January 2017 Summaries

Account Based Marketing (ABM) is broadly defined as a strategic approach that aligns sales and marketing efforts toward pre-defined target accounts, yet interpretations vary widely among marketers and sales leaders. Traditional ABM involves prioritizing a list of target accounts, aligning marketing KPIs with sales goals, and using personalized outreach methods such as targeted events and enterprise-level SaaS tools. However, companies like Segment, Slack, and Atlassian have advanced beyond traditional ABM by leveraging data and automation to provide personalized experiences for all prospects, including those not on the initial target list. This approach, sometimes referred to as ABM at Scale, Programmatic ABM, or data-driven marketing, enables marketing teams to support sales across a broader range of potential accounts without significantly expanding their salesforce. Techniques employed in this scaled-ABM strategy include automated lead generation, targeted website chat, personalized email campaigns, and dynamic website content personalization based on visitor data. These innovations allow businesses to differentiate between high-value and lower-value visitors while delivering personalized and satisfying buying experiences.

Clearbit, driven by the idea of fostering innovation through simple building blocks, initially launched APIs that abstracted personal and company data into easy-to-use interfaces, enabling companies like Segment to create powerful tools such as automated emails for qualified site visitors. Building on this foundation, Clearbit introduced its platform to integrate into apps, allowing users to leverage Clearbit data more seamlessly. The latest development is the release of OAuth 2 support, which simplifies the process by allowing customers to connect their Clearbit accounts and enabling API requests on their behalf, representing a significant improvement over previous white-labeling and reseller agreements.

Adding a chat widget to a website can enhance customer interaction and boost sales, but managing high volumes of unqualified traffic can be challenging. Clearbit experimented with Drift on their main site and found the chat feature beneficial yet overwhelmed by unqualified customer interactions. To address this, they utilized their product, Reveal, which identifies companies by IP address, to display the chat widget only to visitors from larger companies, defined as those with more than 30 employees and not universities. Additionally, they customized messaging based on whether visitors were from B2B or B2C businesses, their use of integrated technologies like Salesforce, and their industry. Segment further personalized the experience by dynamically inserting the visiting company's name into the chat prompt. The ability to de-anonymize and qualify web traffic using Reveal showcases its potential for various innovative applications.