ABM Metrics: The Ultimate Guide to Measuring Account-Based Marketing Success

ABM metrics are the cornerstone of successful account-based marketing strategies, providing crucial insights into engagement, pipeline development, and revenue impact across your target accounts. However, recent research reveals a measurement crisis in B2B marketing.

In our recent report, What’s (Currently) Measured Isn’t What Matters: The State of B2B Marketing Metrics in 2025, nearly 80% of organizations report having an ABM program, but only 29% of ABM teams are measured solely through ABM-aligned metrics.

This reveals a significant disconnect: Marketers are doing one thing (ABM) but measuring another (leads and MQLs), undermining ABM effectiveness and making it difficult to prove true ROI.

This comprehensive framework will help you bridge that gap and evolve your account-based marketing measurement approach.

What are ABM metrics?

Account-based metrics are specialized key performance indicators that measure marketing’s impact on specific target accounts rather than individual leads. Unlike traditional marketing metrics that emphasize volume and quantity, ABM metrics prioritize quality, engagement depth, and revenue impact from strategically selected accounts.

These metrics enable marketing and sales teams to track how effectively they’re engaging entire buying groups throughout the customer journey, ultimately driving more predictable revenue growth.

How to measure account-based marketing

Measuring account-based marketing requires a shift from lead-based to account-centric measurement approaches. Key ABM metrics to track include:

Engagement metrics

• Reach: A measure of the unique people within target accounts that have seen a campaign
• View-through rate: The rate at which people who viewed an ad then visit your website, even if they didn’t click on the ad itself
• Buying group engagement: Measurement of multiple stakeholders within target accounts interacting with your content
• Account engagement scores: Anonymous behavior tracking that reveals buying group interest

Pipeline development metrics

• Marketing qualified accounts (MQAs): Accounts meeting specific engagement thresholds
• ABM-sourced opportunities: Deals originating from target account activities
• Pipeline velocity: How quickly target accounts move through your sales funnel
• Intent signal detection: Accounts showing active research behavior for your solutions

Revenue impact metrics

• ABM pipeline value: Total pipeline generated from target accounts
• Account penetration: Revenue expansion within existing customer accounts
• Customer lifetime value from ABM accounts
• Program-level ROI: Return on investment for specific ABM campaigns

Coverage and targeting metrics:

• Target account coverage enables you to track your coverage metrics, making sure you reach the right people
• Sales cycle length: Time from first engagement to closed deal for target accounts
• Influenced pipeline: Whether any of your ABM channel strategies influenced your target accounts

ABM benchmark metrics for 2025

The 2025 report shows that nearly half of ABM adopters still measure success by MQLs, even from non-target accounts. This uncovers a fundamental misalignment between ABM strategy and measurement practice, where marketing qualified accounts from target accounts are tracked almost equally with marketing qualified leads from non-target accounts (49% vs. 44%). By treating strategically selected target accounts the same as random inbound leads, it’s difficult for ABM teams to assess whether account-based investments are generating better results than traditional efforts.

Establishing internal benchmarks

Your internal benchmarks should reflect your specific industry, deal size, and sales cycle characteristics. Consider these factors when establishing your measurement framework:

• Historical performance data from your top-performing accounts (e.g., if your best 20% of accounts typically generate 3X more pipeline value and convert 40% faster than average, use these metrics as targets for new ABM efforts)
• Industry-specific conversion rates and engagement patterns (e.g., SaaS companies might expect 15-25% account-to-opportunity conversion rates, while manufacturing firms may see 8-12% due to longer consideration cycles)
• Competitive landscape and market dynamics (e.g., in crowded markets with five or more major competitors, you may need higher engagement thresholds to break through, while niche markets might require different intent signal sensitivity)
• Resource allocation and program maturity (e.g., teams with dedicated ABM resources and mature programs might target 50+ meaningful touchpoints per account quarterly, while smaller teams may focus on 20-30 high-quality interactions)

Best practices for ABM metrics

Based on research findings across multiple 6sense studies:

• Focus on leading indicators that predict pipeline success, like buying group engagement scores when multiple stakeholders from the same account consume content
• Move beyond traditional MQL-based measurement to account-centric metrics like account engagement score and account velocity
• Implement statistical attribution models when possible, which analyze activity patterns across the full 150-200 touchpoint spectrum to estimate real impact
• Align metrics with sales team objectives and compensation by ensuring marketing measurement includes pipeline velocity, deal size, and win rate improvements
• Prioritize revenue-focused outcomes over activity-based vanity metrics

Finally, consider both sourced and influenced attribution approaches based on your use case and buying cycle length. With typically long B2B buying cycles, source-based attribution can be problematic because it credits a single “first touch” that may have occurred months before any serious buying activity began, ignoring the complex research and evaluation process that actually drives purchase decisions. Measuring influence or lift can offer advantages since it captures marketing’s impact across the entire buying journey, accounting for how campaigns affect conversion rates, deal velocity, and win rates throughout the extended evaluation.

What are the three pillars of ABM metrics?

These three pillars of ABM success metrics provide a comprehensive framework for measuring account-based marketing effectiveness across the entire customer journey.

1. Awareness and engagement metrics

The earliest and often most critical stage of the buyer journey. This pillar focuses on measuring how effectively you reach and engage your target accounts before they enter formal sales processes. Given that 84% of buyers have already selected their preferred vendor before contacting sellers, the awareness and engagement stage is paramount for earning consideration from buying groups.

Understanding awareness and engagement addresses a major challenge in modern B2B marketing: Most buyer research happens anonymously and across multiple touchpoints. The solution is to gather intent data that ties anonymous research activities to specific accounts and provides clues about which buyer personas are actively engaged. AI analysis of intent signals can then predict the buying stage of accounts.

For instance, when more than one member of the same buying team is researching your brand or related solutions, that sends a signal that the team is serious about purchasing, enabling marketing teams to identify and prioritize accounts showing genuine purchase intent rather than casual browsing behavior.

2. Pipeline progression metrics

This pillar measures how effectively engaged accounts convert into viable sales opportunities. Pipeline development metrics bridge the gap between marketing engagement and sales outcomes, providing visibility into how effectively marketing activities translate into qualified opportunities.

Unlike traditional lead-based approaches that focus on individual qualification, pipeline development metrics examine account-level progression and buying group completeness. This perspective becomes crucial for organizations seeking to demonstrate marketing’s strategic value beyond lead generation, particularly when sales cycles are lengthy and involve complex stakeholder dynamics. The focus shifts from counting individual leads to understanding how entire accounts move through consideration stages, plus how marketing efforts influence the speed and quality of that progression.

It’s not about generating leads; it’s about generating stage-by-stage pipeline value that translates into revenue.

3. Revenue impact and ROI metrics

According to research from The Impact of ABM Metrics on Financial Performance, ABM-centric metrics are more strongly correlated with better financial performance than traditional measurements. This pillar captures not just immediate revenue attribution but also long-term account value and program efficiency.

Our 2025 report revealed that only 13% of ABM programs report closed-won revenue to leadership. This is a huge strategic gap that can undermine investment in ABM efforts. Revenue impact metrics provide the business case for continued ABM investment while demonstrating marketing’s direct contribution to organizational growth objectives.

Rather than simply tracking whether deals close, this pillar examines the quality and sustainability of revenue generated through ABM efforts, including expansion opportunities within accounts and the overall return on marketing investments. These ABM success metrics work together to provide complete visibility into program performance, enabling a focus on lifetime customer value that drives sustainable revenue growth.

Traditional marketing metrics vs. account-based marketing metrics

The shift from traditional lead-based marketing to account-based marketing represents a major change in how B2B organizations measure success. This transition reflects the reality of modern B2B buying, where decisions are made by groups rather than individuals, and lengthy evaluation processes require sustained engagement strategies.

Traditional marketing metrics

A lot of common consumer marketing metrics are a poor fit for B2B. Sure, they tell you something about how and where someone engaged with a piece of content. But the devil is in the lack of details, as noted in this 6sense guide. Traditional metrics emphasize volume and individual actions:

• Leads generated and cost per lead
• Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and conversion rates
• Click-through rates and email open rates
• Individual contact engagement scores
• First-touch and last-touch attribution models

For quick buying cycles involving a single decision-maker, they work great. For B2B, they fall short.

Account-based marketing metrics

ABM metrics prioritize account-level insights and buying group behavior:

• Account engagement scores and buying group participation
• Target account pipeline and revenue attribution
• Multi-touch attribution across entire buying groups
• Intent data and anonymous research behavior
• Account penetration and expansion metrics

Key differences

Quality vs. quantity: Traditional metrics often reward high-volume activities, while ABM metrics emphasize engagement quality and depth within strategically selected accounts.

Individual vs. group: Legacy approaches track individual lead behavior, whereas ABM metrics monitor buying group dynamics and collective account activities.

Attribution complexity: Account-based teams rely on both sourced and influenced attribution, with 57% using combined approaches, recognizing the multi-touch nature of B2B buying journeys.

The persistence of these legacy practices suggests that while account-based teams are adopting new marketing methods, measurement practices are more difficult to replace.

How to build an ABM metrics dashboard

Creating an effective ABM metrics dashboard requires careful planning, stakeholder alignment, and ongoing optimization. Your dashboard should provide actionable insights for both marketing and sales teams while demonstrating clear business impact to executive leadership.

Essential dashboard components

Executive summary:

• Program-level ROI and revenue attribution
• Target account pipeline value and progression
• Key metric trends and performance against benchmarks
• Strategic account health scores and risk indicators

Engagement analytics:

• Account reach and coverage metrics across target segments
• Buying group engagement scores and participation rates
• Content performance and campaign effectiveness by account tier
• Intent data trends and research activity patterns

Pipeline performance:

• Opportunity creation rates from target accounts
• Sales cycle progression and velocity metrics
• Competitive win/loss analysis for target accounts
• Pipeline quality indicators and conversion probabilities

Revenue impact:

• Closed-won revenue from ABM programs
• Account expansion and upsell metrics
• Customer lifetime value for ABM-acquired accounts
• Cost per acquisition and program efficiency ratios

Review and update processes

Weekly reviews: Focus on campaign performance, engagement trends, and immediate optimization opportunities

Monthly analysis: Evaluate pipeline progression, account health changes, and program ROI development

Quarterly planning: Assess benchmark performance, strategy adjustments, and resource allocation optimization

Annual strategy: Review program effectiveness, market changes, and measurement framework evolution

The business case for change

Organizations that embrace comprehensive ABM measurement frameworks position themselves to drive more predictable revenue growth and demonstrate clear business impact from account-based investments.

Our report The Impact of ABM and Measurement on Companies’ Financial Performance shows that organizations that include at least one ABM-centric measure in compensation plans tend to have stronger financial performance.

6sense is an advanced platform for ABM measurement, combining AI-powered intent data, comprehensive account identification, and sophisticated analytics to deliver unprecedented visibility into your target account activities. Learn more and break free from legacy MQL approaches.