Why 72% of Marketers Say Contact-Level Will Define the Future of ABM

When a deal closes, it’s Mark from Accounting or Amaya from Marketing who signs on the dotted line. 

People hold the budget, influence, and final say. Win them over, and you win the deal. Miss them…and you don’t.

So, why are we targeting accounts again? 

Seventy-two percent of marketers say we shouldn’t be. In their view, contact-level ABM will be the core differentiator in the next 2-3 years. 

We partnered with Forrester to understand why so many marketers have reached the same conclusion. Here’s what we found. 

Ever seen an ad for a product you were only idly considering and thought: How did they know I needed this?

It may have felt like magic (or something creepier), but it was actually just an algorithm attuned to your behavior. 

In their personal lives, buyers expect hyper-personalized recommendations that deliver exactly what they need, when they need it.

And, according to Shimon Ben-Ayoun, managing director at Spotonvision, they’re starting to expect it in their professional lives, too:

When it comes to personalization, the data is clear:  

• The buying group expects it: Nearly three-quarters of buyers (73%) avoid vendors that send irrelevant outreach. With the average buying group now 13 stakeholders strong, the wrong outreach can lead nine of them to tune out. 
• The business benefits: Brands with mature personalization strategies are 48% more likely to exceed revenue targets than immature brands.

There’s just one problem: One out of three marketers lacks the ability to support personalization at the contact level. 

They can’t reach each member of the buying group with personalized ads and messaging. It’s not for lack of trying—their tech stacks just can’t support it. 

(By the way, here's what we mean by personalized ads + how to do it)

Over half (58%) of ABM marketers report that they have only moderate ability (at best!) to drive engagement from key accounts. And even when engagement happens, the insight goes nowhere. 

Founder and CEO of Yirla Scott Schnaars explains why:

Legacy ABM tools surface account-level signals just like these. They tell you that someone is interested, but not who. 

When you can’t identify the person behind the intent, personalization just isn’t possible. 

Contact-level ABM turns these anonymous signals into named buyers you can actually influence. And it pays off, according to Ben-Ayoun:

Buyers expect something that traditional ABM tools can’t deliver. It’s why the majority of marketers are eyeing a new approach. 

Account-only tactics aren’t just less effective. In some cases, they actively damage outcomes. 

Stunted pipeline growth and lost revenue are the most frequently cited consequences of account-level targeting. Others—like low conversion rates and negative impacts to brand reputation—are also common. 

Rocio Garza, director of demand generation and brand awareness at GoNoodle, outlines why:

When you stick to the status quo, your strategy may stay the same. Your results won’t. 

Account-only tactics in an era of hyper-personalization make the wrong impression:

• Buyers think: This isn’t for me. The product probably isn’t, either.
• Sales thinks: I have no idea who to target and no chance of winning
• Leadership thinks: I can’t track the ROI and don’t see the point

It’s a vicious cycle. Buyers disengage. Sales struggles to build momentum. Slowly but surely, outcomes suffer and leaders lose trust. 

The marketing playbook isn’t set in stone. As you can likely attest, it changes pretty frequently.  

You adapted when marketing automation hit the scene and when AI disrupted just about every major workflow. You can adapt here, too. 

When you lean into contact-level ABM, a few things happen: 

Imagine you’re selling a demand generation tool. 

In an active deal, both the Head of IT and the Director of Corporate Marketing hold significant influence. Neither is particularly convinced. 

Now imagine reaching each with messaging tailored to their specific priorities: 

• Security and integration for IT
• Pipeline growth and performance metrics for Marketing

In Ben-Ayoun's view, this tactic is the only way to unlock the buying committee: 

Don’t get tuned out. A personalized approach makes all the difference. See how Influ2's contact-level ads can help.

Sales can’t link anonymous account signals to specific people without hours of LinkedIn scrolling and guesswork.

Contact-level ABM skips those steps with personalized ads that reach the right people and prime them to: 

• Recognize your brand
• Associate it with value 
• Respond positively to outreach

For Courtney Falaki, director of product marketing at Shield AI, a collaborative approach is key:

Account-level signals indicate interest neither you nor Sales can act on. 

Why waste your time when contact-level ABM provides individual engagement signals, so both you and Sales can reach the right people, at the right time, with the right message?

Influ2's contact-level intent makes it possible. 

With traditional ABM tactics, only 36% of marketers can measure effectiveness through ROI. Most rely on engagement metrics—things like email opens, content downloads, and webinar attendance—which don’t exactly paint the full picture.

However, when you target individuals, your impact is directly tied to those contacts. That way, when Sales closes a deal, you can walk through every ad engagement or signal that helped make it a reality. 

And it’s not just you who can trace back that impact. Leaders can, too. Schnaars notes: 

Retire the worn-out engagement metrics. When you can track individual engagement, you can also track how those engagements influenced decision-makers and deal outcomes. 

Contact-level ABM provides precision, so you can prove that your programs boosted conversion rates and contributed to won revenue.

Track actual revenue influence at the contact-level with Influ2. 

Seventy-two percent of marketers can’t be wrong.

Ask Christine Carzo, head of integrated campaigns at LaunchDarkly, and she’ll tell you that it’s time to adapt:

Nearly three-quarters of marketers see contact-level as the future of ABM. Far fewer are taking the steps today to put it into practice. 

Will you? 

Let's talk contact-level ABM.