The day I stopped arguing about ABM targeting criteria

I used to swear by firmographic targeting for ABM campaigns. Last month at a conference in Chicago, a VP from a SaaS company showed me their data where company size and industry had almost zero correlation with conversion rates. They proved it with a 6 month A/B test across 200 accounts. The behavioral intent data outperformed firmographics by 3x on meeting booked rates. Now I'm rethinking half my account lists for Q4 and honestly it feels like starting over. Has anyone else had success blending ICP firmographics with intent signals?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_rivera8827d ago

Starting over for Q4" hits way too close to home - my account lists are basically me trying to defuse a bomb with a beer in my hand at this point. I ran a tiny test with 15 accounts last quarter and the behavioral signals made my carefully curated firmographic list look like I picked names from a hat after three tequila shots. Blending them together seems like the smart play, even if it means admitting my perfect ICP spreadsheet was mostly just wishful thinking.

lunakim27d ago

Picked names from a hat after three tequila shots" is basically what I felt like after my first real test too. What worked for me was starting with my top 20 firmographic accounts and layering intent signals on top, not replacing them. I used things like website visits and content downloads from those accounts to figure out which ones were actually ready to talk. Then I took the bottom 10 that had zero intent and swapped them for accounts outside my typical ICP that showed high intent. That mix got me a 40% bump in meetings within two months. Have you tried keeping some of your original list but adding a few wildcard accounts based on intent data?