Every business has thousands of ideal customer profiles they can target, but it isn’t quite possible to go after each of those. A prudent way to do this would be to first go after a smaller subset, so you can win more customers faster.
Now, how do you find the group of companies or accounts to target? Intent data. Buyer intent signals can help you with the process of carving out the set of accounts you will target for sales and marketing campaigns.
Intent data indicates a potential buyer's interest or readiness to purchase by analyzing various data points to identify buying signals. This can include explicit indicators like booking a demo or implicit indicators like website visits.
Intent data helps companies identify accounts actively searching for a solution, allowing them to target those most likely to engage. It helps you get an idea of where your prospects are on their buyer’s journey.
Why intent data is important
- Intent data helps businesses identify and target prospects who are actively searching for solutions to increase the chances of conversion.
- It helps engage buyers at the right time when they are actively looking for a solution thereby reducing the time it takes to move them through the sales funnel.
- It reveals what content prospects engage with, which competitors they are evaluating, and what keywords they search for. This allows sales teams to craft personalized outreach sequences that resonate with their needs
Intent data for sales
For sales teams, intent data helps identify prospects who are actively considering a purchase. Some of the common sales intent signals include visiting pricing pages, requesting a demo or free trial, and researching competitors which are clear indicators that a prospect is in the decision-making stage.
Intent Data for ABM
Marketing teams use intent data to engage and nurture potential buyers who aren’t ready to purchase yet but have shown interest. Common signals include downloading an ebook, attending industry webinars, or reading blogs related to specific keywords.
Types of Intent Data: First-party vs. Third-party
- First-party intent data: This type of data comes directly from your interactions with customers. It includes website visits, content downloads, form submissions, and email opens. It’s broadly any information produced by customers who already interact with your brand.
- Third-party intent data: This data is gathered externally, by tracking what users are doing across the web. It could include visits to competitor sites, industry-specific articles, or webinars. Third-party intent data provides a complete view of your potential customer behaviour outside your business ecosystem.
Intent data is valuable at every stage of the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase engagement. At the top of the funnel, it helps detect early buying signals by tracking online behavior. As prospects move into the evaluation stage, their intent data reveals deeper insights into their needs and decision-making process, allowing sales teams to craft more relevant and engaging outreach.
When a prospect repeatedly visits the pricing page or interacts with competitor content, it signals a high purchase intent, prompting the sales team to prioritize outreach. Even after a deal is closed, tracking intent signals from existing customers helps identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, allowing businesses to maximize customer lifetime value.
Intent data helps ABM teams engage high-value accounts at the right time. Early signals such as content downloads, webinar attendance, and keyword searches allow marketers to nurture prospects before they enter the sales funnel.
As accounts move into the consideration stage, tracking engagement with case studies or product comparisons enables personalized outreach that guides them toward a decision.
Post-sale, intent signals like feature research or competitor engagement help identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities, driving customer expansion.
How to identify in-market accounts using intent signals
An in-market account is a company actively researching solutions and showing intent to buy. These are the accounts most likely to convert and should be a priority for sales and marketing teams.
Pinpoint engaged accounts with behavioral data
The real power of intent data lies in focusing on the behavioural patterns that indicate the highest purchase intent. While not every prospect is going to buy right away, the fact that they are actively engaging with specific content and touchpoints signals the potential for conversion.
Key indicators of high purchase intent include:
Revisiting key web pages multiple times
If a prospect visits your pricing page, product feature pages, or comparison pages repeatedly they’re probably considering buying the product after researching it alongside similar options in the market. One visit could be casual browsing, but multiple visits indicate serious interest.
Downloading high-value content
Downloading high-value content, such as case studies or comparison guides, suggests that prospects are actively researching different solutions and evaluating which one best fits their needs. Similarly, attending a webinar signifies a greater interest level as they are ready to spend time knowing more about your product.
Engaging with competitor content
Monitoring how prospects engage with competitor content, such as following your rival brands on social media and liking or commenting on their posts provides valuable insights. Tools like Highperformr track these interactions in real time to identify patterns that help sales teams pinpoint high-intent prospects and spearfish the most promising leads.
Requests a demo
If a prospect signs up for a demo, it is one of the strongest intent signals, as they are likely narrowing down their final options before making a purchase.
Social media interactions
When people like, share, or comment on posts relevant to your business, it signals a certain level of interest in that subject. If they interact with your competitor's content, it’s a strong indication that they’re actively exploring solutions like yours. Monitoring these engagements on platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter using tools like Highperformr can help you identify leads based on their social behavior. Here are a few examples:
- If a potential buyer is consistently interacting with your competitor’s content, it’s a clear sign they are evaluating solutions in your space. By identifying them, the sales team can proactively target these prospects with personalized outreach before they make a final decision.
- If your target accounts are engaging with content from your competitor’s executives, it's a chance to showcase your brand as a strong alternative with unique value.
- Most AEs and SDRs start their prospecting by connecting with potential customers on LinkedIn and engaging with them through their posts. If you see a competitor’s AE interacting with a prospect repeatedly, it’s a strong signal they’re pursuing that lead. Monitoring these interactions can reveal which prospects your competitors are targeting, giving you a chance to step in with a better offer. Using Highperformr you can automatically compile a list of your competitors’s social media audience to find leads relevant to you.
How to analyze search and content consumption patterns
Account-based marketing should be relevant. By analyzing search and content consumption patterns, you can find what matters most to your target accounts. This helps you craft messaging that speaks to their interests which improves engagement and your chances of conversion.
Use this data to align your marketing with what matters most to your audience whether it’s industry trends, specific product features, or solution comparisons. With this insight, you can align your marketing efforts to share content that resonates with them.
Here's how you can discover these insights:
Search query analysis
With search query analysis, you can know what prospects are looking for. Tracking keywords and phrases that people are searching for will help you figure out common search patterns and align your messaging with real customer pain points.
Content engagement depth
Metrics such as the time on the page, scroll depth, and heatmap analysis show how interesting your content is. For video-based content, video completion rates can show if your users have found your content valuable. This can help you identify prospects who have higher interest and intent in your product.
How to implement intent data in account-based marketing (ABM)
Intent data can improve your ABM strategy by helping you focus on the right accounts. Instead of targeting a broad list of companies, you can prioritize accounts actively researching solutions like yours. Here's how to implement intent data effectively in your ABM strategy:
Use intent insights to target the right accounts
Use intent data to pinpoint accounts actively researching solutions like yours. Track behaviors such as repeated visits to pricing pages, engagement with competitor content, and downloads of high-value resources. Prioritize these accounts for outreach, ensuring your efforts focus on the most sales-ready prospects.
Create personalized messaging and campaigns
Use intent signals to dynamically tailor your outreach. Use automation tools to adjust messaging in real-time based on user behavior. If a prospect frequently engages with content about a specific feature, trigger an email highlighting its benefits. This ensures every interaction feels relevant, increasing engagement and conversions.
Align sales and marketing strategies with intent data
Let sales and marketing teams collaborate using shared intent data. Marketing can generate account lists based on intent signals, while sales can personalize outreach for decision-makers within those accounts. Aligning efforts ensures a coordinated approach, improving inbound and outbound engagement and boosting conversion rates.
How to optimize sales and marketing strategies with intent data
Sales and marketing teams must work together to drive revenue growth. With intent data, you can now prioritize high-intent leads and personalize their outreach. Here are the key strategies to maximize the impact of intent-driven sales and marketing efforts.
Use intent data for timely and personalized outreach
Intent data shows you when prospects are actively researching your product or similar solutions to pinpoint their stage in the decision-making journey. It also provides information on their key pain points and their needs. With this information, you can engage prospects at the perfect moment with the right message to maximize your chances of conversion.
Integrate intent data across email, social, and display ads
Intent data can be valuable for more than one channel and that’s why you should carry it out throughout your marketing efforts. No matter if you’re sending emails or running display advertising, you can segment your insights to ensure you deliver personalized messaging and offers. Aligning your efforts across multiple channels helps create a consistent experience throughout the journey. It keeps your brand top of mind while significantly increasing your chances of conversion.
Use intent data in sales outreach
Intent data helps sales teams know which accounts to focus on and what stage of their buying journey they're at. For instance, if an account has demonstrated interest in a product demo or downloaded a case study, the sales team could follow up with a personalized email offering additional resources or schedule a discovery call. Sales reps can also use intent data to understand the prospect better so that they can tailor their pitch to the prospect’s pain points.
Measuring and improving performance with intent data
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring success
Focusing on the right KPIs indicates if your strategy is bringing the right prospects and converting them into long-term customers. Some key metrics to track include:
- Engagement rate measures how customers interact with your marketing. It is one of the most important metrics to monitor. This includes email opens, link clicks, social media likes, shares, and comments, all of which indicate audience engagement.
- Conversion rate is another critical metric that tracks how many leads progress through the sales process, from initial contact to becoming paying customers.
- Sales cycle length helps you understand how long it takes to convert a lead into a customer, providing insights into the efficiency of your sales process.
Iterating campaign strategies based on real-time insights
ABM is not a one-time effort, it’s an ongoing process. Make the most out of your campaigns with real-time data and fine-tuning strategies wherever necessary. If you discover that a specific message or tone is resonating with a certain segment of accounts, then double down on that approach. On the other hand, if one tactic isn’t working, don’t hesitate to modify or try something different.
How to expand revenue opportunities with intent data
Intent data doesn’t just help you find new leads, it can also help you grow revenue from existing accounts and build long-term customer value. Here’s how to use intent signals to expand your revenue opportunities.
Spot upsell and cross-sell opportunities early
Look at how your existing customers interact with your content or website. Are they visiting pages for advanced features or related products? This could mean they’re ready to upgrade or expand. Set up alerts for key product page visits or high-intent keywords and use this data to trigger automated upsell campaigns.
Identify and prevent churn before it happens
A drop in engagement such as fewer logins, less usage, or no responses to outreach can mean the customer is losing interest. Monitor activity trends with your intent data platform and involve customer success reps for proactive check-ins.
Nurture high-intent ICP leads with smart follow-ups
When a prospect fits your ideal customer profile (ICP) and shows strong intent, don’t let them go cold. Move them into a priority nurturing track within your CRM and use intent data to personalize follow-up emails that directly address their pain points.
Best practices for managing intent data responsibly
Ensuring data privacy and compliance
While collecting and using intent data, it’s important to keep privacy and compliance regulations like GDPR or CCPA in mind. Just always be transparent with your prospects on how you use that data, and you have clear opt-in and opt-out options with cookies.
Maintaining data accuracy and quality in intent data
To ensure accuracy and quality of intent data partner with reliable intent data providers and understand their data collection methodologies. Regularly remove outdated, duplicate, or low-quality data to keep your database fresh and actionable. Use tools that provide real-time data tracking to capture the latest buying signals and avoid acting on old information.
Building trust with your target accounts
Trust is a crucial factor in any business relationship. When you're upfront about how you're using intent data and keep your outreach human in nature, you'll establish stronger relationships with your target accounts.
Turn intent data into revenue with Highperformr
Highperformr provides you with real-time buyer intent signals that will help both your sales and marketing teams target the right folks, whether for ABM campaigns or for a direct sales pitch.
From finding the right ICP contacts for your webinars or events, to helping you prioritize your leads with intent signals, Highperformr can provide you with everything you need to go after the right people at the right time.
To learn more about the different use cases, and how Highperformr can help your GTM team, schedule a demo with our team today!
