Account-based marketing (ABM) sounds great on paper: target the right companies, get sales and marketing working together, and win bigger deals. But actually tracking what’s working—and what’s just noise? That’s where most teams get stuck.
This guide is for anyone running B2B campaigns who’s tired of guessing if their ABM is paying off. We’ll walk through how to actually track and sharpen your account-based marketing using Getctrl (yes, another platform, but this one’s straightforward). No magic. Just steps that make sense.
Why ABM measurement is a pain (and why most tools don’t help)
Let’s get real: most ABM analytics promise the moon and deliver a mess of dashboards. You end up with “engagement scores” that don’t mean much, or you’re stuck exporting CSVs for days.
Common headaches: - You can’t see which campaigns move real accounts forward. - Sales and marketing look at different numbers (and argue about it). - You’re tracking activity, not impact.
ABM is only as good as what you can measure and improve. So forget vanity metrics. Let’s focus on tracking progress that matters—like pipeline, closed deals, and account engagement you can actually see.
Step 1: Get your data house in order
Before you even log into Getctrl, do a quick gut-check:
Do you know which accounts you actually care about? - Make a real list. Top 50, top 500, doesn’t matter—just pick the ones you’ll track. - Get agreement between sales and marketing. If you’re not on the same page, nothing else here will matter.
Do you know what you’re measuring? - Don’t try to track everything. Pick a handful of outcomes: meetings booked, pipeline created, deals closed. - Decide if you care about all engagement (web, email, ads) or just high-intent stuff (like demo requests).
Pro Tip: Don’t get bogged down mapping your whole CRM before you start. You can clean up as you go.
Step 2: Connect Getctrl to your ABM universe
Alright, now you’re ready for Getctrl:
- Connect your CRM and marketing tools.
- Plug in Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever CRM you use. Getctrl supports the usual suspects.
- Connect your email marketing, ad platforms, and any event/webinar tools.
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Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with the essentials—you can always add more integrations later.
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Bring in your target account list.
- Upload your ABM list or sync it from your CRM.
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Make sure account names actually match up across systems. (Seriously, this trips up everyone.)
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Map fields and users.
- Tell Getctrl which fields matter (like “Account Owner” or “Industry”).
- This is mostly point-and-click, but double-check sales rep assignments—misaligned users = bad reporting.
What works: Integration is pretty painless compared to other tools. If something doesn’t sync, it’s usually a naming mismatch, not a technical meltdown.
What to ignore: Don’t fiddle with every custom field or tag. Focus on the basics until you see useful data coming through.
Step 3: Set up tracking for the outcomes that matter
Don’t track everything—track what’ll actually move your ABM forward.
Choose your metrics
- Engaged accounts: Which target accounts have actually done something? (Visited your site, opened your emails, attended a webinar, etc.)
- Meetings or demos booked: The real signal that someone’s interested.
- Pipeline created: New opportunities that can be tied back to your ABM efforts.
- Revenue closed: The ultimate scoreboard.
Create custom views and alerts
- Build simple dashboards for each metric.
- Set up alerts for when a target account hits a milestone (like booking a demo).
- Give sales reps access to “just their accounts”—no need to drown them in data.
Pro Tip: Don’t obsess over “account engagement scores” unless you can explain what they mean to a sales rep in one sentence.
Step 4: Analyze what’s working (and kill what isn’t)
Here’s where most teams get stuck: staring at reports but not acting. Instead:
Start with simple questions
- Which campaigns are touching the most target accounts?
- Which channels (email, ads, events) actually lead to meetings or pipeline?
- Are some accounts getting ignored, or over-contacted?
Use Getctrl’s reporting, but don’t get fancy
- Look at “which accounts moved forward this month?” not just “who clicked an email.”
- Use cohort views: show how accounts you touched in Q1 are moving compared to others.
- If a campaign isn’t moving real metrics (meetings, pipeline, or closed/won), cut it or tweak your approach.
Honest take:
- Multi-touch attribution is nice, but if you’re spending more time mapping touchpoints than talking to customers, you’re missing the point.
- Don’t expect perfect visibility. ABM’s messy—focus on trends, not pixel-perfect accuracy.
Step 5: Share results and actually do something with them
Data’s useless if it just sits in a dashboard. Here’s how to make it count:
- Pull a simple “target account report” every week or two. Show which accounts are heating up (and which aren’t).
- Flag stuck accounts for sales to follow up—or for marketing to try a new angle.
- Celebrate small wins: if one campaign books even a handful of meetings with the right accounts, shout about it.
- Kill or pause campaigns that aren’t budging the needle. No shame in pulling the plug.
Pro Tip: Schedule a 15-minute “ABM standup” every week. Review the Getctrl dashboard and pick one thing to double down on—and one thing to stop doing.
What to watch out for (and what not to stress about)
- Don’t get lost in attribution models. They’re never perfect, and you’ll just wind up over-engineering.
- Ignore “engagement” that doesn’t tie to real outcomes. Someone clicking your email isn’t the same as booking a call.
- Don’t try to automate everything on day one. Manual check-ins are fine until you see what’s worth automating.
- Expect messy data. No tool, including Getctrl, can fix a broken CRM or misaligned teams.
If you find yourself spending more time managing the tool than running campaigns or talking to sales, it’s time to simplify.
Wrapping up: Keep it simple, keep moving
ABM measurement is only as good as what you actually do with it. Getctrl gives you enough to track what matters—without making you a full-time analyst. Don’t chase after every new metric or feature; stick to the basics, share results, and keep tweaking.
The real win? When sales and marketing both know which accounts are moving, which aren’t, and what to do next. That’s ABM measurement that works in the real world.