If you’re running account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns, you know the pressure: lots of tools, plenty of dashboards, and everyone wants proof that “it’s working.” Demandbase promises to make sense of the chaos. This guide is for marketers and sales teams who need to track and measure ABM campaigns, cut through the noise, and actually learn something from the data.
Let’s break down how to use Demandbase analytics to measure what matters, dodge the hype, and keep your ABM programs focused.
Step 1: Nail Down What You Actually Want to Measure
Before messing with dashboards, get clear on your goals. Demandbase spits out a ton of data, but not all of it is useful for your campaign.
Common ABM metrics worth tracking:
- Account engagement: Are your target companies actually interacting with your brand?
- Pipeline influence: Is the campaign moving accounts further down the funnel?
- Opportunity creation: Are you seeing new deals from your target set?
- Revenue impact: Is this driving actual closed/won business?
Metrics to ignore (most of the time):
- Raw impressions: Who cares if your ad flashed in front of someone for a split second?
- Clicks from random companies: If it’s not your target list, it’s noise.
- Vanity metrics: Time on site is meaningless without context.
Pro tip: Ask yourself, “Would I show this metric to my boss?” If not, don’t bother tracking it.
Step 2: Set Up Your Demandbase Campaign Tracking the Right Way
Demandbase’s analytics only work if you set things up cleanly from the start. Otherwise, you’ll get a mess of partial data and can’t trust your results.
Checklist:
- Upload a clean target account list. No duplicates, no half-baked company names. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Connect your CRM and marketing automation platform. This lets Demandbase tie website and ad activity back to revenue, not just clicks.
- Build campaigns by segment, not scattershot. Group accounts by vertical, size, or buying stage—whatever actually matches your goals.
- Tag campaigns clearly. Use names that make sense a year from now. “2024-Q2-Fintech-Pilot” beats “Test3.”
What to skip: Don’t obsess over tracking every micro-campaign or one-off email. Focus on the big initiatives that matter.
Step 3: Use Demandbase’s Engagement Metrics—But Don’t Blindly Trust Them
Now the fun part: Demandbase will show you “engagement minutes,” heatmaps, and all sorts of activity scores. Here’s what’s actually useful:
Key engagement metrics:
- Engaged accounts: Which target companies are doing something on your site (not just one random visit)?
- Engagement spikes: Did a few people from Company X suddenly start visiting your pricing page? Take note.
- Content consumption: Are your target accounts downloading whitepapers, watching webinars, or just bouncing off the homepage?
- Journey stage movement: Is Demandbase saying accounts moved from “awareness” to “consideration”? Useful, but take with a grain of salt.
What to watch out for:
- Inflated engagement minutes: If your site auto-plays videos or has always-on chat, engagement scores can look better than reality.
- False positives: Sometimes, a target account’s intern spends all day reading your blog. That doesn’t mean the buying committee cares.
Bottom line: Engagement metrics are signals—clues, not proof. Use them to spot trends, but double-check with sales or your CRM.
Step 4: Tie Engagement to Pipeline and Revenue
This is where most ABM programs fall apart: lots of “interest,” no actual dollars. Demandbase can tie engagement to pipeline if you connect your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), but it won’t do the thinking for you.
How to get real insights:
- Track opportunity creation from engaged accounts: Did you actually open more deals with companies that got campaign touches?
- Measure pipeline velocity: Are deals moving faster when accounts are engaged? If not, you might just be annoying people.
- Check for revenue influence: Did these accounts close? Or did it all fizzle out after one call?
Don’t fudge it: Resist the urge to “take credit” for every dollar from a target account. Look for a clear pattern—did activity spike before pipeline moved, or is it just coincidence?
Pro tip: Sit down with sales and walk through a few closed deals. Did Demandbase show engagement before those deals opened? If yes, you’re onto something.
Step 5: Use Reports and Dashboards That Actually Help
Demandbase gives you a stack of pre-built dashboards, and it’s tempting to use them all. Don’t. Focus on the ones that show movement on your goals.
Useful reports:
- Account journey reports: See how specific companies move from unaware to closed/won.
- Campaign performance dashboards: Which campaigns actually drove engagement and pipeline?
- Segment comparisons: Are some verticals or regions responding better than others?
Ignore these:
- “Top 100 engaged companies” lists if most aren’t even in your target market.
- Overly granular channel breakdowns (unless you’re optimizing paid spend).
- Any chart you can’t explain to your CEO in 30 seconds.
Customize your view: Demandbase lets you tweak dashboards. Hide or delete what you don’t use. Make a “Quick View” with just the essentials.
Step 6: Share Results—But Keep It Honest
Once you’ve got data you trust, share it with your team. But don’t oversell.
What to show:
- Real engagement by target account. Not just “we got 10,000 visits,” but “Company ABC spent 10 minutes on our solutions page last week.”
- Pipeline and revenue impact. Show deals that actually moved because of campaign touches.
- Learning and next steps. If something didn’t work, say so. No one expects perfection.
What not to do:
- Don’t cherry-pick rosy numbers and bury the rest.
- Don’t overcomplicate things with every metric under the sun.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure what’s working, say so. Use the data to ask smarter questions, not just to make yourself look good.
Step 7: Iterate, Don’t Overcomplicate
ABM isn’t magic, and Demandbase analytics won’t fix a bad campaign. The real value is in learning what’s working and adjusting as you go.
- Run small experiments. Try a new message for one segment and see how it plays out.
- Meet with sales regularly. They’ll tell you if your “engaged accounts” are really worth the effort.
- Review your dashboards monthly. Kill what’s not working, double down on what is.
Remember: It’s easy to drown in data. Focus on a handful of useful metrics tied to real-world outcomes. Keep your reporting simple, stay honest, and don’t be afraid to change course.
Summary
Tracking and measuring ABM campaigns with Demandbase is about staying focused. Know what you want to learn, set up clean campaigns, and trust—but verify—the numbers. Skip vanity metrics. Share results honestly, adjust often, and keep it simple. Data’s only useful if it helps you make better decisions. That’s it.