From new frameworks for segmentation like SPICED to the traditional ones based on persona and firmographics, this article breaks down how to run tiered account segmentation ABM that does not torch your budget. You will also see what ABM experts advise about strategy and segmentation, and how ZenABM can support your ABM campaigns.
Read on…
Ask any ABM thought leader the key to ROI, and the answer will be focus.
ABM does not win by casting a wide net. It wins by precisely targeting the highest value accounts with personalization that earns attention.
Demandbase ABX expert Stephanie McArthur notes that “one of the key reasons ABM delivers exceptional ROI is its precision. By identifying and focusing on high-value ABM accounts, B2B companies eliminate wasted efforts on unqualified leads.”
In plain language, tiered account segmentation ABM ensures every dollar and every minute goes where it can move the needle, and each account gets the effort it deserves.
Let us get into the how.
Every great segmentation strategy starts with clearly defined Ideal Customer Profiles and a clear Total Addressable Market.
Think of ICP as the blueprint of your best-fit account, and TAM as the universe where those accounts live. You cannot segment well until you know who you want and where to find them.
To build your ICP, analyze patterns in your existing data.
Look at your best customers and identify commonalities:
For instance, if most of your top accounts are mid-market fintech in North America with a specific stack, that becomes a strong ICP marker.
Pro tip. Keep more disqualification criteria than qualification criteria to protect focus.
Once you know who you target, estimate how many such accounts exist and segment the universe.
Segmentation is ongoing because it keeps your tiered account segmentation ABM manageable and actionable. As GTM strategist Maja Voje explains, segmentation breaks a vast TAM into parts where you can win.
Example. Split by verticals such as Finance, Healthcare, SaaS or by size such as SMB, Mid Market, Enterprise. Keep only the segments that match your ICP.
After ICP and TAM, build your TAL, then apply tiered account segmentation ABM based on value.
Why?
All target accounts match your ICP, but not equally. Effort should match expected value.
| Tier | Description |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Dream clients with high ACV or strategic value. Give 1:1 ABM with executive outreach and bespoke content. Few but mighty. |
| Tier 2 | High fit accounts are grouped into clusters for 1:few. Semi-custom plays per cluster. |
| Tier 3 | Good, but not top accounts. Programmatic 1:many to test for engagement and graduate climbers upward. |
SalesLoft ran a tiered account segmentation ABM model and achieved a 115 percent lift in converting marketing leads into booked sales meetings.
The secret
They isolated a subset of high-fit accounts and gave them richer data and more personalized touches.
Takeaway. Focused effort on a well-segmented, well-tiered list beats treating every lead the same.
Source: ABM in Action
With ICP and a tiered TAL in place, go deeper. Sophisticated ABM strategy looks beyond simple labels.
Vertical segmentation is common and effective. If pains differ by industry, group accounts by vertical and tailor the narrative.
Industry plus Persona Segmentation drives revenue
Clarabridge started with two verticals, then refined by role. The focus influenced 96 deals worth about 24 million dollars in revenue.
Source: ABM in Action
Split existing customers, open opportunities, churned customers, and net new logos. Messaging changes with context.
Do not assume every new logo is unaware. Run a pilot that shows TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU. Use engagement to split low intent and high intent.
Track each account’s engagement with each campaign in ZenABM.
Then monitor historic and current account engagement scores to define warm and cold.
Note. Some businesses try third-party intent or reverse IP. Accuracy is limited. Syft reports only 42 percent for deanonymization.
Within each account, ABM is still about people – the buying committee and the personas within.
And an effective ABM segmentation often means grouping contacts/personas across accounts to design suitable messages.
Wouter Dieleman (an ABM coach), for instance, also stresses developing spot-on personas and suggests using the SPICED framework for the same if you are using HubSpot:
Identify all roles in the ICP buying committee (e.g., Decision Maker, Champion, Influencer) using HubSpot’s roles:
You can also go for secondary roles that pertain to the department, like IT, marketing, etc.
Then assign SPICED involvement per persona (e.g., Champion feels Pain, Decision Maker sets Criteria).
Log personas in HubSpot with memorable names (e.g., “CCO Charles”).
Finally, develop SPICED for Top 3 Personas (Champion, Decision Maker, Influencer):
We talked about how persona-based segmentation (SPICED or job-function or a combination) can be great for your ABM strategy, but overdoing it can backfire!
For instance, Emilia Korczynska (VP of Marketing at Userpilot) mentions in her case study at Growth Unhinged, how they segmented ad campaigns based on buying stage and job-function persona.
This didn’t go well because LinkedIn has a threshold for each campaign: At least about 300 members or so.
But the segments they made were too narrow to cross the threshold.
As a result, they ended up building an intent-first campaign structure and ditched their persona-first strategy.
Their old versus new campaign structure:
| # | Segmentation Approach | Tools | Workflow |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technology Adoption + Employee Sentiment | G2 API, Zapier (LinkedIn Posts) | 1. Pull companies reviewing a category on G2 via API. 2. Monitor employee LinkedIn posts for sentiment keywords (e.g. “migrating to X”). 3. Build a list of firms showing intent and pain signals. |
| 2 | Recent Funding Stage + Geo-Targeting | Crunchbase Pro, Clearbit Reveal | 1. Filter companies that raised Series A/B in the last 6 months on Crunchbase. 2. Enrich IPs via Clearbit to get HQ location. 3. Tailor region-specific campaigns (e.g. “Congrats on your raise in Austin…”). |
| 3 | Content Engagement + Firmographics | Google Analytics API, ZoomInfo | 1. Query GA for company domains visiting top-of-funnel eBook pages. 2. Feed domains to ZoomInfo for firmographic data. 3. Segment into “SMB fintech” vs. “enterprise healthcare” and customize offers. |
| 4 | Job-Posting Signals + Stack-Match | Indeed/LinkedIn Jobs API, SimilarTech | 1. Scrape recent job postings for roles like “DevOps engineer.” 2. Cross-reference with SimilarTech for their marketing stack. 3. Target accounts hiring specific roles and using non-optimal tools. |
| 5 | Intent Topics + LinkedIn Matched Audiences | Bombora Company Surge, LinkedIn Campaign Manager | 1. Pull Bombora topic surge data (e.g. “ABM”). 2. Create Matched Audience in LinkedIn for those companies. 3. Run targeted ads timed to their interest spikes. |
| 6 | ESG News Mentions + Enrichment | Google News API, Clearbit | 1. Monitor Google News for “sustainability” mentions tagging companies. 2. Enrich profiles with Clearbit for size and industry. 3. Launch ABM plays around ESG features or services. |
| 7 | Salesforce “Stalled” Deals + Look-Alike | Salesforce CRM, Looker Studio, Demandbase | 1. Query Salesforce for opportunities stuck >45 days. 2. Group by industry/deal size in Looker Studio. 3. Feed profiles into Demandbase look-alike model. |
| 8 | Intent Podcast Listeners + Email Discovery | Spotify Podcast API, Hunter.io | 1. Identify companies subscribing to relevant podcasts. 2. Pull domains, then find decision-maker emails with Hunter.io. 3. Send personalized outreach referencing the podcast. |
| 9 | Web Traffic Clustering via BigQuery | Google BigQuery, Python (k-means) | 1. Export raw visitor logs into BigQuery. 2. Cluster by page-view patterns (pricing vs. blog). 3. Segment into “ready-to-buy” vs. “researching” groups. |
| 10 | Competitor Script Detection + Enrichment | Ghostery, Clearbit Autopilot | 1. Use Ghostery to detect competitor scripts on sites. 2. Enrich domains with Clearbit Autopilot. 3. Prioritize “at-risk to switch” accounts for an ABM play. |
| 11 | LinkedIn Ad Engagement + Deal Stage Targeting | ZenABM, CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot) | 1. Use ZenABM to pull companies with high engagement on your LinkedIn ads. 2. Filter those accounts by current deal stage in your CRM. 3. Launch targeted outreach (e.g. personalized nurture for “opportunity” stage vs. executive touch for “proposal” stage). |
The segmentation is done.
Now it’s time to execute, so it truly pays off.
The goal is to deliver deeply relevant, segment-specific campaigns that make your targets feel like the marketing was made just for them.
We’re not talking “Hello <First Name>” token personalization – we’re talking content, creative, offers, and touchpoints aligned to each segment’s traits.
Some tactical ways to customize by segment:
Create content assets for each segment.
For example, if you have 3 core industry segments, build out an eBook, webinar, or case study for each that speaks the industry’s language (using their jargon, addressing their regulatory environment, etc.).
If segment A cares about cost savings and segment B cares about compliance, your messaging should reflect that.
Utilize marketing automation to separate contacts by segment and nurture them with carefully designed sequences.
On LinkedIn Ads or other ad platforms, build audience segments for each cluster of accounts and run ads with segment-specific imagery and copy. For instance, if you have separate banking and tech segments, run a “Financial Services Trends 2025” ad to your banking segment and a different ad to your tech segment.
Your CPC might be the same, but conversion rates will thank you.
Pro Tip: With ZenABM, you can truly utilize ad segmentation based on specific features/qualities of your campaign. For instance, you can structure your campaigns based on different features of your tool/service, and ZenABM will track which companies are engaging with which of your ads, thus telling you about what they are interested in – a feature extremely useful for BDR outreach.
You can tag different ad campaigns in ZenABM with their intent and ZenABM will group companies showing similar intent in one place:
Plus, it also pushes the same intent as a company property to your CRM:
Use dynamic web content and targeted sales touches for Tier 1 and Tier 2 while keeping Tier 3 efficient.
Design multi-channel plays that match segment stakes. Executive touches for Tier 1. Tight use case content for Tier 2. Efficient demand creation for Tier 3.
Segmentation is not a one-and-done effort. Track pipeline, win rates, deal size, and engagement per segment. Graduate accounts upward as intent rises.
Pro tip. ZenABM monitors company-level engagement per campaign and pulls deal values from your CRM for clear segment performance.
Segmentation is not a checkbox. It is your ABM superpower. Define, tier, and refine segments so every touchpoint works harder. By aligning teams around precise ICP and TAM maps, executing tailored plays per tier and niche, and measuring what moves the needle, you turn scattershot activity into repeatable growth. Start small, learn fast, and scale smart. Your most valuable accounts are waiting.
Ready to level up your tiered account segmentation ABM?
Try ZenABM to unify segment-level insights and automate engagement tracking so you close more deals faster. Or book a demo.
