Introduction
Undoubtedly, the world of marketing strategy has been completely revolutionised by technology. MarTech is now a discipline in its own right. I say this because, according to a Statista report, there were 9932 marketing software tools and platforms in 2022, which is a significant amount.
The number of software tools is vast. They can include email marketing automation platforms, CRMs, contact enrichment tools, lead-to-account matching tools and several other categories. Even if you focus on Account-Based Marketing, it's still a lot to sort through.
At xGrowth, we recognised the need to discuss the martech ecosystem in ABM and the key factors to consider when investing in an Account-Based Marketing tool or platform.
This article will specifically define the kind of tools and platforms that can exist within the ABM sphere. I will also dive deeper into each of the tools and talk about the four following things.
- First, each platform or tool’s key capabilities
- Second, what I like about it
- Then, how is the tool rated publically by peer rating platforms such as TrustRadius, Capterra and G2?
- Finally, we share some of their customer success stories (i.e. Account-Based Marketing examples).
Below is a quick table of contents. Feel free to click on the relevant platforms that catch your attention. So, without further ado, let's dive into how we at xGrowth segment the various ABM tools and platforms.
Best Account-Based Marketing Tools in 2024:
- Demandbase
- 6Sense
- Terminus
- RollWorks
- PriorityEngine By TechTarget
- Bombora
- Clearbit
- ZoomInfo
- Drift
- PathFactory
- Uberflip
What Tools Can be Used for Account-Based Marketing?
As a B2B marketer, you can classify ABM tools and platforms into the following four categories.
1) Core ABM tools and other Account-Based Marketing platforms:
These are one-stop-shop players. They offer multiple features and functionalities that help organisations implement their ABM strategy at scale. The key core-Account-Based Marketing tools and platforms I will cover in this article are Demandbase, 6Sense, Terminus and RollWorks.
2) ABM Intent Data Platforms:
Intent Data platforms gather information on buyers' online behaviour and estimate their purchase readiness and capability. Leveraging intent data can rapidly multiply the ROI on your ABM campaigns since a successful ABM strategy, by definition, is all about customisation at the right time. For this article, I will cover two intent data tools, Priority Engine by TechTarget and Bombora.
3) ABM Contact Enrichment Tools:
Contact enrichment tools are specialised Account-Based Marketing software that aids in the sales process by automatically detecting and gathering contact details from potential customers. These tools can also enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of your customer data by supplementing additional information like business names, industries, geographical locations, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts and more.
Incorporating contact enrichment tools into your ABM strategy can help you save time, boost conversion rates, personalise your communication, and segment your target accounts.
In this article, I will discuss the contact enrichment tools offered by Clearbit and ZoomInfo.
4) ABM Communication Platforms (Chatbots)
As generative AI technologies become mainstream, chatbots have been gaining acceptance as legitimate Account-Based Marketing software. How chatbots can be used as a part of your Account-Based Marketing strategy is a topic in its own right.
For this article, we’ll take a look at Drift.
5) ABM Content Delivery Platforms
Content delivery platforms are sophisticated enterprise solutions that allow businesses to oversee and distribute their content through multiple channels. These platforms usually feature a content management system (CMS) and tools for handling digital assets, workflows, and permissions. By leveraging content delivery platforms, businesses can effectively design, disseminate, and assess the effectiveness of their ABM campaigns. In this article, I will cover PathFactory and Uberflip as content delivery platforms.
The above ABM tools ecosystem could be overwhelming initially, but believe me, this framework will help you structure your MarTech better.
Before we start diving into each of the platforms, there are two things that I want to address upfront.
First, while these tools can be helpful, it's important to note that implementing and adopting an ABM strategy doesn't necessarily require them. It's possible to run a successful ABM campaign in their absence.
Secondly, the core ABM platforms are comprehensive ABM platforms. This means that they usually have all the capabilities of intent data, account orchestration, contact enrichment and content delivery.
In the real world, removing the existing marketing tech stack to implement a comprehensive ABM platform is something most organisations can't and shouldn't do. Ideally, you want to use your existing tools to scale your ABM. This is why I have mentioned the other four categories of ABM tools. If you think about them, they aren't specialised ABM tools; they also have applications in other marketing automation strategies.
11 Best Account-Based Marketing Tools in 2024
1. Demandbase
Key Capabilities
DemanbaseOne, enables B2B marketers and sellers to target, engage and close more deals with their most valuable accounts. Organisations can use its account-based advertising, intent data, and artificial intelligence features to provide personalised experiences across various channels.
Some of the key capabilities of the Demandbase ABM platform i.e. DemandbaseOne include the following:
ABM Audience Creation
Enables creating and managing ideal customer profiles (ICP) and target account lists (TAL) based on various parameters such as firmographic, technographic, behavioural, and intent data.
ABM Target Audience Activation
Allows reaching target accounts through personalised ads, content, and web experiences across multiple channels. The platform offers many automation capabilities to ensure that Account-Based Marketing campaigns and programs can be implemented at scale.
ABM Measurement
Tracks and optimises ABM performance through metrics such as account engagement score, pipeline influence, revenue impact, and return on ad spend. Marketers can also create dashboards within the software.
Why do we like Demandbase?
Some of the reasons we like Demandbase are as follows:
- The platform offers account-level insights on intent and engagement data. Your sales team can use this information to plan their outreach efforts and navigate them strategically with more preparation.
- The overall product is intuitive to use. It offers user-friendly features, including drag and drop, selectors, smooth flows, and fun designs.
- It is reliable and has a responsive customer success team with deep knowledge and willingness to help.
- It is an all-in-one platform with the necessary features and modules for running ABM campaigns and showing ROI.
Demandbase rating
At the time of publishing this article:
- The average rating for Demandbase on TrustRadius is 8.3 out of 10 based.
- The average rating on G2 is 4.5 out of 5.
- On Capterra, it has received an average rating of 4.3 out of 5.
Demandbase Customers
Some of the Demandbase customers are:
- Deep Instinct: It's a cybersecurity company that uses Demandbase to switch to a modern account-based approach and drive a higher sales pipeline.
- Folloze: Folloze is a B2B customer engagement platform. It uses Demandbase to optimise its ABM campaigns and increase conversions.
- Thales: It's a global leader in aerospace, defence, security, and transportation. The company uses Demandbase to target key accounts and personalise its messaging.
2. 6Sense
Key Capabilities
The 6sense Account-Based Marketing (ABM) platform uses artificial intelligence to provide revenue insights to its clients.
It boasts of being powered by Revenue AI™, which helps marketers uncover hidden buyer behaviour and improve the overall efficacy of their ABM programs.
The platform's key capabilities include:
- The ability to identify target accounts and prioritise them based on intent signals and predictive analytics.
- Engage accounts across multiple channels and personas.
- Orchestrate an entire Account-Based Marketing campaign with its account identification, audience building, data enrichment and integration features.
- Personalise account-based advertising.
- Account-based analytics and attribution.
- Seamless integration with CRMs, marketing automation software, and other sales engagement tools.
Why do we like 6Sense?
Based on customer feedback, the 6Sense ABM platform is highly regarded for its user-friendly interface.
The platform offers the creation and delivery of personalised content to potential prospects through predictive analysis.
Its solid data and analytics tools can be utilised across various business use cases.
Additionally, the platform helps coordinate targeted marketing campaigns and track progress while uncovering live sales opportunities and insights that may have gone unnoticed.
6Sense Rating
As of the date of writing this article:
- On TrustRadius, 6sense has a rating of 8.4 out of 10.
- On Capterra, it has a rating of 4.6 out of 5.
- G2, 6sense has a rating of 4.4 out of 5.
6Sense Customers
Some of the industry leaders that became 6Sense customers in 2020 are Brightcove, Cognizant, and SYKES (now Foundever).
Other notable names include global organisations such as VMware, Dell, Cisco, and Zoom.
3. Terminus
Key Capabilities
Terminus is an innovative B2B marketing platform offering comprehensive features to help companies target and engage their most significant accounts throughout the customer journey.
The platform combines sales intelligence and account information to identify potential targets. It also offers a marketing engine for managing advertising, email and web campaigns for Account-Based Marketing.
Terminus is one of the few core Account-Based Marketing platform companies that has also entered the chatbot space. We will talk more about chatbots a little later in the article.
Marketers can also leverage Terminus's web personalisation tool to create dynamic website experiences based on account data and intent signals.
With its account-based analytics dashboard, marketers can measure the impact of marketing activities on revenue outcomes.
Apart from its ABM technology software, Terminus offers resources and best practices for implementing Account-Based Marketing strategies using its TEAM framework.
Why do we like Terminus?
- Terminus's pricing strategy benefits customers by passing on savings when CPMs drop. (The term CPM means cost per mile or cost per thousand. This metric calculates the cost of displaying your online advertisement to 1,000 people.)
- The organisation also provides a comprehensive enterprise solution covering all account identification, engagement, activation, and measurement aspects.
- It strongly integrates with Salesforce and enables dynamic audience segmentation, account-based reporting, and account engagement visibility.
Terminus Rating
As of the date of writing this article
- on TrustRadius, the Terminus Account-Based Marketing platform has a 7.9 out of 10.
- It has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2.
- On Capterra, Terminus has an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Terminus Customers
Terminus ABM software platform has multiple customers, including Pramata and Phononic.
Pramata is a contract intelligence company that utilised Terminus to decrease customer acquisition costs by 60%, increase sales velocity by 40%, and enhance account engagement by 3x.
Similarly, Phononic, a solid-state cooling technology company, leveraged the Terminus platform and achieved a $10 million revenue with a 25:1 return on ad spending.
4. RollWorks
Key Capabilities
RollWorks provides an all-inclusive Account-Based Marketing platform that assists B2B sellers and marketers in identifying and engaging with their target accounts. The platform offers several capabilities.
They have an account identification feature that allows users to filter on multiple target account attributes such as industry, company, department, revenue, and more, using their and RollWorks' data.
Users can do account scoring to identify high-value accounts based on fit and intent signals and discover new accounts matching their ideal customer profile using machine learning.
RollWorks' engagement feature enables marketers to reach their target accounts and buyers through various channels, such as display ads, social media ads, email campaigns, and website personalisation. Users can dynamically optimise their web experience and track engagements across all touch points.
Finally, with RollWorks, marketers can gauge their ABM campaigns' success by tracking pipeline and revenue outcomes. The platform offers dashboards and reports allowing users to track important metrics like account reach, engagement, influence, velocity, win rate, ROI, and others.
Why do we like RollWorks?
RollWorks is easy to set up and get started with.
It has a proprietary data source and machine learning model that assists in identifying relevant target accounts and buyers.
The company follows a flexible pricing model, allowing its customers to pay only for the services they use.
RollWorks Rating
At the time of publishing this article:
- On TrustRadius, RollWorks has a rating of 7.7 out of 10
- On Capterra, it has a rating of 4.5 out of 5
- On G2, RollWorks has a rating of 4.4 out of 5
RollWorks Customers
RollWorks has a variety of customers across different industries and sizes. Some of the key customers that RollWorks has worked with are as follows.
- Dialpad, a platform for cloud-based business communication, utilised RollWorks to accelerate the process of closing deals by 52%.
- Pitchbook, a financial research firm, saw a 170% increase in opportunities coming from its ABM program.
- Aircall provides a cloud-based phone system that enables teams and easily integrates with their preferred business tools. The company used the RollWorks platform as the backbone of its entire ABM program.
ABM Intent Data Platforms
5. PriorityEngine By TechTarget
Key Capabilities
Priority Engine from TechTarget is a SaaS-based intent data tool.
Marketers can use it to rank accounts based on the key decision makers' purchase intent and overall alignment with their company's solutions.
Priority Engine identifies and prioritises critical influencers on the buying committee. It also provides access to a particular stakeholder's official contact information and opt-in/out status.
As a marketer, you can also get to know the topics your account stakeholders are searching online, their content consumption and engagement patterns.
Priority Engine seamlessly connects with both CRM and marketing automation platforms to facilitate the smooth flow of data and execution of campaigns. It also utilises data cleansing, appending, and verification services to ensure precise and actionable contact information.
Why do we like Priority Engine?
TechTarget's vast network of technology-specific websites lets you connect with the most engaged accounts and potential clients actively researching technologies in your market.
This direct access ensures that you have access to the most relevant prospects.
Priority Engine Rating
Priority Engine has the following ratings on different platforms:
- TrustRadius: 8.3 out of 10 stars
- G2: 4.3 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4 out of 5 stars
PriorityEngine Customers
Several large B2B technology businesses, telecommunication companies, software firms, and healthcare organisations utilise Priority Engine.
TechTarget's website features success stories as listed below:
Cisco used Priority Engine to identify and prioritise accounts with active demand for their solutions, resulting in a 3x increase in pipeline and a 50% reduction in the sales cycle.
Citrix leveraged Priority Engine to align sales and marketing teams around a standard set of accounts and prospects, leading to a 40% increase in MQL-to-SQL conversion rate and a 10x increase in ROI.
Dell EMC utilised Priority Engine to gain insights into buyer behaviour and intent, enabling them to create personalised outreach and content, resulting in a 35% increase in email open rates and a 25% increase in click-through rates.
6. Bombora
Key Capabilities
The Bombora Intent Data Platform enables marketers and sales teams to identify and engage with potential customers interested in their products or services.
This platform gathers intent data from a vast consent-based data co-op, which includes buying signals from over 5,000 websites and 4 million companies worldwide.
The Bombora Intent Data Platform offers a range of features and capabilities:
- It allows integration with popular B2B software and service providers, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and LinkedIn, enabling access to intent data within existing tools.
- The platform uses natural language processing (NLP) to organise intent data into a topic taxonomy comprising over 12,000 industry-standard categories, making locating relevant topics for business purposes easier.
- The Business Identity Graph a proprietary feature offered by Bombora associates intent data to businesses by mapping IP addresses, cookies, domains, and other identifiers to companies and locations.
- It has an extensive partner and integration ecosystem that makes intent data actionable across various use cases, such as Account-Based Marketing (ABM), content marketing, lead generation, and sales enablement.
Why do we like Bombora?
We like Bombora since it has an extensive partnerships ecosystem with large CRMs and marketing automation platforms in the industry.
The company has a unique methodology for gathering intent data and deploys powerful internal IPs and proprietary methodologies behind the product's functioning.
Bombora Rating
Bombora has the following ratings on TrustRadius, G2 and Capterra:
- On TrustRadius, Bombora has a rating of 9.1 out of 10
- On G2, Bombora has a rating of 4.6 out of 5
- On Capterra, Bombora has a rating of 4.8 out of 5
Bombora Customers
Bombora has an impressive roster of nearly 500 customers, some of its success stories are listed below.
SugarCRM, a customer relationship management platform, used Bombora and Triblio to uncover hidden in-market accounts and increase their sales pipeline by 25%.
Pegasystems, a software company that provides digital transformation solutions, used Bombora to enhance their marketing and sales teams' alignment and increase their win rate by 20%
Teradata, a data analytics company, used Bombora to measure their brand awareness and campaign ROI and achieved a 30% increase in click-through rate and a 50% decrease in cost per lead.
ABM Contact Enrichment Tools
7. Clearbit
Key Capabilities
Clearbit is a B2B data enrichment platform.
One of its key functionalities includes data enrichment. This involves adding more information to contacts, such as seniority, function, industry and location.
The tool also assists in discovering new prospects that match the ideal customer profile using filters such as industry, location, size, funding, and technology. Additionally, it identifies key decision-makers and reveals anonymous website visitors.
Clearbit offers a data activation feature that connects and enriches data sources, synchronising them with an existing CRM, marketing automation platform, and analytics tools.
Why do we like Clearbit?
Clearbit provides a complete range of data enrichment, discovery, and activation products, unlike its rivals, which concentrate on limited aspects of data intelligence.
It offers over 85 data points for each contact and company, which is more than some of the other players in the market.
Clearbit offers a flexible API and a variety of integrations with popular CRM, marketing automation platforms, and analytics tools to synchronise and activate data across your stack easily.
Clearbit offers transparent pricing based on usage and value, with no hidden fees or lock-in contracts. It also has a free plan for individual users to try out its features.
Clearbit Rating
Clearbit has the following ratings:
- TrustRadius: Clearbit has a rating of 8.1 out of 10
- G2: Clearbit has a rating of 4.3 out of 5
- Capterra: Clearbit has a rating of 4.4 out of 5
Clearbit Customers
Clearbit has a diverse customer base of over 1500 businesses from industries like technology, e-commerce, education, media, and healthcare. Some of its notable customer success stories are as follows.
Asana uses Clearbit to enhance leads, score prospects, and personalise messages in project management software.
Gorgias is a helpdesk platform for online merchants to provide customer support. The company’s growth lead, Maxime Sutra, built hyper-targeted audiences using Clearbit Advertising to generate $2M ARR in 11 months.
8. ZoomInfo
Key Capabilities
ZoomInfo provides accurate B2B intelligence and company contact data for go-to-market strategy.
It offers bulk contact searches, streamlined list building, and campaign management in one easy-to-use platform.
The company’s products also assist B2B companies in analysing customer interactions across various communication channels such as sales calls, email, phone outreach, and business website.
Why do we like ZoomInfo?
- ZoomInfo has an extensive database of 106 million company records covering various industries, regions, and job roles.
- It's a user-friendly platform that enables easy searching, list creation, and data export.
- The platform also has features that help in non-ABM activities such as lead generation, market research, and sales outreach.
ZoomInfo Ratings
Zoominfo ratings on G2, Capterra and Trust Radius are as follows:
- Zoominfo has a rating of 7.9 on Trust Radius. It is highly appreciated for its data quality and coverage.
- Zoominfo is a leader in the sales intelligence software category with 4.5 stars out of 5 based on G2.
- It has a high rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
ZoomInfo Customers
Some of Zoominfo’s customer success stories are as follows:
- Productboard comprises a range of software tools designed for product management. These tools aim to assist product managers in comprehending customer requirements, prioritising features, and uniting all stakeholders around the product roadmap. The company used ZoomInfo to generate USD 100K in identifiable-pipeline within 60 days.
- Sendoso - Sendoso used ZoomInfo's OperationsOS tool to streamline data management by automating manual processes, which led to a decrease in inaccurate data by 70%. In effect, the company was able to get a combined time savings of over 1,100 hours of manual data enrichment.
Communication Tools for ABM (Chatbots)
9. Drift
Key Capabilities
Drift offers live chat, chatbots, and messaging campaigns to customers. It can personalise customer conversations by tailoring specific messages and interactions for each visitor and page.
The chatbot functionality helps identify customer interest, share content, and schedule sales meetings quickly.
The software integrates with other ABM tools and has features like a conversation sidebar, Drift meetings, chat icons, and widget configurations via its API.
Why do we like Drift?
- Drift chatbot for ABM enables real-time support and complex multimedia assistance to customers.
- It automates repetitive tasks and qualifies accounts without human intervention.
- It allows personalised messaging and interactions with target accounts using chatbots, resulting in positive customer experiences.
- Valuable data can also be obtained from chatbot conversations to optimise the ABM strategy and measure ROI.
Drift Ratings
Drift has received high ratings on various platforms.
- It has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
- It has 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2.
- Trust Radius shows a rating of 8.7 out of 10.
Drift Customers
Some of the key Drift customers who are using it for ABM are:
- SAP Concur uses Drift to generate qualified accounts and boost the sales pipeline for itself
- Proofpoint, a cybersecurity company, uses Drift for personalised messages and booking meetings with target accounts.
- Okta uses Drift to speed up sales cycles and increase deal closures.
ABM Content Delivery Platforms
10. PathFactory
Key Capabilities
PathFactory is an Account-Based Marketing tool that offers personalised content recommendations for targeted accounts at every stage of their journey.
The platform uses AI-powered content intelligence to create customised content journeys that get smarter over time.
PathFactory provides two ABM solutions: account-based analytics and account-based content.
Account-based analytics tracks target accounts' engagement with content, while account-based content creates account-specific content experiences consistent with your ABM strategy.
PathFactory claims that its ABM solutions can help scale ABM programs, enhance pipeline velocity, improve sales and marketing alignment, and optimise content strategy.
Why do we like PathFactory?
PathFactory stands out from other companies in the ABM space by providing a distinct advantage of micro-personalisation after every click.
It offers personalised content journeys that are customised for each person and improve with time.
Another exciting feature of the PathFactory platform is that it enables you to highlight popular content with other account stakeholders, especially among the same buying committee.
PathFactory Rating
- PathFactory has a rating of 4.5/5 on G2.
- On TrustRadius, it has an average rating of 8.8/10.
- Capterra rates PathFactory at 4.6/5.
PathFactory Customers
Some of the top PathFactory customers are:
- Adobe uses PathFactory to personalise content journeys for prospects and customers, leading to over 1000 form submissions from their "Product Tour" content track.
- Okta increased their content engagement by 4x and sales accepted opportunities by 2x using PathFactory for buyer self-direction.
- ZoomInfo increased their content consumption by 3x and demo requests by 40% using PathFactory.
11. Uberflip
Key Capabilities
Uberflip is a platform that creates personalised digital content experiences for Account-Based Marketing.
As a marketer, you can use it to create ABM landing pages for each target account or segment with relevant content and branding.
The platform can also be used to embed tiles from target/marketing streams in email campaigns for personalised content for prospects.
It integrates with popular CRMs and other marketing tools to measure the impact of ABM campaigns.
Finally, you can also use AI-powered recommendations to display relevant content for each visitor based on their behaviour and intent.
Why do we like Uberflip?
Uberflip offers robust integrations. It also has a powerful AI engine that analyses your content and audience data to deliver personalised recommendations and insight. The platform itself is very versatile and goes beyond ABM when it comes to features. It could be an excellent addition to your tech-stack
Uberflip Ratings
Uberflip has the following high ratings:
- On TrustRadius, it is rated 9/10.
- Capterra rates it at 4.8/5.
- On the G2 platform, users have rated it at 4.6/5.
Uberflip Customers
Uberflip has many customers across different industries and regions. Some of its success stories are mentioned below.
- Cision used Uberflip for an ABM campaign that raised the pipeline by 267%.
- Snowflake utilised Uberflip to create a content hub that improved engagement and conversions on its cloud data platform for innovative data-driven solutions.
- Blackbaud, a cloud software company for social good, used Uberflip to create a customer advocacy program that boosted retention and referrals.
What Features to Look for in an Account-Based Marketing Tool?
When searching for an Account-Based Marketing (ABM) tool, finding features that align with your business's objectives is necessary. The following are some essential features to consider when assessing ABM tools:
Account Segmentation: Choose a tool that allows you to segment your target accounts based on various criteria, including industry, size, or revenue. This feature is vital for creating personalised campaigns that resonate with your target accounts.
Personalisation Capabilities: Personalisation is essential to ABM's success. So, choose a tool that enables you to personalise your messaging and content based on each account's specific needs and interests. Ideally, a platform that helps you create dynamic landing pages, email templates, and content recommendations seamlessly will be the way to go.
Integration with CRM: A robust integration with your CRM system is essential for seamless ABM campaign execution. Choose a tool that can easily integrate with your CRM, enabling you to sync data and track campaign performance. Look for a platform that integrates with popular CRMs out there, such as Salesforce, Hubspot etc. It is also wise to evaluate the effort required to set up the integration.
Multi-Channel Targeting: ABM should have a multi-channel approach. Therefore, pick a tool that allows you to reach your target accounts across various channels, including email, social media, and online advertising. This feature ensures that your messaging is consistent and reaches your target accounts wherever they are.
Analytics and Reporting: ABM campaigns require ongoing measurement and optimisation. Choose a tool that provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities.
Account Scoring: Account scoring lets you prioritise your accounts based on their conversion likelihood. Therefore, choose a tool that allows you to assign scores based on various factors, such as engagement level, intent data, and fit.
Sales Enablement: ABM requires collaboration between sales and marketing. Therefore, choose a tool that enables your sales team to access relevant information and content to help them close deals. This feature can include sales enablement content, training resources, and account insights.
Final Thoughts
We have covered a lot of ground in this article. This is not an exhaustive list of Account-Based Marketing platforms. I created this to help you provide a framework for structuring your MarTech. As I said, MarTech is now its own domain and can get overwhelming. We are here to help. If you need more support and expert advice, contact us here.
