform's performance, take a hard look at its pricing structure. Many ABM platforms use tiered pricing, which can lead to unexpected expenses as your business grows. Don't just focus on the starting price - examine how costs might rise as you add accounts, users, or features.

Platforms that charge based on the number of contacts can quickly become expensive for businesses with large enterprise lists. Estimate your potential costs over the next three years based on your growth projections, rather than just today's requirements.

Contract terms also vary widely. Some platforms offer month-to-month contracts, while others require multi-year commitments with limited flexibility. If your business is in an early stage or experiencing unpredictable growth, shorter contracts might be worth the higher monthly rate.

Look for clear upgrade paths in the pricing structure. Hidden fees can pop up when you need extra integrations, premium data sources, or advanced reporting tools. Request full pricing documentation to avoid surprises.

Pay attention to renewal terms as well. Some platforms lock in pricing for several years, while others include automatic price increases. Understanding these details from the start can help you avoid unexpected costs and give you leverage during contract negotiations.

Verify UK and International Support

Beyond performance and pricing, your platform must comply with regional standards. Data compliance can vary significantly between regions, so your platform should handle these challenges automatically. For UK and EU markets, ensure it meets GDPR requirements, including proper consent management, data retention policies, and the ability to process deletion requests. Audit trails for regulatory reviews are a must-have.

If you're planning to expand beyond English-speaking markets, multi-language support becomes crucial. Test how the platform handles campaign creation, personalisation, and reporting in various languages. Some platforms excel at translation but may miss the nuances of local customs or business practices that can make or break your messaging.

Time zone management is another key feature. Make sure the platform schedules campaigns based on the recipient's time zone, not just your office hours. This is especially important when dealing with global accounts.

For industries with strict compliance or geographic-specific regulations, check whether the platform meets local data residency requirements. You may need assurances that data storage complies with these rules.

Finally, assess the platform's support options. UK-based businesses benefit from having technical support, account management, and training available during UK business hours, particularly during the initial setup phase. Test its ability to accurately identify and segment UK-specific accounts by understanding local company structures, recognising subsidiary relationships, and accessing reliable contact data for British businesses.

Test Integration with Your Current Tech Stack

Getting your ABM platform to work smoothly with your existing tools is essential. No ABM platform operates on its own - it needs to blend into your current tech stack to avoid data silos and the hassle of juggling multiple systems. Poor integration can lead to wasted time on manual tasks and missed chances to optimise campaigns.

Before you commit to a platform, take a close look at your current CRM, marketing automation, analytics, and communication tools. Mapping these out early will help you spot potential integration hurdles before they turn into costly problems. Once you have a clear picture of your tech stack, you can focus on testing the specific integrations that will make your ABM strategy successful.

Assess CRM and Marketing Automation Integration

Your CRM is a goldmine of data for ABM campaigns - account histories, contact preferences, deal stages, and revenue opportunities are all there. Without proper integration, your ABM platform risks becoming a disconnected tool that doesn’t take advantage of this valuable information.

For Salesforce users, check for real-time syncing of account and contact data. Real-time updates are crucial - batch syncing can leave you working with outdated campaign data. The integration should also allow you to trigger ABM campaigns based on CRM events, like when a high-value account engages or an opportunity moves to a new stage.

If you’re using HubSpot, ensure the ABM platform can tap into contact properties, company records, and deal pipelines. The integration should align with HubSpot’s contact scoring and lifecycle stages while adding ABM-specific engagement data into the mix.

Marketo users should focus on how the ABM platform handles lead scoring and programme membership. Your ABM tool should enhance your existing nurture programmes by offering account-level insights, helping you prioritise contacts within target accounts.

Don’t just take the vendor’s word for it when it comes to integration claims. Ask for a live demo to see how the platform works with your CRM data, including custom fields. Also, pay attention to how it manages issues like duplicate records and data conflicts - problems like these often emerge after implementation, when switching platforms becomes much harder.

Beyond CRM and marketing automation, strong APIs play a key role in ensuring smooth integrations.

Evaluate API and Data Transfer Capabilities

APIs are the backbone of connecting ABM platforms with external data sources and third-party tools. A robust API will let you link external datasets, create custom dashboards, and expand your platform’s functionality.

Most major marketing automation platforms support API integration, but the quality can vary. For example, HubSpot and Marketo offer both API and native integration options, giving you flexibility when connecting external tools. However, Eloqua’s API, while powerful for development, doesn’t directly integrate with popular automation tools like Zapier. This could mean additional development work, which might increase both time and costs.

Test the API’s ability to handle tasks like custom account scoring and automated reporting. It should allow you to combine ABM engagement data with your existing analytics tools. If you need advanced features, like specialised reporting or custom scoring algorithms, check that the API supports custom development.

Also, confirm whether the API can manage rate limits and integrate with tools like Zapier. Knowing these capabilities upfront will help you design workflows that fit within the platform’s technical framework.

Plan for Setup and Support Needs

The complexity of integration varies widely between platforms, and the setup process might reveal limitations that weren’t obvious during sales demos. Think about the technical resources you’ll need and the level of ongoing support required before finalising your choice.

Native integrations often make setup easier compared to API-based connections. These are usually pre-built, tested, and supported by the ABM platform vendor. However, native integrations can sometimes restrict how much you can customise data flows between systems.

If your team doesn’t have developers, look for platforms with user-friendly, native integrations. For example, Pardot users should know that many ABM features, including third-party tool integrations, often rely on Salesforce Sales Cloud connections.

Ask vendors for detailed implementation timelines. Some integrations might take just a few days, while others could require weeks of configuration and testing. Keep these timelines in mind, especially if you’re working towards specific campaign deadlines or seasonal goals.

Lastly, ensure technical support is available during UK business hours and is familiar with your CRM and marketing automation setup. Reliable support and a smooth setup process will keep your ABM campaigns running efficiently.

Review Core ABM Features and Data Tools

Once your integrations are set up, it's time to dive into the features that are vital for account-based marketing (ABM). Not all platforms are created equal - some excel in specific areas while falling short in others. The trick is to identify which features align with your growth goals and how effectively they can be put into action.

There are three main areas to focus on: how the platform helps you find and prioritise accounts, its ability to deliver personalised messaging at scale, and the depth of insights it provides. These features, when paired with smooth integrations, are the backbone of a strong account engagement strategy.

Account Finding and Intent Data

Top-tier ABM platforms go beyond surface-level data to uncover new opportunities and assess engagement readiness. Account identification should include more than just basic firmographics - it should also incorporate behavioural signals and intent data that indicate genuine interest in buying.

Look for platforms that can analyse website interactions, content consumption trends, and third-party intent signals to create detailed profiles of potential accounts. Ideally, the platform should identify anonymous visitors from your target companies, track their behaviour across various touchpoints, and use this information to time your outreach and prioritise sales efforts.

Pay attention to how the platform scores intent. Can it differentiate between casual research and active buying interest? The scoring system should be transparent so your sales team understands why certain accounts are prioritised.

Data freshness and coverage are also critical. Intent signals quickly lose relevance, so platforms that update data daily are a better choice than those with weekly updates. Additionally, make sure the platform captures data from UK-based prospects and accounts for regional market differences.

Another key feature is the ability to identify buying committee members within target accounts. B2B decisions often involve multiple stakeholders, so your ABM strategy must address this complexity. Look for tools that map organisational hierarchies and pinpoint decision-makers based on their roles, seniority, and engagement patterns. These capabilities ensure that the accounts you target can translate into actual revenue growth.

Message Customisation and Audience Segmentation

The real value of ABM platforms lies in their ability to personalise at scale. Generic messaging undermines the purpose of ABM, but creating entirely unique content for every account isn’t practical. The best platforms strike a balance by offering dynamic personalisation based on account details, industry, company size, and past interactions.

The platform should automatically tailor messaging to factors like the visitor’s company, role, or engagement history. Beyond text, it should personalise visuals, case studies, and calls-to-action to align with account-specific characteristics.

Audience segmentation should be more advanced than basic demographics. It should incorporate intent signals, engagement scores, and the account's stage in the buying cycle. For instance, you might want to target "mid-sized tech companies showing strong interest in cybersecurity solutions and currently in an active buying phase."

Dynamic segmentation is another must-have. As account behaviours change, the platform should automatically adjust their segment and trigger tailored messaging without requiring manual updates.

A/B testing is crucial for fine-tuning your personalisation efforts. The platform should enable you to test various messages, content formats, and channel strategies to see what resonates with different account segments. The insights gained should feed back into the system to enhance future campaigns.

Reporting and Performance Analytics

Once your targeting and messaging are in place, measuring the impact becomes essential. The focus should be on metrics that tie ABM activities directly to revenue. While basic metrics like email open rates and website visits are helpful, they don’t tell the whole story. You need insights that show how ABM influences your sales pipeline and shortens deal cycles.

Look for platforms that provide account-level reporting, not just individual contact metrics. This allows you to track engagement trends across entire buying committees, see which accounts are advancing through your sales funnel, and understand how different touchpoints contribute to account development.

Pipeline attribution is another critical feature for proving ABM’s return on investment. The platform should track how your campaigns impact opportunity creation, deal size, and the length of the sales cycle. Multi-touch attribution models are especially helpful for identifying which activities have the biggest influence on revenue.

Real-time reporting is key, so look for platforms with dashboards that keep your team up to date on account progress and campaign performance. Some platforms even include predictive analytics, using machine learning to analyse engagement patterns and intent signals to flag high-conversion accounts. This helps sales teams focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities.

Finally, custom reporting options are important because every organisation measures success differently. The platform should let you build reports that align with your specific KPIs and business goals. Integration with tools like Tableau or Power BI can extend your analysis by combining ABM data with other business metrics.

Don’t overlook data export capabilities. Being able to extract campaign data for deeper analysis or integration with other systems is a valuable feature that rounds out your ABM tech stack. This analytics layer ties everything together, complementing your account identification and personalisation efforts seamlessly.

Plan Implementation, Training, and Platform Improvement

Rolling out a new platform successfully takes more than just flipping a switch. It demands thoughtful planning, thorough training, and constant fine-tuning. Many organisations rush into deployment, only to face adoption struggles or miss out on growth opportunities.

Striking the right balance between speed and precision is key. Your team needs enough support to feel confident, while maintaining momentum toward growth goals.

Start with a Test Programme

Kick things off with a controlled pilot programme. This is your chance to test the platform’s capabilities while minimising risk. Choose a sample of 50 to 100 accounts that represent your typical customer base. Make sure this group includes accounts at different buying stages and spans various industries or segments.

During the pilot, focus on one or two specific use cases instead of trying to tackle everything at once. For example, you might zero in on intent-based account identification or personalised email campaigns. Keeping it focused makes it easier to measure success and identify areas for improvement.

Define clear success metrics upfront - such as account engagement, pipeline velocity, or qualified opportunities. A 60- to 90-day timeline works well for gathering enough data to make informed decisions about scaling up.

Document everything during this phase. Track what works, where challenges arise, and how target accounts respond. This documentation will be a goldmine when it’s time to train the rest of your team and refine your strategy.

Use the insights from the pilot to adjust your approach before going all-in. Whether it’s tweaking account selection criteria, refining messaging, or streamlining workflows, these adjustments will smooth the path for broader adoption. Plus, this groundwork helps you tailor training for your team, so they can hit the ground running.

Train Teams and Drive Adoption

For your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy to take root, your teams need to master the tools. Training should cover not only platform navigation but also best practices and how ABM contributes to revenue growth.

Start with your core ABM team - a small group of 3 to 5 people who will become experts and internal champions. These individuals should receive in-depth training on every feature, even the advanced ones they might not use immediately. They’ll act as the go-to resources for troubleshooting and guiding others.

For the rest of the team, focus on the features they’ll use daily. For example, sales development representatives should learn how to prioritise accounts using intent scores and engagement data, while account executives need to know how to leverage insights for outreach and relationship building.

Hands-on practice is crucial. Use real target accounts to create scenarios and have team members work through common tasks during training sessions. This practical experience helps them see how the platform fits into their daily workflows.

Make sure everyone understands the bigger picture. When team members see how their efforts tie into broader ABM goals, they’re more likely to embrace the new tools and processes. Highlight how the platform’s data and insights can make their work more effective and less time-consuming.

Regular check-ins during the first few months help reinforce training. Use these sessions to address questions, share tips, and identify any gaps in understanding. Internal documentation or video tutorials tailored to your organisation’s workflows can also be a helpful resource.

To encourage adoption, recognise and reward team members who excel at using the platform. You might even adjust performance metrics to reflect ABM-focused activities alongside traditional lead generation goals. Once your team is comfortable, you can shift your focus to monitoring performance and managing vendor relationships.

Monitor Performance and Manage Vendor Relationships

Keeping an eye on performance ensures you’re getting the most out of your investment. This means tracking both the technical side and the business outcomes, while also maintaining strong ties with your platform vendor.

Set up monthly performance reviews to monitor key metrics. On the technical side, look at data accuracy, integration stability, and platform uptime. For business results, focus on metrics like account engagement, pipeline progression, and revenue attribution. Dashboards can make these metrics easy to track and share with stakeholders.

Quarterly business reviews with your vendor are another must. These meetings are a chance to discuss what’s working, tackle any issues, and explore new features. Bring data about your usage, success stories, and areas needing support - these discussions often uncover opportunities you might not spot on your own.

Stay updated on platform updates and new features. While regular enhancements can boost results, not every update will suit your needs. Evaluate each one carefully before rolling it out.

Data quality is an ongoing challenge. Account details change frequently, and intent signals can shift with the market. Set up processes to regularly validate and clean your data, and work with your vendor to ensure data accuracy.

Build relationships with multiple contacts at your vendor, not just your account manager. Having access to technical support, customer success, and product teams can be invaluable for specialised help or influencing future platform improvements.

If your vendor offers user communities or advisory boards, consider joining. These groups provide insights into how others use the platform and can even influence its development roadmap. Plus, the networking opportunities can lead to valuable tips and strategies.

Conclusion: Choose the Right Platform for Long-Term Growth

Picking the right ABM platform isn’t just about ticking boxes on a checklist - it’s about finding a solution that aligns with your growth goals and delivers results you can measure. The criteria we’ve covered here will help ensure your chosen platform works in harmony with your overall ABM strategy.

A key factor to consider is technical compatibility. Your platform should integrate smoothly with tools you’re already using, like your CRM and marketing automation systems. This way, your team can focus on engaging with accounts rather than battling technical hiccups.

How you implement the platform can make or break its success. Starting with a focused pilot programme, providing robust training, and building strong relationships with the vendor can create a strong foundation. Teams that understand both the platform and the strategy behind it tend to achieve better, more consistent results.

When implemented effectively, ABM can transform how B2B businesses approach growth. It shifts the focus from broad, volume-based tactics to precise targeting, helping you build deeper connections with high-value accounts and achieve more predictable revenue. The evaluation framework discussed here ensures your platform supports this shift rather than holding you back.

For businesses in complex B2B sectors like financial services or technology, the stakes are even higher. The right ABM platform becomes a powerful tool, helping you connect with decision-makers, tailor your engagement strategies, and shorten sales cycles - even in the most challenging markets.

Take the time to evaluate your options carefully. The platform you choose today will shape the future of your ABM success. If you’re looking for more guidance on refining your account-based marketing approach, explore the expert resources available through Twenty One Twelve Marketing.

FAQs

What key features should an ABM platform have to support our business growth goals?

When choosing an ABM platform, it's important to focus on features that align with your business growth goals. Start with tools for account prioritisation and intelligence - these help you identify and target the accounts with the most potential. Features like predictive analytics and AI-driven insights can also give you a competitive edge by helping you spot opportunities and fine-tune your campaigns.

Platforms that offer personalisation options and campaign management tools make it easier to craft tailored messages and coordinate your efforts effectively. Lastly, strong analytics and reporting capabilities are non-negotiable - they allow you to monitor performance and make informed, data-backed decisions. Together, these tools can help you achieve measurable outcomes and sustainable growth.

How can we assess if an ABM platform can scale effectively before committing to it?

When assessing whether an ABM platform can grow alongside your business, it’s a smart move to begin with a pilot programme. Start small, then gradually increase the number of accounts and the overall workload. Keep a close eye on how the platform performs under this added pressure - pay attention to its speed, reliability, and how well it integrates with the tools you’re already using.

Look for features like automation and the ability to process larger datasets as your operations expand. The key is ensuring that these capabilities don’t come at the cost of efficiency or quality. By spotting potential weak points early on, you can determine if the platform is equipped to grow sustainably and meet your future needs.

How can we seamlessly integrate an ABM platform with our current CRM and marketing tools?

To successfully integrate an ABM platform with your existing CRM and marketing tools, start by defining your business objectives and ensuring that your sales and marketing teams are on the same page. When both teams share a clear understanding of the goals, it helps streamline operations and reduces the chance of misunderstandings.

Focus on organising and cleaning your data by segmenting and structuring your target accounts within the CRM. This step not only improves account tracking but also ensures consistency across all platforms. Begin with straightforward workflows to test the integration - keeping it simple helps minimise errors and makes troubleshooting easier.

Lastly, encourage continuous collaboration between teams. Regularly review the integration’s performance, address any issues quickly, and make adjustments as needed. This ongoing effort will help refine the process and deliver measurable outcomes.