1. Given the longer B2B buying cycles, what role does ABM play in your go-to market strategy today?
B2B buying cycles are complex and delicate and often involve a lot of stakeholders in the buying committee and often include additional influencers outside of the formal buying group. One of the biggest challenges organizations face is that many inmarket accounts and personas, those actively researching or showing intent, aren’t even present in CRM or organizational records and remain hidden from demand generation and marketing teams.
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy needs these data points to help define who to target, how you’ll reach them, and what message or value to deliver across acquisition, expansion, and retention. ABM aligns perfectly with this by operationalizing GTM plans at the account level. It turns high-level GTM strategy into executable workflows by using data to prioritize the right accounts (based on fit, intent, and engagement), tailor messaging by segment or stage, and activate personalized campaigns across channels.
For GTM execution to work, you need a foundation of unified data, from firmographics, technographics, contact data, to behavioural and intent signals, you need a bridge to connect this data to intelligence to understand TAM and ICP fit. Then, this intelligence must link to execution tools that allow real-time targeting, measurement, and feedback. In short, ABM makes GTM strategies actionable, measurable, and accountcentric.
ABM, especially when powered by intent data, helps surface these previously unknown or overlooked accounts, bringing new opportunities into view based on their intent and fit. At the same time, ABM enables us to monitor familiar accounts for renewed engagement signals which is crucial for upsell or expansion motions. With platforms becoming more integrated and user-friendly, we’re now able to combine first-party signals with third-party intent and engagement data to prioritize efforts in real time. This helps marketing and sales stay aligned, act faster, and tailor outreach to where actual buying activity is happening whether that’s net-new acquisition, cross-sell, or retention.
2. Which ABM platform vendors do you currently evaluate or partner with, and what key differentiators drive your decision?
QKS Group is a leading global advisory and research firm, dedicated to empowering technology innovators to accelerate their growth journeys. We do this by covering market needs both from a technology vendors’ and end-users’ perspective. A major role we play is through our proprietary SPARK vendor assessment tool. Offering key insights into market dynamics and trends, it helps businesses gain a competitive edge, assess strengths and weaknesses, and make informed strategic decisions for growth and success.
One of our SPARK titles is the Account Based Marketing Platform, going live in Q3, a market we’ve been tracking for 5 years now. We look for technology, service and customer impact differentiators that ABM platform vendors provide for a comprehensive assessment on where the market is headed, and which players are emerging as ace performers, and innovators in their market.
The research for our SPARK study Account Based Marketing Platform, Q3, 2025 has the following vendors- 6sense, Demandbase, Dun & Bradstreet, Informa TechTarget, Jabmo by Expandi Group, Leadspace, Madison Logic, N.Rich, Rollworks by NextRoll, Salesforce, Terminus by DemandScience and Zoominfo.
We analyse vendors at the granularity of each capability, and evaluation criteria. These criteria may change as the technology evolves to accommodate a fresher, more up-to-date set of evaluation criteria, and this year, vendors are being evaluated on the following parameters:
- Audience Data Management: This is critical in ABM because it ensures users of the platform are targeting the right accounts and maximising relevant engagement. ABM platforms unify and enrich first- and third-party data, from publisher networks, intent data partners, sales data partners, data co-ops and other proprietary and commercial databases into accurate, complete profiles crucial for precise segmentation and personalization. By consolidating disparate sources, validating quality, and layering on firmographic, technographic, and intent data, the platform sits on a strong foundation for dynamic audience creation and activation. ABM vendors should also ensure regulatory compliance and explore newer sources to supplement cookiebased tracking meanwhile keeping data actionable, forming the backbone of all successful ABM strategies.
- Account Intelligence: The next step to effectively collecting and managing vast account and intent data, is to convert the same into precise account insights, essential in ABM because it informs who to target, how to engage them, and when. It combines firmographic, technographic, intent, and engagement data to build a rich, real-time view of each account. With predictive analytics, it helps identify high-value opportunities, prioritize accounts by conversion likelihood, and recommend optimal engagement strategies.
- Account Journey Management: This is an outcome of the shift from static outreach to dynamic, account-centric experiences. This capability represents the use of account-specific data to orchestrate personalized campaigns across the entire lifecycle prioritizing activation over planning. With ABM increasingly driven by real-time engagement, strong native and integrated activation channels especially in advertising, social, and web personalization are key to delivering scalable, relevant touchpoints. Platforms that support emerging channels and allow marketers to manage these journeys natively (without relying on external tools) enable more agile, CX-led account strategies. Evaluating this shows how well ABM platforms can keep pace with how accounts move and engage.
- Account Analytics and Optimization: For making ABM accountable to real business outcomes, especially pipeline impact, reporting across web, ads, and sales to identify which actions influence opportunity creation and progression is crucial. With attribution modeling and AI-driven insights, analytical insights reveal which channels, content, and touchpoints actually move accounts through the funnel. This enables continuous refinement of campaigns and tighter sales-marketing alignment. Evaluating this capability shows how effectively the data-intelligence-activation complex of the ABM platform is driving engagement, pipeline and revenue.
- Account based Sales Intelligence: Account-Based Sales Intelligence in ABM uses data and AI to enable sales teams prioritize and engage high-value accounts. The capability delivers sales alerts and AI-powered next best action recommendations in real-time, helping sales teams focus on priority accounts and take informed actions based on intent signals and engagement activity. This enables more efficient, targeted outreach to the most promising opportunities.
Beyond core capabilities, our SPARK ABM platform evaluation also depends on Integration and Interoperability with existing tech stack, and parallel technologies such as engagement and MAP platforms, Competitive Differentiation through unique features like proprietary data or AI-driven orchestration, and a strong Vision and Roadmap that aligns with future trends such as omnichannel activation and privacy-first strategies.
Our research also evaluates vendors based on service and strategic differentiators, focusing on criteria like Product Strategy & Performance, Market Presence, Proven Track Record, Ease of Deployment & Use, Customer Service Excellence, and a clear Unique Value Proposition. These factors help ensure the solution is not only functionally strong but also reliable, scalable, and aligned with business needs.
3. How do you assess ROI on your ABM investments across different regions or business units?
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a strategic B2B approach that focuses on identifying and engaging high-value accounts with personalized, coordinated marketing and sales efforts. Unlike traditional lead-based marketing, which prioritizes volume, ABM emphasizes depth of engagement and long-term relationship-building. It’s particularly effective for complex, high-consideration purchases where influence is built over extended sales cycles. By aligning go-tomarket teams around shared account goals, ABM enables more relevant messaging, better timing, and tighter orchestration.
This targeted nature also makes it inherently more measurable success isn’t based on lead quantity but on meaningful account engagement and revenue impact. As a result, ABM strategies rely heavily on platforms with strong analytics capabilities tools that can track engagement across channels, tie efforts to pipeline movement, and help teams course-correct in real time to focus on the accounts that matter most.
Modern ABM platforms offer advanced advertising capabilities, allowing for optimized budgeting. They also provide dashboarding features that offer users a clear, real-time view of how their campaigns are performing across the entire account journey. These dashboards unify marketing and sales data such as ad engagement, content interactions, email performance, outreach activities, and pipeline progression into a single, cohesive view.
This level of visibility helps teams not only track ROI with precision but also uncover critical insights into what’s working and what’s not. Gaps in engagement, content redundancies, or inconsistent messaging become easier to identify and resolve. Performance reports on the campaigns can also be segmented by geographies.
By linking all activity directly to pipeline outcomes, ABM platforms provide a consolidated view of how ABM strategies are impacting revenue — offering transparency and ROI justification to businesses.
4. Are there industry-specific trends or regulatory considerations influencing how you deploy ABM strategies globally?
The time from awareness to purchase in B2B can vary significantly depending on the product and industry. For complex solutions like enterprise software, it can take 6 to 18 months, as buyers go through research, demos, trials, and internal approvals. Simpler or already-approved purchases, like hardware tools, may take just 1 to 3 months. Regulated industries often have longer cycles, while startups or fast-moving teams may decide much faster for lower-risk buys.
ABM platforms allow full customization of their predictive models based on industryspecific indicators, region-specific factors, or custom criteria aligned to client needs. There are also service differentiators offered by ABM platform vendors that include service components. These aim to cater to industry-specific nuances through teams of diverse experts who understand the buying cycle and behaviors of their clients’ target accounts. This ties closely to the regulatory landscape.
Data privacy regulations and the end of third-party cookies are reshaping how ABM strategies are built and executed. ABM platform vendors are adhering to security standards like SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, and CASL to protect sensitive data. Further, vendors can no longer rely on broad, anonymous tracking. Instead, they are shifting to alternative sources of data, collected with clear consent, either by themselves or their data partners.
This shift is also shaping the growth strategies of ABM platforms. We’re seeing a rise in mergers and acquisitions, as companies join forces with intent data or lead generation providers, event tech platforms, or vendors of proprietary, industryspecific market data. These moves aim to enhance targeting precision, expand addressable markets, improve conversion efficiency, and capture more first-party signals. There is also a growing collaboration between ABM vendors and regional or industry-specific data and service partners those with a deep understanding of regulatory compliance and localized intelligence to further boost data accuracy and campaign effectiveness.
From a data perspective, these consolidations help keep data within one ecosystem, making it easier to manage and activate. They also help organizations rely more on consented, first-party data instead of third-party cookies and ensure compliance with privacy rules that vary by region.
5. How does your organization plan to respond to the projected growth and competitive landscape outlined in recent ABM market analyses?
Our firm will continue to closely monitor intent data providers, ABM platforms, and B2B marketing technologies while expanding our coverage into adjacent Martech and SalesTech markets. These areas, once focused on specific team functionalities, are now evolving to support entire Revenue Operations (RevOps) teams. We anticipate rapid evolution in these spaces, fundamentally reshaping how organizations approach data-driven marketing and sales. By staying at the forefront of these developments, we aim to deliver timely insights, lead with thought leadership to shape industry understanding, and guide strategic decisions. This will enable vendors and end-users to navigate the shifting landscape and strategize effectively with clarity and confidence.
6. What platform capabilities such as cross-channel orchestration or real-time data access are most essential for your ABM success?
As noted earlier, ABM platforms have broadened their scope beyond marketing to encompass sales and customer success teams. This expansion allows the platform’s capabilities to support larger marketing groups beyond just account and demand generation functions.
At present, vendors place significant emphasis on data partnerships and advancing data management capabilities, as these form the foundational backbone for successful orchestration. Effective data management includes the ability to aggregate, cleanse, and unify data from multiple sources such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, third-party data providers, and engagement channels.
Vendors that lead in integrating diverse datasets and providing real-time data access tend to be favoured because strong data management directly impacts the effectiveness of cross-channel orchestration and intelligence.
Further, as end-users increasingly seek to break down silos across different teams, we anticipate a growing focus on ABM vendors offering native channel activation, enhanced by powerful playbooks for fast, scenario-based cross-channel activation. This enables vast amounts of data from these channels to be seamlessly fed back into the intelligence layer, enhancing insights and driving smarter orchestration tying back to the fact that vendors are relying more heavily on first-party, proprietary, and consent-based data.
So, with evolving client expectations, ABM platforms are evolving as well. And the market, although mature, is seeing some seismic shifts making it more interesting than ever to track.
