The Essential Tech Stack for a High-Performing ABM Program

To successfully execute Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns and efficiently generate prospect lists, it's essential to have the proper set of tools in place. The right technology stack doesn't just support a strategy; it amplifies it by streamlining workflows and helping to maximize the quality and scalability of outreach efforts.

This guide outlines the recommended tools to launch effective ABM campaigns, focusing on the technology needed to power a sophisticated, targeted outbound motion.

1. Lemlist: For Hyper-Personalized, Multichannel Automation

The cornerstone of a modern ABM strategy is connecting with target accounts across their preferred channels. Lemlist is a robust outreach and email automation platform designed to set up these multichannel workflows.

Its key differentiator is the ability to integrate different touchpoints, especially email, LinkedIn, and calls, into a single, automated, and streamlined process. This allows teams to personalize and automate cold email campaigns and follow-ups at scale. For instance, its ability to integrate with CRMs like HubSpot provides for the creation of automatic notifications, enabling the sales team to reply promptly through combined workflows. This capability is essential for running ABM programs that are both scalable and maintain a human touch.

A key factor in our choice of Lemlist is its unique ability to orchestrate a true multichannel ABM campaign. Unlike many email-centric platforms, Lemlist allows us to safely automate LinkedIn touchpoints, like profile views and connection requests, within the same sequence as our emails. This integration is critical for creating a cohesive and persistent outreach motion without risking account suspension, making it an essential tool for a modern ABM strategy.

This allows teams to personalize and automate cold email campaigns and follow-ups at scale. For instance, its ability to integrate with CRMs like HubSpot provides for the creation of automatic notifications.

To illustrate the power of this multichannel approach, here is a flowchart of a typical campaign run by Kalungi:

Key Benefits of Lemlist:

• Workflow automation for creating multistep ABM sequences.
• Email personalization at scale, which helps increase engagement rates.
• Built-in tracking and analytics for performance optimization.
• Seamless CRM integrations and robust team collaboration features.

For these capabilities, the recommended option is the multichannel plan.

2. Alternative Domains for Safe Outbound

To preserve the email deliverability of a main company domain and ensure the long-term effectiveness of ABM campaigns, acquiring at least three alternative domains is strongly recommended. These domains should be explicitly used for the outbound campaigns that support your ABM strategy.

This approach reduces the risk of the primary domain being flagged by spam filters. The main goal is to protect the brand's online presence, prevent issues like domain blacklisting, and maintain high engagement with your target audience. This proactive step enhances sender reputation and ensures consistent deliverability as campaign volume increases.

3. Dedicated Email Addresses & Proper Technical Setup

Once the alternative domains are secured, the next step is to create dedicated email mailboxes using a reliable service like Google Workspace or Outlook. For three domains, a corresponding number of email aliases (e.g., nine aliases in total) can be set up for the outreach team.

Crucially, to ensure your outbound emails land in the inbox and not the spam folder, these new domains must be properly authenticated. This involves setting up the following technical records:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)

These records are essential for proving to internet service providers that the sender is legitimate, which is non-negotiable for successful outbound outreach.

4. Email Warm-Up: Building a Positive Sender Reputation

A new domain and email address have no sending history, which makes them look suspicious to spam filters. Before launching any outbound campaign, they must be "warmed up." This is the process of gradually increasing sending volume and generating positive interactions (like opens and replies) to build a trusted sender reputation with providers like Google and Microsoft.

This critical step can be time-consuming to do manually, but thankfully, it's a service that Lemlist offers. Its automated warm-up tool sends and receives emails from a network of real, high-reputation inboxes, mimicking human behavior. This efficiently builds the sender score and ensures your actual campaign emails have the highest possible chance of landing in the primary inbox.

5. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: For Precision Prospecting

While Lemlist handles the automated outreach, a high-performing ABM program runs on high-quality data. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the engine you'll use to find the right people at the right accounts. It is an essential investment because a standard LinkedIn account is far too restrictive for a serious outbound motion.

Key reasons for choosing Sales Navigator include:

• Scalable Personalized Outreach: A standard LinkedIn account limits you to sending very few connection requests with personalized notes each month (often less than 10). Sales Navigator removes this critical restriction, allowing your team to reach a meaningful volume of prospects with tailored messages to open doors at target accounts.
• Advanced Prospecting and Lead Finding: Sales Navigator’s greatest strength is its powerful search functionality. It empowers your sales team to use dozens of advanced filters—such as seniority level, function, company headcount, and recent activity—to pinpoint the exact decision-makers within your target accounts, ensuring your outreach is always highly relevant.
• Account Intelligence: It provides crucial insights into target accounts, including organizational charts and employee growth, helping your team understand the key players and map out the entire buying committee.

Budgeting for Your ABM Tech Stack

Here is a summary of the investment required for this essential ABM toolkit, broken down by initial and recurring costs.

Note: The "First Month Cost" includes the one-time payment for alternative domains, which are paid upfront for the year. The "Recurring Monthly Cost" reflects the ongoing software subscriptions for the rest of the toolkit.