1. Introduction
Introduction - understanding ABX’s importance
Account-Based Experience (ABX) is the trendier, more tech-savvy sibling of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), promising deeper personalisation and enhanced results for B2B organisations. While the concept seems so simple – making sure entire buying groups get a holistic, personalised experience across the entire customer journey – the reality is more complex.
Truth is, many organisations simply rebrand their Demand generation or ABM-at-scale programs as ABX, without implementing the fundamental changes required for genuine account-based experiences. True ABX differs from traditional ABM by integrating marketing, sales, and customer success into a technology-supported, customer-first approach that operates continuously for key accounts.
The challenge lies in effectively prioritising buyer needs and intent signals while ensuring meaningful touchpoints across all customer-facing teams. This comprehensive approach has become essential for B2B businesses, transcending traditional campaign-based marketing.
Key Differences in approach and steps
Key Differences in ROI:
- ABX delivers the highest ROI due to its focus on quality over quantity, deep personalization, and alignment across marketing, sales, and customer success. This approach not only accelerates revenue growth but also significantly boosts customer retention and lifetime value.
- ABM also achieves high ROI by concentrating resources on high-value accounts, resulting in larger deal sizes, faster sales cycles, and higher win rates compared to traditional demand generation.
- Demand Generation ROI can be strong, especially for organic channels, but is generally lower than ABM and ABX because it prioritizes lead volume over account quality and personalization. ROI is highly dependent on channel efficiency and lead conversion rates.
Summary of differences between ABX, ABM and Demand Generation
Yet, most ABX initiatives today aren’t truly ABX in practice. Many companies fall short, merely adding touchpoints to traditional ABM campaigns without achieving true cross-functional alignment, intent-based engagement, or real-time personalisation. This gap between the promise and reality of ABX can leave marketing leaders scratching their heads – or worse, missing out on the full potential of an account-centric approach.
2. Where ABX goes wrong
The Missing “X” Factor in ABX
It's crucial to understand that Account-Based Experience (ABX) is supposed to stand for Account-Based Experience, not just Account-Based Marketing 2.0. The distinction matters. Traditional ABM focuses on identifying target accounts and running highly targeted campaigns to engage them. ABX, on the other hand, extends beyond campaigns to encompass the entire buyer’s journey and the overall experience an account has with your brand. It’s about ensuring every interaction – from the first touchpoint through to purchase (and even post-purchase) – is orchestrated, personalised, and cohesive.
However, many so-called ABX programs are still operating like scaled ABM campaigns or worse DemandGen campaigns in disguise. They might use the latest intent data tools or personalised ads, but they stop short of delivering a continuous, unified experience across all stages and teams. The result? Buyers still feel like they’re getting a series of disjointed marketing touches and sales pitches, rather than a seamless journey tailored to their needs.
If the “X” – the holistic customer experience – is missing, then it’s not truly ABX. In fact, this disconnected approach contradicts the core principle of ABX, which aims to create a fluid, consistent experience across all stages of engagement.
The key distinction lies in moving beyond campaign-based thinking to create an ongoing, integrated experience that truly responds to and anticipates customer needs throughout their entire journey with your brand.
"What is ABX" - In this video, Phil Marshall, SVP, RevTech, Agent3, discusses these questions with Michael Taylor, Associate Director, RevTech & Ops at Agent3, as well as exploring ownership of ABX, the importance of visibility and the role of technology in driving success.
Why Most ABX Isn’t Really ABX
If ABX holds so much promise, why do so many companies struggle to get it right? The crux of the issue is that ABX demands a higher level of coordination, customer-centricity, and agility than traditional scaled ABM approaches.
Here are a few common reasons most ABX efforts fall short of the name:
- Campaign Mindset vs. Experience Mindset: It’s easier to run a campaign than to overhaul the end-to-end experience. Many teams stick to campaign tactics, without considering the buyer's journey across various touchpoints. Success is measured in clicks and leads rather than meaningful engagements or account progression.
- Siloed Execution: True ABX requires tight alignment and seamless collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer success; but organisations often operate in siloes. Marketing might not be looping in the sales team at the right moments, and sales might continue with generic outreach, ignoring marketing's contributions. This disjointed approach creates a fragmented buyer experience.
- One-Size-Fits-All Content: ABX demands highly relevant content. If all accounts receive the same generic emails or web experiences, it fails to deliver the personalised touch that makes buyers feel understood. Yet many programs labeled ABX haven’t invested in the content variations or personalisation needed to truly connect with different accounts or buyer personas within those accounts.
- Short-Term Focus: ABM campaigns often run for a quarter or two; ABX is an ongoing strategy. Companies that treat ABX as a short-term campaign will likely revert to old habits once initial plays are over, failing to nurture accounts through longer sales cycles and beyond.
These pitfalls explain why a lot of ABX initiatives are just scaled ABM in all but name. It’s not that ABX as a concept is flawed – it’s that executing it properly is challenging. The good news is that by recognising these gaps, marketing leaders can take steps to transform superficial ABX efforts into genuine, impactful strategies.
A Firmwide Commitment, Not Just a Marketing Initiative
One of the biggest missing pieces in failed ABX attempts is organisational commitment. Adopting an ABX approach isn’t something marketing can do alone – it must be a firmwide strategy with buy-in across all functions and levels. This means breaking down the silos between departments and aligning everyone around the same account-centric vision.
For ABX to succeed, marketing, sales, and customer success must function as a cohesive "growth team" rather than separate fiefdoms. They need to align on target accounts, shared objectives, and coordinated actions throughout the customer journey. For instance, if marketing conducts an insight-driven nurture campaign for a key account, sales should strategically time their follow-up to complement these efforts and reference the content the prospect engaged with. Post-sale, customer success should maintain the high level of service to ensure a consistent experience for the account.
Crucially, true ABX alignment also means evolving your KPIs and incentives. Traditional marketing metrics (MQLs, impressions, etc.) don’t tell the full story of an account’s experience. Mature ABX teams shift to shared metrics like account engagement, pipeline velocity, and account-level revenue. When marketing and sales are rewarded for the same outcomes – say, pipeline and revenue from target accounts – they collaborate more naturally to deliver a unified experience.
In essence, treating ABX as a firmwide commitment changes the game. It builds trust and accountability among teams, ensures a seamless buyer experience, and lays the foundation for ABX to fulfill its potential.
What You Can Do to Make ABX Real
Closing the gap between ABX in name and ABX in practice comes down to a few key actions:
- Audit your current approach: Take a hard look at your current account-based efforts: Are marketing and sales truly collaborating or just handing off leads? Are you creating moments that feel personal and valuable, or just marketing-at-scale under a new name? An honest audit will highlight the biggest gaps.
- Align teams and design the journey: Secure executive support to drive cross-functional ABX alignment and map out the buyer’s journey. Build a unified plan. Pilot this on a small scale—say, a handful of segments of accounts—to test and refine your approach. Early wins (like faster deal cycles or higher engagement in the pilot) will help earn broader buy-in. Go further - map the buyer journey to your marketing and sales process. Map this to your techstack to ensure there are no blockages and ensure insights are served seamlessly to inform next best actions for all customer facing teams.
- Adjust metrics and feedback loops: Set up dashboards to track account-level progress (engagement, pipeline, win rates, customer health) and review them in joint sales–marketing meetings. If certain content or touches spike engagement, double down; if something falls flat, learn and adapt.
- Champion customer-centricity: Keep the focus on what’s best for the account’s experience at every turn. Personalisation and relevance are crucial to this. Buyers now expect companies to know and address their specific interests – 72% of B2B customers now expect their interactions to be mostly or fully personalised. Delivering on this means using data and insights to tailor the content, timing, and channel of engagement for each account. Technology plays a major role when building scalable personalized experiences for clients as they go through the journey. If you’ve done your buyer-journey home work, a lot of this can be automated. Consider adding on concierge services around messaging to move into a hyper personalised mode which we know drives the best results.
3. The role of your team in ABX
When executing your ABX strategy, the collaboration of everyone on your team - from field marketers, campaign strategists, BDRs, AEs, and CSMs, right through to the CRO, is crucial.
Each role contributes to delivering personalised and impactful customer experiences. Field marketers are pivotal in understanding local market dynamics and crafting tailored engagement strategies.
They leverage data insights to resonate with specific accounts, driving higher engagement and conversion rates. CROs ensure that ABX strategies align with broader business goals, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
Campaign strategists oversee the planning and execution of ABX initiatives, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives. BDRs, on the front lines, initiate contact and nurture relationships with target accounts, using insights to personalise outreach and increase conversion likelihood. Together, these roles create a cohesive ABX approach.
To see how these roles work together when working towards an ABX approach, see our "day in the life" graphic below:
4. Case study example
Case Study: Driving Growth Through Targeted ABX Strategy
A leading B2B tech company set out to transform its go-to-market strategy by adopting an Account-Based Experience (ABX) approach. The goal: to shift from traditional lead-based marketing to a more focused, account-centric model that would align Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success around high-value opportunities.
Identifying and Prioritising Target Accounts
The first step was to define the right target accounts. Leveraging AI-driven intent data, firmographic filters, and behavioral analytics from the ABM platform they had stood up the company uncovered accounts actively researching their solutions. Sales provided qualitative insights from past engagements, while Marketing applied predictive scoring models to rank accounts based on conversion potential.
To maximise resource efficiency, the team implemented a tiered segmentation model. Tier 1 (highly engaged) accounts received one-to-one personalised outreach, while Tier 2 (mid engaged) followed a one-to-few approach. Tier 3 (low engaged) received a variety of TOFU ads designed to increase engagement. This structure ensured a balance between strategic personalisation and scalable execution.
Developing Personalised Engagement Strategies
Next, the company focused on building customised strategies for each account. Using real-time account intelligence, they identified key business challenges, buying signals, and stakeholder priorities. Messaging was tailored not just to the company, but to individual roles—CFOs received content centred on ROI, while Marketing leaders were served growth-oriented narratives.
Cross-functional collaboration enabled the creation of account-specific playbooks, combining targeted emails, dynamic ads, personalised web content, and even direct mail. This multi-channel orchestration ensured consistent, relevant touchpoints across the buyer journey.
Executing and Monitoring ABX Campaigns
Execution was tightly aligned between teams. AI tools automated workflows, triggering engagement based on account activity. If a prospect viewed a pricing page, for instance, they received a follow-up email and a Sales call tailored to that interest.
Real-time dashboards tracked engagement, pipeline influence, and content performance. Insights from 6sense allowed the team to adjust outreach in the moment, increasing deal velocity and improving win rates.
Measuring Success
The company transitioned from traditional lead metrics to account-based KPIs—account engagement scores, pipeline contribution, deal velocity, and customer expansion. With ongoing optimisation driven by analytics, they achieved a 34% increase in pipeline from target accounts and a 20% boost in win rates—validating the power of a well-executed ABX strategy.
5. What success looks like if you get it right
What Makes Best-in-Class ABX
What Makes BestBest-in-class Account-Based Experience (ABX) strategies are built on four core pillars: data-driven insights, personalised engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and technology enablement.in-Class ABX
To successfully bring executives into this journey as an experience you’re building, you have to understand what truly matters to them. Here’s what we’ve learned that works:
What brings executives in?
- Data-Driven Insights
At the heart of effective ABX lies data. High-performing organisations harness AI, CRM systems, and analytics platforms to gain a deep understanding of account behavior, preferences, and intent signals. Predictive analytics and machine learning help marketers anticipate needs and craft highly relevant interactions. This level of insight allows teams to engage smarter—targeting the right accounts, at the right time, with the right message. - Personalised Engagement
ABX transforms one-size-fits-all outreach into tailored, meaningful interactions. Personalisation goes beyond using a name—it’s about addressing industry challenges, role-specific pain points, and real-time behaviors. Tactics such as dynamic website content, custom video messages, and automated C-suite targeting based on buying signals are powerful ways to create impact and build trust. - Cross-Functional Collaboration
Alignment across marketing, sales, customer success, and product teams is critical. When all functions share insights and coordinate engagement strategies, the customer experience becomes seamless. Regular communication, shared dashboards, and a unified set of goals help break down silos and ensure consistent execution across the buyer journey. - Technology Enablement
Platforms like 6sense, Demandbase, and Folloze play a pivotal role in ABX success, by facilitating the shift from lead/MQL engagement, to account and buying group engagement. But these tools are only as effective as their adoption. Organisations that excel invest in ongoing training and platform audits to ensure full utilisation. Seamless integration across tech stacks ensures consistent data flow and message delivery.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, while most ABX today isn’t truly delivering on its name, it can. By filling in the strategic gaps – firmwide alignment, journey orchestration, unified metrics, and an unfaltering focus on customer experience – you can transform an ABM program into a genuine account-based experience. The payoff is more than just a buzzword upgrade; it’s deeper engagement with your most valuable accounts, more efficient growth, and a B2B customer experience that stands out in a crowded market. In a world where buyers expect more and have endless options, how you engage can be as important as what you offer. ABX done right ensures you excel at both. Learn more about how we deliver ABX for Enterprise clients here