In the 2015 biographical film, Steve Jobs, there’s a telling quote about why he built the Mac that offers insights into the value of intent marketing: “People don’t know what they want until you show them.” As one of the world’s greatest innovators, Jobs understood prospecting is about finding out what customers are looking for… and even predicting what they may not even know they want yet.
At a high level, that’s the core mission behind intent data—delivering actionable insights based on your buyer’s B2B journey.
Top salespeople and marketers can “read the room” in any tradeshow, sales meeting, or even a one-to-one interaction with a prospect. Long before the internet, algorithms, and data analytics, there were prospect body language “tells” like crossing arms, a glance, or change in voice tone; those in the business could spot clues that revealed what a prospect was thinking.
Today, of course, intent data is less about “tells” than it is about observing online behavior. In fact, fully 93 percent of B2B purchases start with an internet search.
What Exactly is Intent Data?
The fundamental objective of intent data is to capture and track every possible signal in a buyer’s journey to come up with the next play. As noted above, many types of intent data can provide valuable prospect insights. When it comes to online intent data, those signals may come from your own company’s website or other channels, as well as a nearly infinite number of outside sources (more on that in a moment).
Typical intent data from online interactions could include:
- Website visits
- Webinar attendance
- Downloads of marketing assets: white papers, case studies, infographics, e-books
- Product reviews
- Amount of time on industry-related website pages
- Online subscriptions to trade or industry publications
- Social media interactions
It’s important to understand, however, that not all types of intent data like this are the same.
What is First-Party Intent Data?
This type of intent data is exactly what it sounds like—insights from your internal resources. For instance, when you track and monitor buyer activity on your own company’s website, that’s considered first-party intent data.
In the online universe, tracking first-party data could come from your website’s backend, a marketing automation platform, or analytics tools. Tracking email delivery and engagement or even online chats could be sources of first-party data. If you use IP identification technology or monitor downloads or forms, you might tie the activity to an individual or a specific company.
Of course, the goal of these efforts is to give your salesforce the “tells” they need to engage with your B2B buyers in a way that is meaningful and relevant to them at the moment. Great salespeople can interpret those direct interactions in a way that helps them reach out promptly, answer questions, or proactively address concerns.
The problem, however, is that this approach is one-dimensional. First-party data only provides a narrow sliver of the B2B buyer’s path to purchase.
What is Third-Party Intent Data?
A holistic view of your B2B prospect’s activities. In a nutshell, that’s what third-party intent data delivers. Based on a series of events and interactions over a defined period, that comprehensive view tells you what a buyer has been doing before landing on your website.
Not sold on the value of tracking online prospect activity before they get to your website? Consider these facts about B2B buyers:
- They are 70 percent done with their buying research before interacting with a salesperson
- On average, 12 internet searches are done before going to a specific company’s website
- Fully 51 percent rely heavily on content when deciding (either the company’s content or from other sources)
How is Intent Data Used in Account-Based Marketing?
When we look at the two types of intent data, a blend of both the first-party and third-party flavors is the optimum approach to gaining actionable sales and marketing insights. Of course, any account-based marketing effort relies on knowing as much information about your target accounts as possible, including their online buying journey… every step of it.
Intent data is an essential tool in ABM. It can be used to pinpoint in-market prospects or qualified accounts or help spot accounts that show obvious interest in your offerings. Because intent data leverages online activity and behavior to qualify strong leads, ABM experts can optimize account scoring, make more accurate predictions, prioritize accounts, and eliminate those that aren’t worth the effort. Intent data can even help you tailor marketing messaging and sales efforts to individuals within a buying team—a vital advantage since most accounts average 5.4 people per team.
Overall, a potent blend of the two types of intent data is critical to effective ABM, helping spot your prospects’ “tells” and predict what their next step will be… so your team can take the right action at the right time and close the sale.
