We've all heard the very common idiom – hit the iron when it's hot. It refers to taking the right kind of action at the right time. But how do you know when to take action and what needs to be done? Intent data.
What is intent data?
In the B2B context, intent data refers to any kind of information and insight that tells you that a prospect is interested in buying a product like yours, so you can reach out to them and initiate a sales conversation.
Why intent data matters
Having a top-notch product and a large total addressable market (TAM) won't necessarily bring you revenues. You need to:
Reach the right prospects at the right time, with the right sales pitch
Identify when people will need your product
Introduce your product at that critical moment
You will have to continuously scan multiple channels for signals from prospects and other people that fit your ideal customer profile (ICP). This could include a wide range of actions from a prospect, such as a post or a like on social media, a visit to a website, an event they’re hosting, and many other little details that you can contextualize to decipher intent.
Types of intent data
There are hundreds of intent data points and intent signals you can gather about prospects or companies.
While some common intent signals apply to every business, almost any action can be considered intent. As a business, you can define what intent means specifically for your company by identifying behaviors that correlate with buying readiness in your specific market. For example, a software company might track tool usage in free trials, while a consulting firm might track time spent on pricing pages. You could choose as many relevant to your business and sales process.
Intent data can be classified into four main types, based on the data source and the nature of the data.
First-party intent data: Insights and information directly from users
This is the most accurate of intent data you can get, because all the information comes directly from your leads. Some can be identified and certain others are anonymous. Here are examples of first-party intent data:
Website activities
Content downloads - engaging with content such as whitepapers, case studies, or other resources.
Form submissions such as demo requests, contact forms, or newsletter and blog subscriptions
Email engagement
Email opens - engaging with emails
Click-through rates - data on how often and how many links from emails are clicked
Replies/forwards: responding to or forwarding emails
Social media engagement:
Interacting with your content and your competitors’ content on social media
Engaging with industry influencers and thought leaders
Conversations with your employees
Other engagement data
Sales interactions - conversations with sales teams.
Customer feedback - comments and reviews via email and other posts
Third-party intent data: Gathering data from external sources
Third-party intent data is any kind of information and insight you get from sources other than your leads themselves. It typically refers to intent data that you get from third-party companies that collect intent data and provide insight. Examples of third-party intent data are:
Website visits
Page views - visits to specific pages, especially product or pricing pages
Time spent on site - how long users stay on your website
De-anonymized data about website visitors
Digital footprint
Ad clicks, social media page visits, and other such digital data
Form submissions and clicks on third-party websites
Search data and queries on search engines
Firmographic and technographic data
Information about a company, taken from public records, corporate filings, etc.
Data collected from surveys, polls, interviews, and news articles
Behavioral intent data: Tracking and analyzing actions
This refers primarily to the kind of data and insight you get from tracking a person’s actions and behavior online. It includes website actions, social media activities, community conversations, and any other kind of digital activity that can be tracked to decipher intent. AI has made it possible to track behavioral intent data and activity easily and more accurately. Here are a few examples:
Social media content
Topics, keywords, and style of content the person posts on social media platforms
Type of conversations the person participates in on public platforms such as Reddit, G2, ProductHunt, etc.
Tech stack and product data
Insight into the kind of tools and tech products the company uses. This can be gathered from product-adoption and product usage data, subscription data, and other information about the kind of tech tools the company/ICP contact uses.
This refers to using predictive analytics and AI to analyze past behavior and predict buyer patterns. It would include feature adoption, purchase of add-on credits, and other such activity that could indicate either intent to increase usage or the risk of churn.
The importance of intent data in B2B sales and marketing
Intent data is more important now than ever before. The market today demands swift action based on real-time signals and intent data, and most deals go to the first responders. So intent data is no longer a good-to-have but is a critical component of a go-to-market strategy. Intent data and signals are the future of sales.
Here is why you need intent data for B2B sales and marketing:
Better lead generation
Intent data allows you to build lead lists with prospects who have shown genuine interest in products like yours or in the category your company is in. This targeted approach helps improve conversion rates as you're connecting with leads who are more likely to convert instead of having an account book with many leads that may never become customers.
More accurate lead qualification
Once you have your account book or lead list, intent data helps your team qualify leads more accurately. This makes the sales process more productive by ensuring your team's efforts aren't wasted on leads with no genuine purchase intent, allowing them to focus on high-intent leads.
Strategic lead prioritization
Having a list of qualified leads wouldn’t immediately mean easy conversations. It is important to prioritize these leads further, based on how likely they are to convert and how soon. Rather than taking a ‘spray-and-pray’ approach, intent data helps sales teams spearfish leads. Sales teams can then focus on accounts showing the strongest buying signals, work more efficiently, and increase their chances of success instead of spreading resources too thin across all prospects.
Personalized conversation starters
Personalization beyond a basic “Hi ‘First Name’” can have a tangible impact on response rates and engagement. Outreach messages and conversation starters that are personalized based on a person’s recent activity can lead to stronger relationships and higher conversions. Intent data and signals help craft these personalized conversation starters by providing you with context about what your prospects are interested in.
Timely outreach
Time is of the essence when it comes to outbound sales. It is critical to reach out to the right lead at the right time with the most relevant conversation starter, to ensure that you get ahead of your competitors. Intent data and real-time signals enable timely outreach.
Tailored sales pitches
Intent data helps you understand what pain points, challenges, or requirements your prospects have, allowing you to customize sales pitches accordingly. By addressing the specific challenges and needs indicated by their behavior, you can provide more relevant solutions that resonate with your audience. This customization brings in better engagement and stronger relationships throughout the sales process.
Competitive advantage
Intent data helps you reach potential buyers before your competitors do, by identifying buying signals early. You can use the intent data to initiate conversations with leads at the right moment, with a pitch customized based on the intent data you have.
Reduced customer churn
While intent data is typically used in the context of sales and the intent to buy, intent signals can also help you manage customer retention and avert churns. For example, you can track signals of low usage, or interaction with a competitor, and understand that the customer may be considering a switch to another product. Acting on this instantly can help avoid churn and ensure the customer stays loyal. For example, tools like Highperformr can identify churn-risk signals or alert you when competitors are attempting to engage with your customers.
Enhanced account-based marketing
Intent data is super useful for account-based marketing (ABM) efforts by helping you identify and nurture leads that match your ideal customer profile. You can use intent data to segment your leads better and run more targeted campaigns, making your marketing efforts more targeted and productive.
Best practices for using intent data effectively
Implementing these intent data best practices can help your company build more effective prospect lists and prioritize accounts with the highest likelihood of conversion.
Implement real-time signal tracking
To make the most of your intent data, establish systems to capture and analyze intent signals as they occur rather than relying on dated information, even if it is only a few weeks old. Intent signals have a limited shelf life. By tracking intent signals in real-time, you ensure your team is working with the most recent and relevant information. This timeliness allows you to engage prospects during their active buying journey when they're most receptive to your outreach. Configure your intent data platforms to provide immediate alerts for high-value signals so your team can take action quickly.
Expand beyond outbound sales
While intent data is primarily used for outbound sales, its applications extend much further. Be sure to use all the intent data and signals you collect for all customer-facing functions. Use these signals for all GTM processes and ABM campaigns to ensure all processes are informed by the intent data you have.
Enhance lead scoring mechanisms
Traditional lead scoring often relies on basic demographic information and limited engagement metrics. By incorporating intent data into your lead scoring and lead prioritization process, you can reach out to prospects based on their actual buying behavior and research activities. This makes your entire sales process more efficient by directing resources toward leads that have shown relevant signals.
Integrate with your CRM system
For maximum impact, intent data should be accessible within the tools your teams already use. Integrating your intent signals provider directly into your CRM ensures that every sales and marketing activity is signals-driven.
Use social media intelligence and social signals
Social platforms, especially LinkedIn, have become valuable sources of intent signals. Most of your leads are active on social media, and these channels are buzzing with signals you can use for different purposes. Track relevant conversations, monitor engagement with industry content, and cultivate an audience on these platforms to capture valuable buying signals. We’ve seen companies use social signals to generate high-intent leads, spot churn risk, and even identify cases of a competitor pursuing their customer.
Maximize event marketing ROI
Events and tradeshows are among the key pillars for any B2B company’s GTM strategy. And using intent data can help you maximize the ROI you can get from attending or conducting events. For example, you can use signals to find ICP leads attending events, use signals to find leads to participate in your events, etc.
Inform your content strategy
Intent data provides clear insights into what topics and formats resonate with your target audience. By tracking content downloads, shares, and other engagement metrics, you can identify trends and preferences among your prospects. Use these insights to continuously refine your content strategy, focusing resources on creating materials that genuinely influence buying decisions.
Diversify your signal sources
There are dozens of potential intent signals available across various channels and platforms. Be sure to define what counts and qualifies as intent for you. After that, create a comprehensive and clear strategy that captures diverse signals. Regularly assess which signals work best for you and adjust your strategy accordingly. Highperformr, for instance, provides you with dozens of intent data points that you can use for different GTM activities.
Case studies: Stories of successful implementation of intent data
There are numerous examples of companies increasing sales and scaling growth using intent data and signals. Here are two classic examples of companies and agencies using intent data and real-time signals from Highperformr to build bigger pipelines, improve response rates, and drive sales effectiveness.
Taking an intent data-focused approach to sales and marketing is definitely the future of GTM. As you begin to adopt and implement an intent data and signals-driven GTM strategy, there are certain challenges and hurdles you need to watch for:
Data privacy and compliance
The more data and signals you collect about leads, the more careful you will have to be about handling this information, particularly when sourcing intent data from third-party providers. Ensure your intent data practices include proper regulatory compliance mechanisms, transparent data policies, and robust security measures. Work closely with your legal team to develop compliant processes for handling intent data, especially when combining first-party and third-party data source, because penalties for non-compliance can be severe and that’s the last thing you want to deal with while scaling your business.
Defining relevant intent signals
Given that different signals and insights can count as intent data, it is important to define what intent means for you and your business. Not everything that's called intent data or signals can be considered important intent data for your specific needs, so being able to customize and define intent for your business is critical. Start by analyzing your successful customer journeys to identify what signals and data points were most relevant through the sales cycle. This might include specific content consumption patterns, product comparison activities, or engagement with particular topics. Use these insights to create a customized intent framework that is tailored for your business, rather than relying on generic intent definitions.
Signal quality and filtering
Be sure not to get drowned in hundreds of data points. Ensure you're able to filter signals from the noise and base your GTM strategy on high quality data. Intent signals vary significantly in their predictive value, and focusing on low-quality signals can lead to misallocated resources and diminished results.
Technology integration and AI readiness
Certain forms of intent data such as website visits and ad clicks have been around for a while, but with AI, we are able to spot and act on many other kinds of intent signals. Ensure that your tech stack is AI-ready and you can easily integrate AI-first intent data providers into your existing workflows.
Evaluate your current marketing and sales technologies for their ability to integrate with and use intent data providers. Look for platforms that offer open APIs and seamless integrations with leading intent data providers.
Steps to implement intent data into your strategy
There are a few steps you need to take to make the switch from your regular traditional processes to a signals-driven GTM approach.
Choosing the right intent data provider
With intent data as a concept evolving, and the number and kind of data points we’re able to collect increasing by the minute, it is important to focus on getting the right intent data provider to work with. The right intent data source and provider can really shape your GTM efforts and be the deciding factor on whether you go after the right kind of high-intent leads or follow irrelevant data points and waste time.
Here is how you choose the right intent data software:
Start with being clear about your goals. Are you looking for immediate intent to buy or intent in your industry/space? Are you looking for intent data for your sales teams or your marketing effortS?
Is the intent data tool giving you real-time intent? This matters if you're looking for immediate intent to buy, so your sales teams can focus their outreach efforts with recent and relevant intent data.
Are you looking for first-party intent or third-party intent? Explore the different types of intent data and choose the software accordingly
Does the software integrate seamlessly with all kinds of sales and marketing tools? Ensure that your intent data provider doesn’t work in a silo.
Once you have the intent data provider ready, educate your team on how to use intent signals. For example, your sales teams can use intent data and signals such as a job promotion to initiate a conversation with the contact. This helps build a stronger relationship with the contact, whether they are a customer already or a prospect.
Similarly, if they get intent data on a customer interacting with your competitor, they need to instantly act on it and ensure that any customer dissatisfaction is immediately addressed and there is no risk of the customer moving to your competitor
Measuring success: key performance indicators to track
Intent data can be used in multiple ways. What works for you might not work for another company, and what intent data is useful for your sales team might be useless for your marketing team. This means it is critical for you to track your intent data-driven GTM approach closely.
Chart out what success means to you and what you’re hoping to achieve with your intent data and signals
Pick up key performance indicators such as response rates, engagement rates, pipeline velocity, and other such sales pipeline metrics and evaluate them against the kind of signals you’re using.
Try different kinds of signals and experiment with different combinations of intent data to identify what works best for you.
Take a signals-driven approach to your GTM strategy with Highperformr AI
Ready to start using intent data and real-time signals to scale your GTM? Highperformr can help you get real-time signals and first-party data to enrich leads and target accounts with recent and relevant intent signals.
