What’s Needed for Modern ABM Measurement: My Take on the Real Work Ahead

Ed Grossman, Chief Data Nerd, NavigateIQ

Following my recent conversation with Matt Heinz on Sales Pipeline Radio during the Forrester B2B Summit 2025, one theme stood out loud and clear: we’re still making ABM measurement harder than it needs to be. Not because we don’t have the tools or talent, but because we often chase the wrong metrics, use outdated attribution models, and resist the organizational change required to measure what truly matters.

Here’s my take, gathered from working closely with B2B marketing and revenue teams tasked with turning ABM programs into revenue and results.

The Modern B2B Buying Journey Is Messy—and That’s Okay

First, we have to acknowledge what we’re up against. The modern B2B buying journey isn’t linear. It’s a maze of anonymous research, third-party content consumption, and reliance on multiple sources across an expanding buying group. 

Trying to attribute a single touchpoint? That’s like trying to assign credit for a band’s performance to one instrument. It ignores the bigger picture.

That bigger picture encompasses the entire account journey—what key activities and investments drove pipeline progress, how engagement evolved over time, where progress with an account stalled, and which programs and investments ultimately contributed to revenue.

What We Need to Measure in Today’s Account-based World

To measure ABM well in today’s climate, we need a shift in mindset and measurement approach. That means getting clear on three things:

1. What’s Working?
   We need to know which programs, channels, and plays are meaningfully moving accounts from unaware to engaged—and eventually, to revenue. That’s not about claiming “credit.”. It’s about progression, conversion velocity and impact.
   
   
2. What’s Not?
   Just as important: we need to know what isn’t working. What content gets ignored? What sequences don’t convert? What campaigns are sucking budget with no impact on key accounts? Measurement must expose waste, not to place blame, but to make better, faster decisions.
   
   
3. What’s Driving Revenue?
   Ultimately, ABM is only as good as its ability to create and accelerate a predictable, scalable pipeline. Our job as marketers isn’t to explain attribution models—it’s to help sales close deals faster, and to do that repeatedly and predictably.

That’s why I advocate for a programmatic approach to ABM measurement. Not a report you build once a quarter, not a dashboard you check when the CFO asks. A living, breathing view of your ABM performance—aligned to pipeline and revenue—that gets better every week.

Change Management Is the Missing Link

Better ABM measurement isn’t just about tools. It’s about change. The most challenging work is internal: changing the team's values, aligning around shared outcomes, and creating a culture of learning, iteration, and accountability.

This is where many teams stumble. They implement new platforms but cling to old KPIs. They want advanced measurement but aren’t ready to challenge the status quo.

So my advice? Start with conversations, build internal champions, align with sales, and decide what success actually looks like together. Then, develop your measurement program around those truths.

Final Thought: Progress Over Perfection

Modern ABM measurement is challenging but achievable when you have the right approach. What’s needed is a blend of clarity, courage, and collaboration. Clarity is needed to define the outcomes that matter. Courage is required to stop reporting on metrics that don’t. Collaboration is needed to connect data across marketing, sales, and data around what works.

As I said on the show, we don’t need more data. We need better decisions.

And that starts by finally measuring what matters.