If you’re running account based marketing (ABM) and need to actually see which companies are engaging (instead of just counting leads), you’re in the right place. This guide is for B2B marketers, sales teams, and revops folks who want to cut through the noise and get real answers out of Akoonu. If you’re tired of vague dashboards and fluffy engagement scores, keep reading.
1. Get the Basics Set Up in Akoonu
First things first: you’ll need access to Akoonu and your CRM (usually Salesforce). Akoonu’s whole thing is making it easier to see who at your target accounts is actually interacting, so you can prioritize the right ones.
What you need: - Akoonu connected to your CRM (don’t skip this—it’s where the magic happens) - A list of your target accounts (either uploaded or synced from your CRM) - Defined user roles—know who’s an admin, who’s sales, who’s marketing
Pro tip: If your CRM data is a mess, Akoonu won’t magically fix it. Clean up duplicate accounts and contacts first, or you’ll end up chasing ghosts.
2. Define What “Engagement” Means for Your ABM
Before you start tracking, get clear on what counts as “engagement” for your team. Don’t just accept whatever default Akoonu gives you. Sit down with sales and marketing (yes, in real life) and agree:
- Which activities matter? (e.g., website visits, email opens, meeting attendance, content downloads)
- Which absolutely don’t? (e.g., random email bounces, unsubscribes, spam form fills)
Why bother? If your sales team only cares about meetings and your dashboard counts every webinar registration, you’ll waste time on the wrong accounts.
How to do it in Akoonu: - Go to Account Engagement settings. - Review which activities are tracked and scored. - Turn off or adjust weights for activities that don’t move the needle. - Set thresholds for what actually qualifies as “engaged” (e.g., at least two contacts have taken action in the last month).
Don’t overthink it. There’s no perfect formula. Start simple, then adjust when you see what’s actually useful.
3. Set Up Account Views and Segments
Once you know what engagement you care about, make it easy to see. Akoonu lets you build custom account views and segments, so you don’t have to scroll through a giant list every time.
Steps: - Filter accounts by engagement score, last activity date, or specific actions. - Build saved views for: - Hot accounts (high engagement, recent activity) - Warming up (some activity, but needs more touches) - Cold or inactive (no engagement in 60+ days) - Segment by target list—like industry, region, or sales team—whatever matches your go-to-market plan.
Pro tip: Don’t create 50 views. Start with three: hot, warm, cold. Add more later if you actually use them.
4. Use Akoonu’s Engagement Timeline (Don’t Just Look at Scores)
It’s tempting to stare at a single engagement number and make decisions, but that’s a shortcut to bad calls. Akoonu’s timeline shows you what happened and when—so you can tell if an account’s engagement is building, fading, or just blipping.
How to use it: - Open the account detail page. - Scroll through the timeline to see all marketing and sales touches. - Spot patterns: Is engagement coming from one person or spread out? Are they responding to a specific campaign?
Watch out for: - Activity from just one contact (that’s not true account engagement) - Flurries of irrelevant activity (like automated emails or event spam) - Stale accounts with old engagement propping up their score
Why it matters: You’re not selling to one person. True ABM engagement comes from signals across the buying committee.
5. Make Engagement Visible for Sales (and Actually Use It)
Even the best engagement data is worthless if nobody acts on it. Akoonu lets you surface account engagement right in Salesforce—no new logins or extra tabs for your sales team.
How to roll it out: - Add Akoonu widgets (like engagement score, timeline, and key contacts) to Salesforce account and opportunity pages. - Train sales reps to check engagement before outreach instead of cold calling everyone. - Set up alerts or Slack notifications for when an account’s engagement spikes or drops off.
Honest take: People ignore dashboards they don’t trust. If sales says the engagement data is junk, troubleshoot together—maybe it’s tracking the wrong activities, or the CRM data is incomplete.
6. Track Progress and Iterate
ABM is not “set it and forget it.” The best teams treat Akoonu as a living system, not a static report.
Checklist for ongoing tracking: - Review your hot/warm/cold segments weekly—spot any accounts moving up or down. - Look at which activities actually predict meetings or pipeline. Adjust what you’re tracking based on the data. - Check for “false positives”—accounts with high engagement but no real opportunity. Figure out why and tweak your criteria.
Skip this? You’ll miss deals, or chase your tail after the wrong ones.
7. Don’t Waste Time on Vanity Metrics
Plenty of ABM tools (Akoonu included) love to show big numbers: “1,200 touches this quarter!” Most of it is noise.
Focus on: - Engagement from multiple contacts at the same account - Activities that actually lead to meetings, sales calls, or pipeline - Accounts moving from cold to warm, or warm to hot (not just “busy” accounts)
Ignore: - Single-contact superfans who aren’t buyers - Automated or bulk activities (unless they really work for you) - Engagement that isn’t moving the deal forward
8. Common Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)
A few traps I’ve seen too many teams fall into:
- Chasing high scores from the wrong accounts: Just because an account is active doesn’t mean it’s a fit. Always cross-check with your ICP (ideal customer profile).
- Letting stale data drive your priorities: If an account hasn’t engaged in months, stop treating it like a hot lead.
- Not involving sales early: If marketing owns all the engagement data and sales doesn’t care, you’re wasting everyone’s time.
How to avoid: Keep your target lists tight, revisit your engagement definitions quarterly, and make sure everyone buys into what “good” looks like.
9. Reporting That’s Actually Useful
Akoonu has plenty of reporting options, but don’t drown in charts. Here’s what actually helps:
- Weekly or bi-weekly reviews of top engaged accounts
- Simple pipeline reports showing which engaged accounts are moving to opportunities
- Trends over time (are more accounts engaging, or are you stuck with the same handful?)
Pro tip: If a report isn’t changing your actions, stop running it.
Managing and tracking B2B account engagement in Akoonu isn’t rocket science, but it does take discipline. Set clear definitions, focus on signals that matter, and don’t let shiny dashboards distract you from the basics. Check your process regularly, tweak what isn’t working, and keep things simple. The goal isn’t to have the fanciest engagement model—it’s to help your team win real deals. Keep it honest, keep it focused, and you’ll get more out of Akoonu than most.