Small Tweaks, Big Impact: Optimizing Your ABM Ads on 6sense

Tony

When clients ask us to review their account-based advertising campaigns in 6sense, the request is almost always an open-ended query: “Can you take a look and tell us how to make this perform better?” Over time, we’ve developed a consistent process for answering that question. 

In this post, we’re sharing the exact steps we take when evaluating a campaign. Think of it as an eight-point punch list, covering everything from targeting to creative to budget allocation, that helps us spot opportunities for improvement. Whether your goal is stronger engagement, better pipeline influence, or simply getting more out of your ad spend, these are the checks we recommend making on a regular basis. 

Our 8-Point Optimization Punch List 

1. Target Account Selection 

What we look for: Do you have enough accounts in the target segment and are you leveraging your ICP, fit scores, or other signals to make smart selections? 

Why it matters: Campaigns only work if you’re reaching accounts that actually matter to your business, but you also need to have a large enough audience to hit your desired spend level. As a rule of thumb, we like to see hundreds, if not thousands, of accounts in the segment for optimal delivery. Note that if you are targeting very small accounts (for instance, those with less than 20 employees each) you’ll likely need a larger list than if you are targeting huge corporations. 

Optimization tactics: Tinker with segment filters to refine the list. You can use 6sense intent signals, buying stages, technographics, firmographics, industries, intent keywords and fit to prioritize accounts. Be sure to also remove stale or low-priority accounts. 

2. Audience Filtering 

What we look for: Are important personas, geographies, and other exclusions applied? Just as importantly, are too many exclusions applied? 

Why it matters: Precise filters prevent wasted impressions on irrelevant buyers, but if you have too many exclusions it can limit delivery. 

Optimization tactics: Ensure geo-targeting aligns with your sales strategy. Layer persona filters when you only want to reach the buying committee but otherwise cast a wider net (and save $$). Beyond this, we recommend avoiding day-parting, day-of-week restrictions or other device restrictions unless you have those specific needs. 

3. Ad Creatives 

What we look for: Did you include the 3 most important formats: 300x250, 320x50 and 728x90? These will give you the best balance of reach and performance. If you’re feeling generous, throw in a 300x600, but don’t feel like you need to have every possible format. You don’t. Do your creatives grab attention instantly, clearly communicate a compelling value (without using jargon), and inspire the audience to take action while feeling authentic and relevant? 

Why it matters: Strong creative drives engagement and signals relevance to prospects. Also, those top few formats are most prevalent across B2B publishers and therefore give you the best opportunity to reach your audience in programmatic auctions. 

Optimization tactics: Get in the habit of pausing or removing the weakest creatives based on CTR. Keep the strongest. Every 6-8 weeks, add more variants to keep things fresh (while still leaving the “winner” in the rotation). 

4. Budget Utilization 

What we look for: Are budgets pacing well? 

Why it matters: Underspending means that you’re missing opportunities. 

Optimization tactics: Monitor pacing weekly. Calculate the remaining budget by taking your total budget and subtracting the amount already spent. Divide that by the number of days remaining in your campaign. Round up by ~10% and set that result as your new daily spend limit. 

5. Maximum Bid Cap 

What we look for: Is your CPM bid cap set to balance reach and efficiency? 

Why it matters: Consistently hitting your spend cap probably means that you’re spending too much too early in the day. 

Optimization tactics: If you are very consistently hitting your daily cap (for instance, you’ve hit the cap down to the penny for the last 3-4 days in a row), try lowering the max CPM bid a little. Rinse, wash, repeat until you find the lowest possible bid that can still deliver the desired daily spend. 

6. Domain Distribution 

What we look for: Are impressions spread across a healthy mix of quality domains? 

Why it matters: You’re trying to influence business decision-makers, so context matters. Try to run your ads on B2B, news, or large portal websites. 

Optimization tactics: Review domain reports, block low-quality placements, and diversify with premium inventory and relevant content sites. 

7. Campaign Configurations & Settings 

What we look for: Are campaigns using best practices? 

Why it matters: 6sense offers lots of customization capabilities for unique circumstances, but usually the default settings perform best. 

Optimization tactics:  Keep it simple: frequency caps should usually be set in the 2-6 range. Web-only inventory tends to have higher engagement rates than app inventory. Use geographic (country-level) restrictions whenever possible, instead of language restrictions (which are based on browser language settings). 

8. Optimization Settings 

What we look for: Are 6sense’s optimization features (AI account pacing and viewability) being leveraged effectively? 

Why it matters: Smart optimization settings improve efficiency and help campaigns self-adjust. 

Optimization tactics: Enable automated account pacing and viewability optimizations. These almost always help! It is easy... just turn those toggle switches to “On”. 

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Optimizing ABM advertising in 6sense isn’t about flipping a single switch, it’s about making steady, thoughtful adjustments over time. By running through this eight-point punch list regularly, you’ll spot small opportunities to improve targeting, creatives, and budget efficiency that can add up to significant gains. 

The best-performing campaigns are the ones that never sit idle. Keep tinkering, testing, and fine-tuning, and you’ll see your ads do more than just generate impressions, they’ll drive meaningful engagement and real business outcomes with your target accounts.