Buying intent data – a guide for B2B sales

Blog · Partner: POLISH YELLOW PAGES® · since 1991

A post from the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® blog (formerly DATABOT.PL), originally published on 17.11.2022. Some information (tools, prices, regulations) may have changed since then.

INTENT DATA – A GUIDE FOR B2B SALES TEAMS FOR 2023

Do you know what your customer is looking for? Or which topics move them and what problems they are currently facing? Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew? Intent Data takes you into the known! With intent data you can quickly recognise a prospect’s search and buyer intent and offer your solution at the perfect moment. In this article we explain what these terms mean and why it is worth making intent data part of your daily routine.

What is intent data?

Let’s start with the basics: what exactly does the term “Intent Data” mean? If we look at “intent” and “data” separately, we get a pretty good picture. Because the terms “search intent” and “buyer intent” are often mentioned in the same breath, it becomes clear that we are talking about data connected with a person’s intention to search or buy. The term “buyer intent data” is sometimes used too, combining both words.

In B2B, intent data shows what (prospective) customers are interested in and what they are searching for on the internet. It is information about people’s behaviour online – in B2B, about companies. With intent data you can see at a glance what a company is currently thinking about. Suppose a customer service employee at a company searches for “best CRM system 2021” – it means the company is currently looking for a CRM system.

To sum up: intent data tells you what is being searched for and how high the intention to buy a product or service is. Buyer intent therefore measures a prospect’s propensity to buy a product or service. So if a company is already looking for a CRM tool, you can assume its buying intent is already very high.  

As you can see, intent data is a great way to learn more about your (future) customer! Whether you work in sales, marketing or customer service, intent data opens doors to customers and prospects. 

How do you recognise buyer intent?

One question remains: how do you recognise buying intent at all? Intent data can mean both buyer intent and search intent. But how do you recognise a prospect’s buyer intent or search intent? There are certain indicators that (prospective) customers intend to buy or search. Here are the indicators you can see through your own channels and touchpoints (first-party data):

• They consume your content: whether someone reads news on your website or an article on your blog – that person has found out about you and is reading something related to your business or a topic you are an expert in.
• They visit your product pages: this person or company is probably very practically interested in your product or solution. When someone visits your product page, you can say they want to understand exactly what you offer and how it works.
• They visit your landing pages: such a visit can have various reasons. Perhaps a sales rep told them to visit a specific landing page with all the important information for a particular customer group. Or the visitor clicks through various topical pages to get a better impression of you, your company and your products. Whatever brought the visitor here – what matters is that they are there and that you recognise what their interest was.
• They visit/comment on your social media profile or posts: social media platforms such as LinkedIn also show you who is interested in you and/or your products! As a sales manager, keep an eye on visitors to your own profile, and as a company page you can also monitor who follows you and likes/comments on your posts.
• They take part in your webinar or event : if someone attends your webinar, it may be that this person or company wants to get a better impression of your products and your company without commitment. The deciding factors here are gut feeling and rapport, but also the speaker’s competence.
• They subscribe to your newsletter: your newsletter subscribers may already be your customers, competitors or prospects. Make sure your newsletter is remembered positively! You should send it regularly and cover relevant topics. You can also measure opens and clicks!
• They rate your product on a review platform: products are usually rated when someone is very satisfied or very dissatisfied. If we assume the former, it means a customer or prospect has noticed you or your product and it made a positive impression. You can also use reviews from satisfied customers as social proof.

Our tip: 

Also track how long visitors stay on your website! That way you can judge what interests them most!

In addition, outside your channels there are certain signs that indicate search or buyer intent on the part of a (prospective) customer (third-party data). These are:

• Queries in search engines : if (prospective) customers search for a topic you already cover on your blog or website, that is also search intent or even – depending on their position in the customer journey – buyer intent. This person or company often has a pain point and is looking for a solution online. If you know who is looking for what, you can target ads at those companies. Remember: this is not data you collect yourself… but more on that later.
• Research on review platforms : many companies first compare offers and tools on review platforms such as Capterra or G2. There they can see in every detail how something works and what other users think of the product. Social proof is often a factor not to be underestimated in a buying decision! Incidentally, you can also buy this data! That means information about who is comparing your offer with another company’s, and you can use it for yourself.
• Visiting competitors’ websites : companies visiting competitors’ sites can be exciting for you too! Why? Perhaps someone has come across your competitor for the first time and is at the start of the customer journey. At that point you can still win this target customer over and convince them of your product. There are providers who sell such data (i.e. visits to a site other than yours). More on that later.

Buying behaviour of a company can also indicate that there is buying or search intent. Here it is worth looking, for example, at the technology stack of the (target) customer, upcoming contract renewals or funding information. The software a company uses can show how big the budget is for individual teams. You can also check which prospects are currently using a competitor’s product . Buying intent may arise here if you show these target customers the advantages of your products. If this customer then also visits your pages or reads articles on your blog, they are definitely thinking about switching!

What are buyer intent keywords?

Buyer intent keywords are specific terms a (prospective) customer enters into a search engine that indicate an intention to buy. For example, depending on which keywords someone types into Google, you can tell which buying phase they are in. It is also extremely helpful for SEO content if you can distinguish buyer intent keywords.

1. Research keywords (informational keywords)

Here someone searches for typical W-questions, such as “what”, “who”, “where”, as well as “how” or for a guide or help , usually peppered with “guide”, “instructions”, “tips”, “best” or other words. As a rule, these keywords signal low buying intent; searchers are rather at the start of the customer journey and usually have specific pain points.

You can act as the problem solverat this point. For example, if someone searches for “best sales strategies” or “how outbound sales works”, you can provide direct solutions with relevant articles or landing pages. There is also room for “trending topics”, i.e. topics that may not be a burning problem in the company but are still present (e.g. LinkedIn Stories, social selling etc.). Here you have the chance to be remembered by the prospect right at the start of their journey.

2. Decision-stage keywords (navigational keywords)

Navigational keywords represent the next level of buyer intent keywords. Here someone is already looking for a specific product  they want to buy. This means that at this point people are busily comparing brands or searching for product names. Certain features or reviews already appear in their query. Now you can work with success stories , social proof and generally anything that highlights the benefits of your products. Test accounts or trial subscriptions are also very popular at this stage of the customer journey.

Source: www.gartner.com

3. Purchase-stage keywords (transactional keywords)

In the final phase, transactional keywords signal very specific buyer intent . Here (prospective) customers often search for “the best way to buy XY” or even discount codes . For your SEO strategy it is important not to focus only on these search terms at this stage – even if conversion usually happens here, informational and navigational keywords are just as important for your brand’s visibility and reputation and will ultimately bring customers to you.

What kinds of intent data are there?

Not all intent data is the same! As with keywords, there are differences in how the data is obtained. Broadly speaking, a distinction is made between first-party behavioural data (first-party intent data) and third-party behavioural data (third-party intent data). There is also a distinction between context data and topic data . Context data concerns which person or company is active online and what position, role and expertise that person brings to the table. Topic data, on the other hand, provides information about the topics being searched for. Let’s take a closer look.

First-party data

First-party data distinguishes between anonymous and known .

Here is a simple example: one person visits your website and downloads a document (= Known First Party Data ). Another person visits your website and the IP address of the company they work for is recognised. However, they download nothing and therefore do not reveal their details (= Anonymous First Party Data ).

Both kinds of data are first-party data, because you can collect them yourself and they belong to you. Various tools can also help you track website visitors and serve them personalised content. But more on that later.

Source: source: Slideshare

Third-party data

In contrast to the first-party behavioural data you collect yourself, there is external behavioural data . This is where it gets exciting, because third-party intent data concerns website visits, downloads etc. on sites that do not belong to you. In other words, it is target-audience tracking at a higher level. Here too a distinction is made between known data (when someone downloads something and deliberately enters their details) and anonymous data (when someone just browses but enters nothing).

In the field of third-party intent data there are providers who sell this data and in return partner with sites such as forbes.com, which pass the data on to them.

Important: make sure third-party intent data providers operate in a GDPR-compliant way! For example, by using double opt-in.

Especially with third-party data it is extremely important to pay attention to quality , timeliness and traceability of the data’s origin . Specifically: where exactly does this intent data provider get its data? How current is it? Does it also provide contextual information about the searcher, such as industry or job title? If you want to be on the safe side, we recommend our checklist.

Checklist:

Avoid these 9 mistakes when buying intent data

Of course, there is also a difference between buyer intent data and customer intent data. Depending on the department you work in, information about the search intent of existing or prospective customers is more helpful.

If you have customer intent data , you know what your customer wants and where problems arise. That is huge up-selling and cross-selling potential  you can use. This intent data also helps refine your buyer personas and understand customers better in general.

If your product serves different industries and different departments, intent data will help you define buyer personas precisely. This ensures an optimal buying experience and satisfaction. What’s more, it strengthens customer loyalty and opens valuable opportunities for success stories or reviews you can use as social proof. At the same time you gain valuable insights you can use to win new customers in a similar industry.

Source: www.workato.com

Prospects on the other hand, offer huge marketing and sales potential . Buyer intent data provides valuable information you can use especially when contacting a prospect. Your customer is searching for “company lists” or “sales and GDPR” and therefore downloaded a checklist on your blog? Then you can proactively approach them and present your product in relation to GDPR. This way you reach the customer with exactly their problem, strengthening trust and closing more deals.

What are the benefits of intent data in B2B?

If it wasn’t already clear: intent data brings quite a few benefits! Let’s take a closer look at the biggest opportunities:

• You understand your future customer : with intent data you can get an overview of who is searching for which topics and solutions. So if you know about such customer activity, it helps identify problems and interests!

• You recognise buying intent and early interest : intent data lets you identify buyer intent much faster! You can see which companies are actively looking for solutions even before they fill in a form or contact a company’s sales team. This way you can position yourself at different stages of the customer journey and reach prospects even before your competitors!

• You can build account lists : using intent data you can build lists of high-potential visitors. In turn you can address them with account-based marketing and/or pass them to your sales team.

• You can personalise your conversations : whether in phone calls or marketing campaigns, we can agree: individuality is key! If a prospect feels understood and heard, trust grows. With intent data your pitches get better and sales rise.

• You can filter prospects : depending on which visitor viewed which content, you can sort or filter whom you want to work with first. Perhaps your teams are also split by industry/customer group, and intent data will help you attract more leads to them. You can also create B2B lookalikes based on intent data.

• You can measure how effectively your content performs : not only content, but also landing pages, your website in general and ad campaigns can be evaluated with intent data! Use this information to keep improving.

• You can strengthen customer relationships : as mentioned earlier, intent data is relevant not only for sales and marketing. Intent data is also a treasure chest for your support team, showing how satisfied a customer is, what they may still be missing and where support can help them.

How can you use intent data profitably?

You already know the benefits of intent data. But how can you use intent data to increase sales? Depending on the area you work in, intent data can help you in different ways:

Intent data in marketing and pre-sales

Let’s start with marketing and pre-sales. Intent data is great for various marketing campaigns ! First, you can use intent data to steer account-based marketing , using the information to generate custom landing pages, ads and, of course, content. If you know what your target audience is interested in, you can tailor directly to them.

What’s more, your SEO strategy benefits hugely from intent data! If you know the pain points of your (prospective) customers, you need less time to find relevant keywords , because visitors have already supplied them. Your further SEO research can therefore be practically tailored to intent data.

Another exciting feature is the ability to target ads based on intent data ; so-called intent data targeting . The same principle applies here: you know what your (prospective) customers are looking for and can therefore design ads for those searches. An example similar to the previous one: your prospect searches for “company lists” and you show ads with exactly that keyword.

Last but not least: intent data is an excellent basis for lead generation ! In particular, your pre-sales team will be happy to track down and qualify prospects based on page visits or downloads . In fact, there is no better source of leads with a more pressing need.

Intent data in sales and account management

Of course, your sales and account management team, or your support team, also benefits from intent data and the information it yields. We have already covered outbound sales or cold calling – your approach can only get better when you already know prospects’ pain points and what they are looking for. Boring conversation openers are a thing of the past, whether on the phone or in social selling.

Another element we have already mentioned is cross-selling and up-selling . With intent data you get a good overview of the topics that move your existing and prospective customers. This means you can target complementary offers or premium packages exactly when you know your (prospective) customer has a specific need in that area.

With intent data you can also recognise where someone is in the customer journey. This is very useful in account prioritisation and lead scoring , because you can see who is already close to making a purchase. So target those prospects quickly, before the competition does!

What tools and providers are available for intent data?

Because there are many different types of intent data, the market naturally also offers many tools for generating it. Depending on your intent, you should find out in advance which tools are right for your use case. Most intent data tools also offer CRM integrations. If you want to use the data centrally, it is best to find out in advance whether your CRM system is supported. In principle, we recommend checking which tools you already use elsewhere and to what extent an intent data tool can be integrated . It is no use to you if you drown in a flood of tools.

Then comes the question: what do you want to achieve? Do you want to identify website visitors or learn more about users? Or are you more interested in the problems that bring users to you in the first place? We have picked a few tools for different purposes:

Tools for keyword and key-phrase intent

Do you want to start at the very beginning of the customer journey and wonder which pages your audience visits and which terms they search for? DemandJump is a tool that gives the answers. If you know what questions your target audience asks before they find out about you, you have a decisive advantage: you know which answers you need to give!

In other words, you use search intent to create relevant content for your target audience. Ultimately you will draw attention to your company and generate more page visits, clicks and conversions. When generating content you can also use SEO research tools to find out what else is searched for around the keywords you discovered with DemandJump. Free tools include AnswerthePublic , Thruuu , KeywordTool  and Kwfinder .

Tools for identifying website visitors

When users move around your website, it is a sign that they are interested in what you have to offer. It also gives you the chance to generate valuable intent data – you just need the right tools.

Using the IP address you can see  which company is visiting your website . In addition, the way visitors click shows what they are interested in and usually also how they arrived at your site. A connection to Google Analytics also provides valuable marketing information, such as time spent on individual pages or whether the user reached your site via an ad campaign, for example. If you need more information about the interested party, e.g. which industry the company belongs to, its sales volume or who the possible contacts are, you can easily enrich the company data with the right tools.

Here is a small selection of tools you can use to recognise website visitors:

• Leadfeeder and Google Analytics
• Kickfire
• Leadforensics
• Leadlab

Recognise buying intent

The third level of intent data tools goes a step further and helps you recognise concrete buying intent. There are different approaches – some work with exclusive data and therefore specialise in a particular target group, such as TechTarget’s Priority Engine, which focuses on the technology sector. Other tools use predictive analytics to predict buying intent . We have compiled this selection for you:

• Bombora
• Zoominfo
• Aberdeen
• Techtarget
• 180bytwo
• G2

We would like to mention G2 separately, because it is a comparison platform . At the same time, however, it lets you see which companies are comparing your profile and may be acting on specific intent. But you can also find out when your customers are comparing competitors, and so get the chance to prevent churn.

Sales trigger events vs. intent data

If you are looking for ways to identify buying intent, you cannot avoid the concept of sales triggers. Like intent data, they can provide information about specific sales opportunities. But to use both properly, it is important to know the difference. Let’s look at exactly what sales triggers are!

Sales trigger events are events that happen to customers or prospects . You usually hear about them from the media, social media posts and sometimes personal conversations. Sales trigger events are usually events that are part of a company’s everyday life. These include, for example, a visit to a trade fair , a change of senior manager, or even a relocation or a new building.

It is entirely up to you which trigger events are relevant for you – it varies by company and target group. Assuming you are an IT services provider , you might be interested in company relocations . As the name suggests, the event immediately “triggers” a sales opportunity for you, because you can directly offer to set up a new IT infrastructure .

However, you are the active party here, recognising the sales opportunity by offering your services to the company that is moving. At this point the company does not even know it needs you ! Sales triggers therefore let you get ahead not only of the interested party but also of potential competitors.

Read now: 14 sales triggers for more success in sales conversations

By contrast, intent data you only get when prospects take action and search for keywords or visit websites themselves. The idea of intent data is that you learn more from it and generate insights. However, you rely on your prospects knowing exactly what they want in order to get truly useful data.

In short: with sales trigger events you have the decisive advantage and can score quickly and accurately, which makes them really helpful in sales when you need to close fast. With intent data, the prospect has the “knowledge advantage” , and you use this opportunity to learn more about them and gain targeted information or long-term insights . That is why intent data is usually more sought after in marketing.

Examples of intent data

As explained earlier, there are different types of intent data. It always depends on the type of intent data. Let’s briefly look at four examples, one for each type:

Website visit

A prospect visits your website. They click on your homepage, click through various product pages and read something in the news section. Then they bounce.

This is anonymous first-party intent data : you can use certain tools to track the visitor’s IP address and interpret what they may have been looking for.

Document download

A prospect visits your blog, reads two articles on the same topic and downloads a document about account-based marketing.

This is known first-party intent data: you know which topic interests your visitor.

Visit to another site

Suppose you have built HR software. A prospect searches for HR software and visits other sites — for example competitors’ sites — and clicks through various pages.

This is anonymous third-party intent data: third-party providers often partner with websites that reveal to them who visited their site. If you now buy intent data from that third party, you know who is reading about your topic on other websites.

Interaction on other sites

Let’s stay with our HR software example. A prospect is on G2 comparing your software with other providers. G2 can tell you which company is behind it and that it is in the middle of a decision.

This is known third-party intent data : here you can see not only who visits other sites but also who interacts with them.

Conclusion: why intent data is useful in B2B sales

Intent data, and data in general, like all data, is not infallible . If you only use intent data to intervene at the end of the customer journey to win as many buyers as possible – just don’t! You should use intent data to extend your cross-company strategies so that you can support prospects and customers in the best possible way at every stage . Otherwise you will miss opportunities!

Speaking of opportunities: if you don’t use intent data, whether first-party or third-party, you are missing out. You don’t understand your target group, prospects and existing customers . You don’t keep your finger on the pulse and you give sales opportunities away. Get to know your customers, understand them and use intent data to convince them of your product.

Above all: stop searching in the dark! With intent data you KNOW what your (prospective) customer wants and WHEN they want it; you no longer have to guess or investigate.

Checklist: avoid these 9 mistakes

Not sure whether the intent data you plan to buy is a good choice? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back! We have prepared a handy checklist to help you make sure you are buying reliable intent data.

Avoid these 9 mistakes when buying intent data

Tags: B2B, B2B buyer intent, B2B data, B2B marketing, B2B sales trigger

Mariusz Biniak – creator of the POLISH YELLOW PAGES® brand (formerly DATABOT.PL) and author of a blog on B2B sales. Disclosure: the author is connected with the publisher of THE BUSINESS TIME.

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Source

• POLISH YELLOW PAGES® (databot.pl) – original blog post

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