Confidential Client

DIGITAL EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

CASE STUDY · DIGITAL EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE, ABM

Filling the Funnel: How 1E Built a Full-Funnel ABM Engine From a Standing Start

1E had already identified the accounts that mattered — but no full-funnel way to act on them. Somebody Digital built the structure, the awareness, and the proof that senior technical buyers were actually moving from cold to qualified.

411 qualified accounts 64% above target 97.3% CTV completion Account-Based Marketing

Marketing Qualified Accounts

64% above the 250 target

Influenced opportunities

47% above the 15 target

+ 0 %

More likely to convert

Accounts exposed to earlier messaging

0 %

Connected TV completion

The campaign's standout channel

THE SITUATION

The right accounts were known — the way to reach and measure them was not.

1E, a digital employee experience platform selling into IT and infrastructure teams, had already done the hard work of identifying which accounts mattered most. What it had not done was build a full-funnel way to act on that list. Digital marketing efforts existed, but the target accounts were not properly segmented, there were no established awareness or engagement goals to work toward, and it was difficult to say with any confidence whether the accounts that mattered were moving through the funnel at all. The target audience itself was narrow and senior: C-suite and manager-level roles across digital transformation and infrastructure, plus DevOps engineers, spread across North America and EMEA. Reaching the right handful of people inside each of tens of thousands of target companies — and proving it had happened — was the whole problem. The accounts were not short of exposure to 1E’s marketing; they were short of relevant exposure. LinkedIn data showed the large majority had only ever seen an ad once or twice, well below the frequency needed to build recognition with a senior, distracted buyer.

1–2× was how often most of the audience had seen an ad

Below the frequency needed to build recognition with a senior, distracted buyer

A List With No Structure

Unsegmented

The accounts that mattered were identified but not tiered or staged, with no awareness or engagement goals to work toward.

Thin, Irrelevant Exposure

Seen once or twice

Most of a senior, distracted audience had seen an ad only once or twice — well under the frequency needed to build recognition.

No Proof of Movement

Was anything working?

It was hard to say with confidence whether the accounts that mattered were progressing through the funnel at all.

THE APPROACH

Account intelligence, an early-mover awareness format, and frequency tested rather than assumed.

6Sense account data was pulled directly into activation, and every account was tiered and staged so spend and message matched where it actually was.

Account intelligence · 6Sense

Tier A — highest priorityAlways-on

Tier B — active opportunityTargeted

Tier C — early awarenessMonitored

Connected TV · early access

Connected TV · early beta

EarlyAccess secured

LowCost of reach

VisualBrand fit

Remarketing funnel

CTV viewers Thought leadership

Lead-Gen
AdsSEQUENCED FUNNEL

Paid search · impression share

Digital Employee Experience Platform

dexplatform.com › platform

Impression share held on the terms that convertInvestment concentrated, not spread thin

Frequency · impressions and clicks

1–2 impressionsLow share of clicks

3+ impressionsOutsized share of clicks

Account Intelligence

Account intelligence as the connective layer

6Sense account data was pulled directly into both LinkedIn and Google Ads, rather than treated as a separate reporting layer. Every account was tiered by priority (A, B and C) and segmented again by funnel stage — awareness, consideration and decision — so that spend and messaging could be matched to where an account actually was, not just who it was.

Connected TV

Early-mover Connected TV for awareness that stuck

Rather than compete for attention in an increasingly crowded LinkedIn feed, the campaign secured early access to Connected TV ads on LinkedIn — a format few competitors were using yet, which kept the cost of reach low while the format itself was unusually well-suited to landing a considered, visual brand message with senior technical buyers.

Remarketing

Remarketing that carried people, not just impressions

Viewers of the Connected TV ad were rolled into a purpose-built remarketing funnel: first exposed to ungated thought-leadership content, then moved on to lead-generation ads once that content had done its job. The sequence mattered — accounts that had already seen prior messaging were far more likely to complete a lead form than those coming in cold.

Paid Search

Paid search built around where the platform could actually win

Keyword analysis identified the search terms most likely to convert within the digital employee experience category, and investment was concentrated on maintaining a strong, consistent impression share on those terms rather than spreading thin across a longer list.

Frequency

Frequency, tested rather than assumed

The finding that most of the audience had only seen one or two ads became a direct input into media planning. Frequency was deliberately increased, and the accounts that ended up seeing an ad three or more times accounted for a disproportionately large share of all clicks generated — clear evidence that under-exposure, not creative fatigue, had been the real constraint.

THE RESULTS

Ahead of goal at every stage — and clear on exactly what moved a buyer.

Against a five-month target of reaching 10% of a 51,664-account list and engaging 15% of those reached.

REACH, ENGAGEMENT, QUALIFICATION

Every stage, ahead of plan

Target list reached11%

↑ Goal was 10%

Reached accounts engaged18%

↑ Goal was 15%

Marketing Qualified Accounts411

↑ Target was 250

INFLUENCED OPPORTUNITIES

Pipeline, ahead of plan

Target

Delivered

Influenced opportunities landed at 22 against a target of 15 — 47% ahead.

PRIOR EXPOSURE LIFTED CONVERSION

226% more likely to convert

+ 0 %

Lift vs. cold accounts+226%

Accounts exposed to earlier messaging were 226% more likely to complete a lead form than those seeing 1E cold.

CONNECTED TV COMPLETION

97.3% completion, the standout

0 %

Completion rate97.3%

The standout channel — and CTV viewers went on to click other content ads 21% more often.

WHAT IT MEANS

Not a one-off campaign — a full-funnel operating model.

The headline numbers matter, but the more durable outcome is the model itself: a target account list that now has a proper full-funnel structure behind it, an early and cost-effective foothold in a format that has since become far more competitive, and hard evidence about exactly what moves a senior technical buyer from cold to qualified.

FROM AN UNSEGMENTED LIST

To a tiered full-funnel structure

Every account tiered by priority and staged by funnel position, so spend matched intent.

FROM ONE OR TWO IMPRESSIONS

To frequency proven to convert

Three-plus exposures drove a disproportionate share of clicks — under-exposure, not fatigue, was the constraint.

FROM NO PROOF OF MOVEMENT

To channel-level evidence

Remarketing lift, completion rates and cost efficiency now show exactly what works.

That evidence — in frequency data, in remarketing conversion, in channel-level efficiency — is now the starting point for the next phase of 1E’s ABM programme.

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