Account-based marketing (ABM) sounds great on paper: focus on your best-fit accounts, stop wasting time on dead-end leads, and show sales you’re delivering value. But here’s the thing: tracking ABM results is tricky. There’s no magic dashboard that’ll tell you which accounts are warming up, which tactics are working, or what to do next—unless you build it yourself. That’s where this guide comes in.
If you’re running ABM campaigns and your boss keeps asking for “real numbers,” or you’re tired of cobbling together spreadsheets and screenshots, this walkthrough’s for you. I’ll show you how to actually track and report on ABM success using Crustdata, with as little nonsense as possible.
1. Get Your Data House in Order
Before you even open Crustdata, it’s worth doing a quick reality check: do you know where your key ABM data lives, and is it any good? If your CRM is packed with junk, or your marketing automation is missing half the touchpoints, you’ll struggle to get clean reports—no matter how slick your analytics tool is.
What you need: - A list of target accounts, with unique identifiers (domain, account ID, etc.) - Sales and marketing activity data (emails, meetings, ads, website visits) - Opportunity and pipeline data (deals, stages, revenue) - Consistent tracking—no “miscellaneous” fields or “catch-all” campaigns
Pro tip:
If you find yourself thinking “we can clean this up later,” don’t. Garbage in, garbage out. Spend an hour now avoiding days of headaches later.
2. Connect Data Sources to Crustdata
Crustdata can pull from a bunch of sources—your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), marketing tools (Marketo, Pardot), ad platforms, and even spreadsheets. The key is to set up connections that keep your data in sync.
Steps: 1. Log in to Crustdata and head to Data Sources. 2. Connect your CRM first. This is usually where your accounts, contacts, and deals live. Crustdata will walk you through OAuth or API setup. 3. Add marketing automation next. This gets you campaign and engagement data. 4. Bring in ad data if you’re running targeted campaigns. (Google, LinkedIn, etc.) 5. Upload any lists or CSVs for things that aren’t tracked elsewhere. Not ideal, but better than missing data.
What to watch out for: - Duplicate accounts or contacts—merge them early. - Missing fields (like account owner or stage)—fill them in, or your reporting will have holes. - Sync errors—don’t just “set and forget.” Check that it’s actually pulling in fresh data.
3. Define What ABM Success Looks Like
Here’s the honest truth: most ABM reporting fails because nobody agrees on what “success” means. Get this part right and everything else gets easier.
Sit down with sales and marketing and agree on: - Which accounts matter: Just the “Tier 1” targets, or everyone in a vertical? - Which actions count: Is a website visit enough? Or do you want meetings booked? - Which outcomes matter: Is pipeline created the goal, or do you care about engagement?
Typical ABM metrics to track: - Account engagement: Are your target accounts actually interacting with your brand? - Sales activity: Are reps reaching out and getting responses? - Pipeline movement: Are accounts moving from “cold” to “meeting,” “opportunity,” and (ideally) “closed-won”? - Revenue influence: Did ABM efforts contribute to deals?
Don’t bother with: - Vanity metrics like “impressions” or “email opens.” If they don’t move accounts closer to revenue, skip ‘em.
4. Build Account-Centric Dashboards in Crustdata
Now for the part you actually want: seeing what’s working, and what’s not. Crustdata’s dashboards are flexible, but you’ll get the most value by building views around accounts—not just leads or campaigns.
Core dashboards to set up:
a. Account Engagement Overview
- What it shows: Which accounts are active, and what they’re doing.
- Key widgets: Account name, recent activities (meetings, emails, web visits), engagement score, last touch.
- Why it matters: Quickly spot which accounts are heating up, which are stalling, and where to focus.
b. Pipeline by Account Tier
- What it shows: Pipeline and revenue broken down by account tier (e.g., Tier 1, 2, 3).
- Key widgets: Number of accounts per stage, deal value, conversion rates.
- Why it matters: Are your “must-win” accounts actually moving? Or is all the action in mid-tier?
c. Campaign Influence at the Account Level
- What it shows: Which campaigns and tactics are touching which accounts.
- Key widgets: Campaign name, accounts reached, engagement per campaign, pipeline influenced.
- Why it matters: Cut the stuff that isn’t working. Double down on what is.
d. Sales and Marketing Touch Timeline
- What it shows: The sequence of touches (ads, emails, calls, meetings) for each account.
- Key widgets: Account timeline, type of touch, outcomes.
- Why it matters: See if you’re actually orchestrating a consistent experience—or just spamming.
How to build these in Crustdata: - Use the drag-and-drop dashboard builder. - Filter everything by “Target Account List.” - Group by account, not just contact or lead. - Set up weekly or monthly snapshots to show trends.
Pro tip:
Don’t go overboard. Three useful dashboards beat ten that nobody checks.
5. Report Results Without the Fluff
Executives don’t want a 20-page slide deck. They want to know: are we making progress with our target accounts, and is revenue going up?
How to keep your reports focused: - Highlight key wins (“We moved 8 Tier 1 accounts to proposal stage”) - Flag problem areas (“Engagement dropped in manufacturing vertical—need to investigate”) - Show real impact (“ABM campaigns influenced $500k in pipeline this quarter”) - Call out next steps (“Focus next month: reactivate stalled accounts in healthcare”)
What to skip: - Endless charts nobody understands. If it takes a legend to explain, don’t include it. - Overly optimistic spin. If results are flat, say so—and suggest what to try next.
Pro tip:
Automate regular reporting in Crustdata, but give yourself space to add comments or context. Numbers alone rarely tell the whole story.
6. Avoid Common ABM Reporting Traps
You’ll see a lot of hype around ABM analytics—“AI-powered insights,” “360-degree views,” and so on. Most of it’s noise. Here’s what actually matters:
- Don’t measure at the contact level only. ABM is about accounts. If you’re still counting leads, you’re missing the point.
- Don’t ignore sales activity. Marketing touches are half the story. Make sure you’re pulling in sales meetings, calls, and deal notes.
- Don’t overcomplicate. More data does not equal better insights. Focus on a handful of meaningful metrics.
- Don’t chase every new feature. Crustdata has bells and whistles, but stick to the basics until you’ve mastered them.
7. Iterate and Improve
No ABM reporting setup is perfect out of the gate. Data will be messy. Metrics will need tweaking. That’s normal.
- Check your dashboards monthly—are they still useful?
- Get feedback from sales. Do the reports help them prioritize accounts?
- Prune metrics that nobody cares about.
- If something feels off, dig into the data. Don’t just trust the charts.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Stay Honest
Tracking and reporting on ABM with Crustdata isn’t magic, but it’s doable if you focus on what matters. Get your data straight, agree on what success looks like, and build simple dashboards that actually help you (and sales) do your jobs better. Skip the vanity metrics, ignore the hype, and keep improving. You’ll end up with reports you can trust—and, more importantly, act on.