Not your grandfather’s ABX: It goes far beyond lead generation.

The buying journey is increasingly and, at times, exclusively, digital; B2B buyers are just a quick online search away from a wealth of information about vendors. The pandemic has only accelerated the shift in how B2B buyers research, consider, connect with, and ultimately buy from vendors. Buyers now expect more touchpoints and information that is easy to consume and directly aids in their purchase cycle.

Today’s marketers need to be driving toward ABX in order to find and keep customers. ABX grows from ABM concepts and adopts thinking from many best practices in customer experience management (CXM), going beyond account targeting and demand generation.

ABX today helps companies adapt to the evolving B2B buyer marketplace by creating a full account experience, pulling from integrated sales and marketing teams. Savvy B2B companies are embracing ABX to capitalize on the entire journey, narrowing their focus on key accounts as they move through the funnel, thereby optimizing marketing and leaving their competitors in the dust. They are differentiating themselves in the critical accounts game. In some cases, this can even look like a full-funnel strategy targeting specific, prioritized sales accounts to help facilitate that company toward conversion.

Savvy B2B companies are embracing ABX to capitalize on the entire journey, narrowing their focus on key accounts as they move through the funnel, thereby optimizing marketing and leaving their competitors in the dust.

ABX is characterized by:

• An orchestrated program or approach that delivers always-on, full-funnel, connected customer experiences.

• Applying data, insights, and customer experience techniques and capabilities to deliver superior experiences for all of the decision makers within the account (not just a single lead or decision maker).

• Personalized and customized experiences that explicitly recognize the account as different from the rest of the addressable market.

• Intense orchestration across revenue teams (e.g., marketing, sales, commerce, customer success/service, delivery) and operational functions (e.g., data, creative, digital, IT).

Let’s see how ABX has evolved and how it relates to its predecessors of ABT and ABM.

Whether you are currently in a position to deliver ABT, ABM, or full-blown ABX, each approach has a role to play in orchestrating better customer experiences across the funnel.

Examining the differences between ABT, ABM, and ABM

In exploring the value of ABX, it’s important to understand the differences among account-based experience, targeting, and marketing. While ABX represents an evolution in B2B marketing and customer experience, it does not necessarily replace an organization’s ABT or ABM efforts. Each approach has a role to play in orchestrating better customer experiences across the funnel. ABX is a full suite of strategies, processes, coordination, tools, technology, and data that orchestrate better customer experiences and drive demand. Within that ecosystem, ABT and ABM programs will still be executed at the campaign or program level.

Whether you are currently in a position to deliver ABT, ABM, or full-blown ABX, each approach has a role to play in orchestrating better customer experiences across the funnel.

For example, using an ABX approach, a company could undertake a large, brand-focused B2B campaign. Within that effort, ABT can be used to target a broader set of prospects in delivering brand-level messaging that creates an emotional connection with prospects. In that same campaign, a company can use an ABM approach where the marketing team works with the sales team to identify the top 50 accounts that would have the largest revenue impact for the campaign.

ABX in action: Insurance company revitalizes its B2B brand to drive full-funnel demand

Having established an exciting new brand and marketing strategy, this company wanted to break through in a crowded marketplace and encourage its audience to think about the brand differently. This included a strategic shift in focus to a B2B audience of financial professionals who are intermediaries selling the brand’s products.

Merkle B2B developed and executed a high-impact brand-to-demand marketing approach across the organization. This included a robust channel campaign strategy designed to address sales needs across the company’s core service areas: retirement, investments, and insurance. These campaigns were developed to take leads down the marketing funnel, moving them from unqualified to qualified.

As a result of the initiative:

• Recall improved from 17% in Q3 2018 to 28% in Q2 2019.

• Visits to the Financial Professional section of the brand’s website rose 180%.

• The average session duration increased 86%.