Buyer intent: What it is and how to use it

You’ve noticed how you check out one product on Instagram, and the brand follows you around on WhatsApp, email, and serves you a dozen ads? That’s because you give them what is called ‘buyer intent’. 

Importance of understanding buyer intent in sales & marketing

In most B2B sectors, only about 5% of the buyers are ready to buy a product or solution at any given time. 

Understanding buyer intent is important to help businesses focus their time and resources towards leads that have a higher probability of converting and avoid wasting time on deals that may not convert. 

Most sales teams begin their outbound sales process by identifying leads that match their ideal customer profile, and reaching out to them. But just because a person is an ICP lead for you doesn’t mean they will become a customer if you reach out to them with an irresistible pitch. An ICP lead is of value only if they have buyer intent. 

Tracking and identifying buyer intent will help you refine your ICP lead list and only focus on buyers that are more likely to convert. Buyer intent enables companies to prioritize their lead lists, focus resources on high-potential leads, target and nurture the right kind of leads, and forecast revenues more accurately.

Difference between buyer intent and customer interest

Before getting into the weeds of where to look for buyer intent and how to collect intent data, it is critical to understand the difference between buyer intent and interest. 

Interest doesn’t necessarily mean intent to buy. For example, a person listening to your podcast is interest, but a person exploring your product pages and pricing pages can be intent. 

While there is no foolproof way to tell the difference between intent and interest, it is important to pay close attention to the nuances. 

Identifying buying intent is one of the earliest steps in the go-to-market process and can shape what your sales and marketing teams do. So, it is essential to understand the nuances and make sure that the data and signals you take into consideration are buyer intent signals and not interest alone. 

Role of buyer intent in B2B vs. B2C marketing

Similarly, it is important to note the difference between buyer intent in B2B and B2C segments. 

Individual consumers in B2C make quick purchase decisions based on their immediate personal needs and desires. These buyers need less time to think and involve fewer stakeholders.

B2B purchases on the other hand need 6-10 decision-makers on average, and each has unique concerns and priorities. B2B buying takes longer because prospects research thoroughly before talking to sales representatives. 

So, what counts as a buying signal in a B2C segment may not be an intent data for point B2B companies.

Why buyer intent matters

Buyer intent is important as it helps businesses focus their resources on leads most likely to convert. This precise targeting streamlines marketing processes and helps drive sales effectiveness by improving conversion rates. 

How buyer intent improves sales conversions

We’re in a market where conversion rates are expected to increase but budgets are shrinking. The only way to handle this is to go after accounts that have a higher possibility of converting rather than taking a spray-and-pray approach to sales. 

Buyer intent will help sales teams identify high-intent accounts and contacts, and prioritize outreach. Products like Highperformr provide buyer intent signals, and also enable users to give each account and intent score so the sales teams can reach out to leads with high intent scores first. 

Impact on customer experience and personalization

Another key way in which buyer intent helps improve sales conversions is by customer experience and personalization. Buyer intent signals and intent data enable sales teams to personalize conversation starters based on the buying signals, and also help customize the sales pitch based on the buying signals. Similarly, marketing teams will be able to tailor their marketing campaigns and content based on the buyer intent, and push the leads down the sales funnel more effectively. 

Personalized conversations and tailored content are proven to bring better response rates, and help establish better customer relationships throughout the sales process. 

Types of buyer intent

It may sound weird, but buyer intent doesn’t always mean intent to buy. People visit websites and engage on social media with different kinds of intent. Each type of buyer intent can be useful for sales and marketing teams in different ways. 

Informational Intent: Research phase, early awareness

B2B buying processes are long, and are usually spread around several months. It starts with buyers learning about solutions and options available to them, rather than looking at specific vendors. In many cases, the problem might not even be clearly defined but buyers spend time learning about the sector, and familiarizing themselves with different products to gather knowledge about the sector. 

Examples of informational intent include:

• Search for and read blogs, "how-to" guides, and other such top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content
• Download whitepapers and ebooks
• Follow brands on social media 

Consideration Intent: Product comparisons, evaluating options

People then move to what is called the middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU). This is when buyers begin to show intent to buy, although it might not be immediate intent to buy. This is considered commercial intent rather than informational intent. 

Commercial buyer intent signals include: 

• Browsing specific solutions, exploring multiple products within a specific category, reading through product feature pages and case studies
• Compare different brands and solutions
• Search for terms like ‘Top 10 products for XYZ’ 
• Attend industry webinars and events

This is a great opportunity for a company to nurture the lead, establish a relationship with them, and cultivate trust in the product and brand. This will go a long way when the person is actually ready to buy, and will make it easy for the sales person to convert the prospect faster when the time is right to make the sales pitch.

Transactional Intent: Ready-to-buy, high purchase intent

Transactional intent signals are those that show that a prospect is ready to buy a product soon. These are the buyer intent signals that sales teams need to act on instantly. Some of these transactional intent signals are: 

• Visits to pricing pages and requests for specific quotes
• Searching for keywords with terms like "buy," "order," "discount," or "free shipping"
• Response to targeted advertising campaigns, and cold outreach
• Requesting product demos 

Segmenting the different types of buying signals and understanding the buyer intent types helps create targeted marketing campaigns and precise outreach. 

Active Buyer Intent 

Active buyer intent is when the buyer shows that they have an immediate requirement for the product, have the necessary budgets, and are keen on taking a decision soon. Actions indicating active buyer intent include 

• Engaging with sales teams and responding to sales pitches 
• Seeking demos of multiple products
• Reviewing case studies, testimonials, and public reviews on sites like G2 

Passive Buyer Intent

Passive intent refers to buying signals that show that the person is aware of the product and the category, and is interested in exploring options available to them. It is considered passive intent because buying the product is not on the top of the buyer’s mind but they are likely to make a purchase decision down the line. In most cases, this happens when the person already has a tool that solves the problem for them but doesn’t do a great job of it. This is the phase when buyers explore and evaluate other tools but might not buy immediately.

Sources of buyer intent data

There are multiple sources from where businesses get their buyer intent data. Some track different channels themselves and some others come from third-party vendors who collect intent data for businesses. 

Here are the different sources of buyer intent signals: 

First-party data (Website visits, CRM, social and email engagement)

This data comes from the buyer’s interaction with your brand or members of your team and is usually tracked in-house. First-party buyer intent typically comes from:

• Website analytics that show page views, session duration, and user actions
• Demo requests, pricing questions, and sales discussions
• Email metrics like open rates and click-through rates
• Replying to emails or clicking on ‘share this post’ links on newsletters
• Webinar sign-ups and attendance patterns
• Form submissions and content downloads
• Visiting your booth at B2B events and engaging with your team 
• Sending emails or filling in ‘contact us’ forms 
• Mentioning you in social media posts

Third-party data (Behavior tracking, intent data providers)

This typically comes from external sources that track user behavior to gather the different types of buying intent. This includes:

• Research patterns on industry websites
• Time spent on competitor sites
• Topic-related content they read
• Questions or posts on communities like Reddit, or public forums like G2
• Tech stack or technographic information, which would indicate if they use tools complementary to yours 
• Firmographic information, which indicates a need for a product like yours (for example, a company scaling rapidly would require sales intelligence tools when compared to a startup that’s still in stealth mode or pre-revenue mode)

Social listening and engagement (LinkedIn, Twitter, forums)

Social listening tools spot intent signals in conversations across social networks. These tools go beyond basic sentiment tracking to find purchase intent through:

• Queries that mix action words ("need," "want," "looking") with relevant topics
• Engagement on social posts - both yours and your competitors’ posts 
• Reddit threads where users discuss what they plan to buy
• Participation in events or conversations on social media 

Search behavior and keyword tracking

Search data, on Google and other public platforms, is a great source of buying intent. Here are the types of search data that companies typically track to decipher intent: 

• Search patterns and related keywords
• Questions in "People Also Ask" boxes
• Specific long-tail keywords
• Changes in industry-related search volume

Irrespective of what you need the buyer intent data for – whether for marketing or sales – it is important to keep an eye on all the data sources and track every channel possible to get your buyer intent signals.

How to collect & analyze buyer intent data

It is important for sales teams to gather as much information and intelligence about a lead as possible before outreach. This involves continuously tracking buying signals across the entire market. But gathering and analyzing data from various sources can be complex. 

Businesses use a host of tools and strategies to collect insights into potential customers' behaviors and preferences. By combining insight and signals from these tools, sales teams can gain a clearer picture of buyer intent, allowing them to engage with leads at the right time and improve their chances of conversion. 

Here are the different channels you collect buyer intent data from, and the tools you can use for each: 

Website analytics (Google Analytics, Heatmaps)

The company website acts as the main source of first-party buyer intent data. Analytics platforms like Google Analytics help track which pages visitors explore and the actions they take before leaving. Heatmaps show where users click, scroll, and focus their attention. These tools help understand buyer intent through user behavior patterns. There are also products like RB2B track website visits and also deanonymize them to help users identify exactly who visited the website. 

Granular user behavior (Time on page, bounce rates, downloads)

While simple website visits can also be considered buyer intent, double-clicking on them and analyzing actions can help understand the intent better. 

The key behavioral indicators include:

• Content downloads (whitepapers, case studies)
• Form submissions and demo requests
• Time spent on product/pricing pages
• Video views and engagement rates
• Return visits and browsing patterns

Social signals 

Most of your leads spend a lot of time on social media, whether it is just consuming information or engaging with peers. Tracking social activity is a great way to collect buyer intent data. You can use Highperformr to collect signals based on activities such as: 

• Reacting to or commenting on on yours or your competitors’ social posts 
• Interactions with your competitors’ sales teams 
• Engaging on posts by industry influencers or thought leaders 
• Posts or engagement on LinkedIn groups
• Using relevant keywords or hashtags on their posts 
• Posting about B2B events 
• Clicking on social ads or links leading to your website
• Tagging your brand in posts or using your branded hashtags

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Different uses of buyer intent data

Each type of data can help improve different aspects and steps of a go-to-market strategy. While some help with marketing activities such as targeted lead generation and lead nurturing, other kinds of buyer intent signals help with timely outreach. 

Let’s get into the details: 

How to use buyer intent data in marketing

Buyer intent signals help focus marketing efforts, narrowing them down from generic broad messaging to intentional targeted conversations with high-value leads. Here are some of the ways to incorporate and use intent data for marketing activities: 

Personalizing content marketing strategies

Just like how algorithms on Instagram and YouTube personalize the content to the viewer, it is important for marketers to personalize the content they put before their leads. 

Buyer intent data helps create relevant content that addresses each prospect's interests and where they are in the buying stage. Your lead nurturing strategy should follow prospect behavior instead of static content plans and email sequences. For example, sharing ebooks or podcasts relevant to what a person has said on a recent social post will resonate better and increase chances of them opening the link.  

This helps marketers reach the right leads with the right messaging at the right time and improve brand awareness and engagement rates. 

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

A huge chunk of a marketing team’s budget goes into ads for lead generation. 

Buyer signals can help identify new target audiences for marketing campaigns. Social activity and social signals can be used to build lead lists to run retargeting campaigns for, and get more leads down the sales funnel easily. 

For example, you can use social signals to identify the kind of topics people are interested in, the keywords they mention in their posts or engage with, and use this to build lists of people to run ad campaigns or ABM campaigns for. 

Creating intent-driven ad campaigns

Buyer intent data also helps create and share relevant ad campaigns to the right audience. 

Most ads today are generic, and are created based on demographic or geographic segmentation. Adding a layer of buyer intent to this will help focus efforts better and get you higher ROI on ad campaigns.

For example, you can run discount offers or special deals for people who have shown buying intent, and convert them easily by serving them attractive ads. 

Improving lead nurturing with intent segmentation

Lead segmentation based on intent signals makes nurturing far more effective. The different types of buyer intent signals can help group leads by where they are in the buying cycle, and all marketing activities can be planned accordingly. 

For example, those in the top of the funnel can be shown posts or emails with broad informational content while those keen on buying soon can be sent more persuasive content like case studies or competitor comparison documents. 

Improve customer service and retention

Intent data isn’t limited to intent to buy your product. Buyer intent can also give you signals and raise red-flags when your high-value prospects show indications of buying your competitors’ products. 

Using such intent data and acting on signals can help your customer-facing teams enhance customer service, and ensure that there is no risk of churn.

How to use buyer intent data in sales

Sales teams have different uses for all the intent data that a business collects. Broadly, sales teams use buyer intent signals to spearfish leads rather than take a spray-and–pray approach and improve chances of conversion. Here are some of the ways buyer intent can be used by sales teams and ensure better sales effectiveness.

Prioritize leads for outreach 

The biggest and most important application of intent signals is to help sales teams prioritize leads for outreach. Even an account book or lead list that has only qualified, high-value leads needs some work in terms of intent scoring and prioritization as that is what helps increase conversion rates.  

Buyer intent data enables sales teams to prioritize leads effectively by identifying prospects with the highest likelihood of conversion. Sales intelligence platforms like Highperformr provide intent scores for each lead, helping you determine both the best prospects and the most suitable outreach channels. 

For instance, intent signals such as “Active on LinkedIn” can guide you to initiate conversations on LinkedIn instead of relying on cold emails. These insights streamline sales efforts, ensuring teams focus on high-quality leads and tailor their approach for maximum engagement.

Reach out to the right lead at the right time

Timely outreach is critical for sales teams to get ahead of competitors and reach buyers before other sales teams do. Buying intent data can help with that. 

For example, Highperformr provides users with real-time intent signals that can enable you to reach out with a persoanlized, timely pitch exactly when the buyer is ready for a sales conversation. 

Tailor demos and conversations

Buyer intent signals make it easy for sales teams to craft their pitch decks or product demos in a way that resonates with the prospect. Intent data can help understand their possible pain points and requirements better, and help salespeople tailor the solutions accordingly. 

Challenges in using buyer intent data

Buyer intent can help shape your go-to-market strategy and make it more effective but incorporating intent data into your sales and marketing efforts can be challenging. 

Here are some common challenges and pitfalls to avoid while using buyer intent signals. 

Accuracy and reliability of intent signals

Not everything that looks like an intent signal might actually be one. Particularly with third-party intent, there are chances that the data is inaccurate, or outdated. 

Using intent data for campaign planning is essential but be sure not to rely entirely on that information without verifying the accuracy of the data. Weak signals create false positives that waste time when sales teams chase prospects who aren't ready to buy.

Privacy concerns and data compliance (GDPR, CCPA)

Buyer intent is essentially personal information, and collecting intent data involves tracking and monitoring user activity across multiple channels. If not done correctly, this could result in violating the user’s privacy. 

In addition, it is essential to ensure data security, and make sure no personally identifiable information is leaked. 

Companies need to have clear data collection methods and ways for users to opt in or out.

Using buyer intent data: Best practices to follow 

Raw buyer intent data carries a lot of potential and if used well, and used correctly, intent signals can help drive sales effectiveness and scale growth easily. 

Here are a few best practices you can follow to make the most of your buyer intent data:

Combine multiple data sources for accuracy

Different kinds of intent signals come from the various buyer intent sources. To get a holistic understanding of the lead, combine the different kinds of data, and use relevant signals for different sales and marketing activities. 

For example, first-party social signals can be used to created personalized conversation starters while third-party buyer intent data can be used for firmographic research and multithreading. 

Take immediate action on buyer intent 

Intent data is typically dynamic, and might get outdated and irrelevant in quick time. To ensure that you don’t lose relevance, put processes in place to act on the buyer intent signals instantly. Automating GTM workflows using platforms like Highperformr makes it possible to swiftly act on buyer intent, and ensure timely outreach with both marketing and sales activities. 

Test and analyze buyer intent-based campaigns

The buyer intent signals that work for one company might not work for another. So, as you start rolling out your campaigns, keep an eye on what works and what doesn’t. 

As you track your campaign analytics and sales pipeline metrics, be sure to see which types of intent data work for you and what doesn’t. 

Also, data that helps now might not be as useful 6-8 months down the line, so be sure to check regularly and iterate your strategy based on what your business needs. 

Track buyer intent signals with Highperformr 

Highperformr is a sales intelligence platform that provides real-time intent signals, and also helps businesses take action on signals by automation GTM workflows using AI. 

For examples, Highperformr can be used to identify buyer intent signals of leads (such as job changes or competitor interaction), derive intent scores using AI deep research, enrich leads with contact information and AI insights, craft personalized conversation starters based on the buyer signals, and orchestrate the GTM workflows easily. 

To learn more, schedule a demo with our GTM AI engineer or sign up for a free trial and play around with the tool.

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