ABX Plays with Sendoso For Each Part of the Customer Lifecycle

Revenue teams have been asked to do more with less, and as the digital world becomes more saturated, programs that bring back the feel of in-person experiences have grown more important. This is why we have brought together Sendoso experts from across all departments to share creative ways we have maximized sales and marketing ROI in this new climate.

Across 4 unique sessions, we share proven strategies for driving revenue growth, how to achieve measurable results from sending, and maximizing ROI. Whether you’re in sales, marketing, or customer success, these insights will bring success to your team.

If you’re familiar with Sendoso, you may have noticed that we’ve recently been talking about ABX—a lot. In fact, we’re hosting a whole virtual event about it!

Even if you aren’t familiar with us, by now you’ve probably seen the term Account-Based Everything (ABX) thrown around in webinars, marketing circles, LinkedIn posts, blogs, and more. It’s the new buzzword of 2020—but how much does it differ from ABM?

The easiest way to remember the difference is this: it’s not just marketing anymore that is embracing an account-based approach. It’s everything.

This doesn’t mean that ABX is replacing ABM. Research shows that ABM is not going anywhere. But with the business landscape changing so rapidly, the natural evolution of ABM to ABX is a holistic recognition of the customer lifecycle from the traditional starting point of sales and marketing, expanding through customer onboarding, service, and support.

So while ABM is historically thought of as a top-of-funnel strategy, at Sendoso we asked how we can align messaging for the entire buyer’s journey and customer journey. Thus, our ABX philosophy was born.

But what’s so great about ABX compared to ABM? Here are the two approaches side by side:

“Instead of attracting the right prospects and being more reactive, it’s about finding the right prospects. Instead of crafting journeys, you start embracing unpredictable journeys.” Sendoso Head of Product Marketing Lauren Barraco explains. “You have to move from that short term acquisition close-the-deal type of mentality to accepting that this is a long lifetime, and you really need to be thinking of that lifetime value and the relationships you build along the way. It’s about driving growth throughout the entire lifecycle.”

In the “Evolving from ABM to ABX” session of our Sending for Success webinar series, Sendoso team members were joined by Anaplan Account-Based Marketing Manager Colleen Jackson to discuss successful ABM strategies and tactics throughout the stages of the funnel that yielded impressive results — all of which can be applied to your own ABM tactics as you shift to ABX.

4 ABX Plays for Each Stage of the Funnel

ABX Stage 1: Acquisition

Although useful throughout the funnel, much like ABM, ABX can start at the top. One ABX win that worked for Sendoso was sending virtual care packages, family-friendly touches (to help occupy children at home), food delivery services, and of course, charity sends. The campaign was made up of a variety of 1:1 sends enabled for reps to autonomously send, covering newly released Sendoso Choice and Address Confirmation, eGifts, and Sendoso Direct options (click here for info on this campaign).

ABX Stage 2: Sales Play

There are several ABX plays you can run during the sales cycle with open opps that will allow you to drive velocity and move prospects to the next stage of the funnel. Take it from Colleen, an expert in the whole breadth of ABM.

Even though Colleen’s Anaplan team got an admittedly late start on a holiday season campaign, she still wanted to run a play for new sales opportunities before the end of 2019. They had just put out their Total Economic Impact Report (also their biggest content investment of the year) and thought a play could be to get it in the hands of high-value decision makers with little time for emails. So, they used Sendoso to deliver 345 customized holiday packages including a sweet treat, a printed full copy of the report, and a well-thought out, personalized handwritten note to target accounts.

“I think our results were pretty impressive.” Colleen mentions. “It’s not just about the money; it was also that relationship building piece. We actually had people reach out to our CEO to say ‘wow,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘that was so nice.’”

Curious what results Colleen saw from her campaign? Check out the on-demand version of the webinar here.

Her advice on yielding similar results for holiday campaigns?

ABX Stage 3: Sales Velocity

It’s no secret that every marketing and sales team’s top priority is to convert contacts and leads into customers.

A perfect example of how to move deals quickly through the sales pipeline to generate revenue is LeanData’s flexible solution to support multiple go-to-market strategies, sending options, and stakeholders. During COVID, LeanData practiced the ABX strategy by using Sendoso’s eGifting capabilities to memorable touches to the right person at the right time, every single time.

And it worked. They scored 79 net new business opportunities.

ABX Stage 4: Customer Retention

ABM is not just for winning over prospects and gaining new customers though. It can also be applied to upsell, expansion and retention opportunities. At the outset of the global pandemic, Sendoso sent our high-value customers an appreciation send to let them know we stand with them during these difficult times. We targeted customers that were due to renew in Q2 of this year and tiered them based on lifetime value and user role.

Keeping existing customers feeling special and valued is paramount for any company because without them, your company wouldn’t have any customers at all.

ABX For All

The number one point to keep in mind regarding the ABX approach is that it does not end with the prospect—it continues through the entire customer journey. With the right strategy and tools in your tech stack, you can continue to build and evolve personalized campaigns, experiment with new channels, and ultimately drive growth.

If you’re looking for ways to incorporate the power of ABX into your organization—including even more proven Sendoso ABX strategies— watch the full on-demand session of Evolving from ABX to ABM.