How to set up website personalization for target accounts in Demandbase

If you’re in B2B marketing, you’ve probably heard that website personalization is the holy grail for account-based marketing (ABM). Trouble is, a lot of people talk about it, but few actually do it well—or at all. If you’re running Demandbase and want to serve up different web content to your target accounts (without breaking something or spending weeks on it), this guide is for you.

We’ll skip the fluff and walk through exactly how to set up website personalization for your target accounts in Demandbase. You’ll get honest advice about what’s worth your time, what to avoid, and how to keep things practical.

1. Get Your House in Order: Prep Before You Personalize

Before we get into settings and widgets, let’s be real: personalization only works if your foundations are solid. Here’s what you absolutely need dialed in:

  • CRM/Marketing Automation Integration: Demandbase works best when it can pull in data from Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo. If your systems aren’t talking, fix that first.
  • Target Account List: If you don’t have a clear, up-to-date list of target accounts, personalization will be a mess. Build your account list in Demandbase or import from your CRM.
  • Clear Goals: Are you trying to move accounts down the funnel? Get more demo requests? Nail down what success looks like. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with “Hello, CompanyName!” banners that don’t do much.

Pro tip: If your website is a patchwork of legacy pages or you don’t have a dev team you can call, start small. Personalization is only as good as your site’s ability to support it.

2. Connect Demandbase to Your Website

This is the technical bit, but it’s not scary. To personalize your website for target accounts, Demandbase needs to identify visitors and know which company they’re from.

Install the Demandbase Tag:

  • Grab the javascript snippet (“Demandbase Tag”) from your Demandbase admin area.
  • Paste it into your website’s global header, ideally via your tag manager (Google Tag Manager is common).
  • If you’re not sure it’s working, check the browser console or use Demandbase’s tag verifier.

What to watch for:
- Tag bloat: Don’t stack 10 different ABM or analytics tags. They’ll slow your site and can break things. - Privacy: Demandbase uses firmographic data, not personal info. Still, update your privacy policy just to be safe.

3. Define Who Sees What: Segments and Audiences

Personalization isn’t about creating a snowflake experience for every visitor. It’s about grouping accounts that should see different things. Demandbase calls these “Audiences.”

How to Build Audiences in Demandbase:

  • Go to the Audiences section in Demandbase.
  • Create new audiences based on things like:
    • Account lists (your named accounts)
    • Industry (e.g., Healthcare, SaaS, Manufacturing)
    • Company size or revenue
    • Stage in your funnel (e.g., Open Opportunity vs. Customer)
  • Add rules so you don’t accidentally target everyone.

Real talk: Don’t overthink it. Start with 2-3 audiences. You can always get fancier later. The more granular you go, the more work you create (and the less likely you’ll keep it updated).

4. Create Your Personalization Experiences

Here’s where most people get lost: what exactly are you personalizing? Demandbase lets you change things like headlines, banners, CTAs, and even images, depending on who’s visiting.

What You Can Personalize:

  • Hero banners and homepage headlines
  • Call-to-action buttons (“Book a Demo” vs. “See Pricing”)
  • Case studies or logos shown (“Trusted by [similar-industry company]”)
  • Product descriptions or value props

How to Set Up a Personalization:

  1. In Demandbase, go to the Personalization section.
  2. Choose the web page you want to personalize. (URL or page group)
  3. Pick the audience(s) you made earlier.
  4. Decide what to change. You’ll use their point-and-click editor to swap out text, images, or buttons.
  5. Preview the change for each audience. Don’t skip this—what looks good to you might break for others.
  6. Set your fallback. Always have a default version for everyone else.

Pro tip: Don’t personalize just for the sake of it. Make sure the changes actually matter. Swapping one word in a headline won’t move the needle.

5. Test, QA, and Watch for Gotchas

Personalization can break stuff, especially if your site isn’t built for it. Here’s how to avoid headaches:

  • Test as different companies. Demandbase lets you preview as if you’re visiting from an account in your audience. Use it.
  • Mobile and browser QA. Don’t assume your changes look good on every device.
  • Check site speed. Too many personalized elements can slow things down.
  • Track conversions, not just views. Page views are nice, but did your audience actually take action?

What to skip:
- Don’t bother personalizing for tiny segments (“accounts with 17-35 employees in Belgium”). You won’t have enough traffic to measure anything. - Avoid “creepy” personalizations that call out the visitor’s company too directly. (“Hello, Acme Corp, we see you!”) It rarely lands well.

6. Measure What Matters (and Ignore Vanity Metrics)

Demandbase gives you dashboards showing who saw what and when. That’s great, but don’t drown in data.

What to track:

  • Uplift in target account engagement: Are target accounts sticking around longer or visiting more pages?
  • Conversion rates: Are more of your target accounts taking the actions you care about (demos, contact forms, downloads)?
  • Pipeline influence: Can you tie website engagement to pipeline movement or closed deals? If not, talk to sales.

What doesn’t matter:

  • Micro-segmentation stats—you’ll end up with a lot of noise.
  • “Impressions” without context. If people see your personalized content but don’t act, who cares?

Pro tip: Set up regular check-ins (monthly or quarterly) to review results. Kill anything that’s not working—don’t keep personalizations alive just because you set them up.

7. Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Chase Shiny Objects

Personalization can be powerful, but most teams fail by going too big, too soon. You’re not Amazon, and you don’t need a different homepage for every visitor.

  • Start with your top 1-2 target segments.
  • Personalize a few high-impact pages (homepage, product, pricing).
  • Get feedback from sales: Are they seeing more engagement from target accounts?
  • Iterate. Make changes based on what works—not what’s trendy.

What to ignore:
- Don’t waste cycles on “dynamic web pages” for every persona or job title. Most B2B visitors don’t care. - If your site is in the middle of a redesign, hold off on personalization until the dust settles.

Wrapping Up

Website personalization in Demandbase isn’t magic. It’s just a way to make your site more relevant for the accounts you actually care about. The trick is to keep it simple, focus on what moves the needle, and resist the urge to personalize everything.

Start small, watch what works, and don’t be afraid to cut what doesn’t. The teams that win with Demandbase aren’t the ones who personalize the most—they’re the ones who personalize the best.