How to Use Hubspot Marketing Email for Account-Based Marketing

Hubspot gives marketing and sales teams a powerful way to bring account-based marketing (ABM) to life using targeted email, automation, and shared data. This guide shows you step-by-step how to plan, build, and measure ABM email programs using tools and workflows inspired by Hubspot best practices.

Why Hubspot Email Works for Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing focuses on a defined list of high-value companies instead of a broad audience. Email remains one of the most effective ways to engage those accounts when it is personalized and coordinated with sales.

Using an approach modeled on Hubspot, you can:

• Unify marketing and sales around the same target accounts.
• Use shared data to personalize email at the contact and account level.
• Automate sequences that match where buyers are in their journey.
• Measure engagement at both contact and company levels.

The result is a repeatable process for reaching buying committees, not just individual leads.

Step 1: Build a Strong ABM Foundation in Hubspot-Inspired Systems

Before designing any email campaigns, you need a structured foundation that mirrors how Hubspot organizes ABM data and collaboration.

Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

Start by documenting a clear ideal customer profile (ICP). This describes the types of companies that are the best fit for your product or service.

Outline details such as:

• Industry or vertical.
• Company size and revenue range.
• Technology stack or tools in use.
• Common pain points and goals.

This ICP will guide which accounts you add to your ABM lists and how you write your email content.

Create and Prioritize Target Account Lists

Next, compile your initial list of accounts that match your ICP. Segment this list by factors such as potential revenue, urgency, and product fit.

Then, assign each account a priority tier. For example:

• Tier 1: Highest potential accounts that receive the most personalized outreach.
• Tier 2: Good fit accounts that receive semi-personalized email campaigns.
• Tier 3: Broader fit accounts nurtured with scalable programs.

This tiering helps you decide how much customization each group should receive in your ABM email sequence.

Align Marketing and Sales Around the Same Data

Effective ABM email requires tight coordination between marketing and sales, similar to how Hubspot aligns teams around shared records and timelines.

Establish agreements on:

• Which team owns each stage of the buyer journey.
• What qualifies an account to move from marketing to sales focus.
• How sales will follow up on email engagement, such as opens and clicks.
• What information must be logged so email personalization remains accurate.

With clear roles and shared data, you avoid duplicate outreach and conflicting messages.

Step 2: Plan Your Hubspot-Style ABM Email Strategy

Once your foundation is in place, map out your strategy for ABM email streams that reflect how Hubspot structures campaigns and workflows.

Map Email to the Buyer Journey

Organize your email plans according to the stages of the buyer journey:

1. Awareness: Introduce problems, share educational content, and start light engagement.
2. Consideration: Provide case studies, comparisons, and solution-focused resources.
3. Decision: Highlight ROI, implementation details, and offers such as demos or trials.

For each stage, decide:

• What value you will deliver to the account.
• Which personas at the company should receive each message.
• What call to action you expect, such as a reply, meeting booking, or content download.

Segment by Persona and Role in the Buying Committee

ABM focuses on buying groups, not just single leads. Build segments that reflect the roles present in each company:

• Economic buyers or budget owners.
• Technical evaluators.
• Daily users or champions.
• Executives and strategic leaders.

Your email content should speak differently to each persona, even when it is part of the same overall ABM program.

Decide What to Personalize in Each Email

You do not need deep customization in every message. Instead, decide where personalization matters most for impact, drawing on the approach used in Hubspot.

Useful personalization elements include:

• Company name and industry language.
• Reference to specific challenges or goals.
• Mention of recent activity, such as events, downloads, or site visits.
• Alignment with technology or tools the account already uses.

Use more advanced personalization for your highest-priority tiers, while keeping lower tiers efficient and scalable.

Step 3: Build Your Hubspot-Inspired ABM Email Campaigns

With strategy defined, you can now design actual email campaigns and sequences that work like Hubspot marketing email programs.

Design an ABM Welcome and Introduction Series

Create a short welcome series that starts relationships with new contacts inside your target accounts.

Example structure:

1. Email 1: Introduce your company, articulate the core problem you solve, and link to a helpful resource.
2. Email 2: Share proof such as a case study that matches the account’s industry.
3. Email 3: Offer a light next step, such as a personalized assessment or consultation.

Keep the tone consultative, not sales-heavy. The goal is to open a conversation across the account, not close a deal immediately.

Create Nurture Streams for Each Tier

Next, build ongoing nurture streams that align with each priority tier:

• Tier 1 nurture: Highly tailored messages, often coordinated closely with one-to-one sales outreach.
• Tier 2 nurture: Semi-personalized content based on shared challenges and industry context.
• Tier 3 nurture: Scalable email campaigns that still reflect ABM lists but rely on broader messaging.

Each stream should have clear entry conditions (such as new contact at a target account) and exit conditions (such as booking a meeting).

Coordinate With Sales Sequences and One-to-One Outreach

To make ABM email effective, your campaigns should complement sales activity instead of competing with it.

Define rules such as:

• Pause or slow marketing emails when a sales representative is actively running a one-to-one sequence.
• Trigger a task for sales when contacts engage heavily with key emails.
• Share templates that sales can adapt for their own personalized outreach.

This coordination ensures the experience feels unified from the account’s perspective.

Step 4: Optimize and Measure ABM Email Performance

Measurement is essential to improving ABM email programs over time, in the same way Hubspot emphasizes reporting on both contact and account-level performance.

Track the Right Email and Account Metrics

Look beyond traditional email opens and clicks. For ABM, focus on:

• Engagement by target account, not just individual recipients.
• Number of engaged contacts within each company.
• Meetings or opportunities generated after specific email campaigns.
• Pipeline and revenue influenced by ABM email programs.

Combine these metrics to understand which accounts are warming up and which sequences are most effective.

Run A/B Tests on Key Email Elements

Continuous testing lets you steadily improve results. Run structured A/B tests on:

• Subject lines and preview text.
• Email length and structure.
• Calls to action, such as meetings, demos, or resource downloads.
• Level of personalization used.

Use the outcomes of these tests to standardize winning patterns across your ABM campaigns.

Close the Loop With Sales Feedback

Quantitative metrics only tell part of the story. Establish a recurring feedback loop with sales so you can refine ABM email strategy and execution.

Ask questions such as:

• Which email sequences are leading to the most productive conversations?
• Are accounts arriving in meetings with the right expectations and context?
• Where do prospects seem confused or need more information?

Use this feedback to adjust messaging, timing, and the resources you share in your emails.

Additional Resources and Next Steps

To dive deeper into tactics based on real-world examples, review the original article on using marketing email within an account-based marketing strategy at this Hubspot customer resource.

If you want strategic help implementing an ABM program that feels similar to a well-structured Hubspot setup, you can also explore consulting support from Consultevo.

By combining a clear account strategy, strong alignment between marketing and sales, and disciplined email execution, you can use a Hubspot-inspired approach to make account-based marketing more targeted, measurable, and scalable across your organization.