Code42, based in Minneapolis, is a cybersecurity software company that offers solutions for stopping insider data leaks and IP theft. The company has more than 50,000 client organizations.
Looking to generate leads and demand, Code42 moved to an account-based experience (ABX) and brought on 6sense. It was a smart play.
- Opportunity volume rose 30%
- Opportunities won increased 30%
- Deal size grew 70%
- Campaigns progressed 82% of accounts in the buying stage
The Challenge
Before 6sense, Code42 faced several challenges:
- The company had no way of knowing which accounts were in-market
- It struggled to identify the effectiveness of display ads
- The audience for LinkedIn display ad audiences based on form-fills was too small to generate meaningful pipeline impact
- The revenue team had too many leads that didn’t move down the funnel
- Only 2% to 3% website visitors — the ones filling out forms — were receiving personalized marketing content
“We did a lot of great work. But we created way, way too much friction with our buyers,” Code42’s Aida Kamber said. Too much content was gated, and messaging often didn’t match where the account was in its buying process.
Setting Good Goals
Code42 implemented 6sense with an ABX pilot.
Their largest goal was to align sales, marketing, and extended teams to work together closely to send a unified message to accounts.
This meant shifting to an account-based approach — finding opportunities, not leads – and building an ABX company culture that broke down silos between marketing and sales.
What They Did Right
Getting results required a culture shift that included clearer communication between marketing and sales, with all players acting as part of a single revenue generation team.
They started by taking a larger view, focusing on opportunities and pipeline, not just form-fills.
And to encourage usage, Code42 shared a leaderboard showing which business development representatives (BDRs) were using 6sense dashboards the most.
“Sales reps are competitive,” Kamber said. “Put their numbers side-by-side and show them who’s doing really well. Have their managers highlight that. Our usage in the last three months is higher than ever because we started doing that.”
But they also used a collaborative approach by sharing data and using it to repeat wins, and celebrating every win, small and large, to boost buy-in and morale.
Measurable Changes
The team launched integrated marketing campaigns, including one driven by 6sense’s AI-identification of the most valuable prospects based on their Dark Funnel behavior. These 6sense Qualified Accounts (6QAs) received video ads on LinkedIn and invitations to join a customer roundtable.
Once 6sense lit up the Dark Funnel, the team targeted messages to prospects based on real-time data about their interests, concerns, and buying stages. Suddenly, Code42’s content (which was no longer gated) could target 100% of in-market prospects.
The ability to understand account engagement long before a form-fill has helped Code42 refocus marketing efforts. Form-fills only tell what’s happening at the bottom of the funnel. Seventy percent of the decision to buy typically happens before a customer ever fills out a form — at which point they are very close to making a purchase decision.
6sense’s data allowed Code42 to get in front of customers earlier in their research process, watch account engagement with 6sense grow, and tie that engagement to specific marketing efforts.
The Results
With 6sense, Code42 was able to reach accounts earlier in their buying journeys. It could then use 6sense engagement metrics, such as content consumption and account progression, to personalize content and messaging.
The increases:
- 30% lift in opportunity volume
- 30% climb in opportunity wins
- 70% growth in deal size
- 82% of buying-stage accounts progressed
