For several years account-based marketing was something companies "piloted". Demand Gen Report's 2026 ABM Benchmark Survey, published in May 2026, suggests that phase is over. Close to 80% of the organisations surveyed are now running an ABM strategy, and the rest say they plan to add one.1
Results look broadly positive. Just over half (52%) said their ABM programmes meet expectations, 23% said they exceed them, and a further 10% said they greatly exceed them.1
Two findings stand out. Personalised content was named the highest-return ABM tactic by 47% of respondents, and the most common use of AI in ABM was personalising content at scale (29%). Respondents rated AI's effect on ABM results at 7.3 out of 10 on average.1 The published summary does not give the number of respondents, so these figures are best read as direction rather than precise measurement.
Why ABM fits the way businesses now buy
Recent buyer research explains why account-based approaches keep gaining ground. Forrester counts 13 internal stakeholders and 9 external influencers in a typical purchase.2 6sense found that buyers fill most of their shortlist on the first day of a buying process.3 A lead-by-lead funnel, which treats each contact as a separate opportunity, struggles with both facts. ABM starts from the account and asks a better question: does the whole buying group know who we are, and are we engaging enough of them?
An ABM operating model that holds up in practice
The programmes that keep delivering tend to get a handful of basics right. This is the approach we recommend.
1. Tier your accounts honestly
Split target accounts into three groups: a small one-to-one tier for your most valuable opportunities, a one-to-few tier for clusters with shared needs, and a one-to-many tier where you use lighter, programmatic personalisation. Most failed ABM programmes simply have too many accounts in the top tier for the resources available.
2. Map the buying committee before outreach
For each priority account, identify the economic buyer, the people who will use the product, technical evaluators, procurement and the likely blockers. Verified contact data for each role is the foundation; personalisation means nothing if it reaches the wrong person.
3. Use intent signals carefully
Third-party intent data and first-party engagement can show which accounts are active, but signals are noisy. Treat them as a reason to prioritise an account and confirm with a human conversation, not as proof that a deal exists.
4. Personalise at the level that pays
Personalised content scored highest for return in the benchmark, but personalisation has a cost. Industry-level messaging is enough for the one-to-many tier; role-specific and account-specific content earns its effort higher up. AI can draft variations quickly, but a generic message with the company name inserted is not personalisation and buyers notice.
5. Orchestrate channels around the account
Content syndication builds awareness across the buying group, outbound calls and email open conversations, and paid social keeps the brand visible between touches. The order matters less than consistency: every channel should tell the same story to the same accounts.
6. Measure accounts, not leads
Track how many target accounts you have reached, how many contacts per account are engaged, how many accounts have progressed to meetings, and the pipeline they produce. Counting MQLs from an ABM programme measures the wrong thing.
Common reasons ABM stalls
- No agreement with sales on the target list, the tiers and what happens when an account engages.
- Thin data on the buying committee, so outreach reaches one or two contacts per account.
- Impatience. With buying cycles still averaging around ten months,3 judging an ABM programme after one quarter usually ends it too early.
- Volume habits carried over from lead generation, which turn a focused programme into a broad one.
Where a delivery partner fits
Most of the strategic work in ABM, such as choosing accounts and shaping the message, belongs in-house. The time-consuming execution often does not: researching and verifying buying committees, running calls into target accounts across time zones, and syndicating content to the right roles. That is the part of ABM a specialist partner can take off your team's hands.