What is Buyer Intent Data? 6 Facts You Need to Know

If you're new to buyer intent data, it can be difficult to know where to start. Simply put, intent data is online information collected about a company to identify whether that company is actively considering purchasing your product or services. Buyer intent data combines first-party intent data, third-party intent data, and B2B buying signals. It can help you to extract the maximum possible ROI from your marketing campaigns and increase your sales.

To help you get to grips with this latest trend in B2B marketing, we've listed below 6 of the most essential facts you should know about buyer intent data.

1. Buyer Intent Data is Generated by Monitoring the Internet for Buying Signals

Every time you publish content on social media, interact with others on social media or post jobs online, you send out signals that can be used to understand your business intentions. This can provide insight into what products or services you may research or require. These online signals are commonly referred to as "buying signals".

B2B intent data tools can monitor the internet for these signals and discover new prospects talking online about your product or service. The software can also monitor when businesses engage with your competitors online - so you can target the right accounts at the right time.

B2B buying signals can be collected from:

• Social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter
• Third-party review sites
• Job sites
• Industry-related content
• Conference and event registration data
• Open-source blogs and content websites
• News sites

The most sophisticated buyer intent platforms will provide you with real-time data of the companies displaying these buying signals and can also provide the contact-level information of the key decision-makers in that business.

2. Intent Data Can Help You Create Personalised B2B Buyer Journeys

One of the many advantages of using buyer intent data is that it helps you to personalise your B2B buyer journeys. If a prospect engages with a competitor, you can send a timely introduction introducing your services. If they are hiring for a key position, you know they may be growing, and you can tailor your outreach accordingly.

Tailored outreach, or personalisation, is essential in B2B marketing. According to statistics compiled by Forbes, 98% of marketers say personalisation advances customer relationships, and for 51% of marketers, personalisation is the number 1 priority.

Buyer intent data can be used by your marketing team to create hyper-personalised, timely and relevant content.

3. 80% of Companies Report an Uplift in Revenue from Personalisation

According to data from eConsultancy, 4 out of 5 companies report an uplift in revenue from personalisation. However, personalising content based on traits such as a prospect's job title or industry is simply not enough in today's ultra-competitive world.

Buyer intent data allows for personalisation based - not only on known conditions such as job title - but also based on prospects' particular research and interests at a given time.

Combined with marketing and sales automation software, this creates a compelling use case for investing in buyer intent data.

To learn more about how buyer intent data can increase sales, check out our article.

"With only 2% - 5% of an audience actively seeking to purchase at any one time, it is no longer good enough to just send a campaign and hope."

• Strategic ABM, 2021

4. Buyer Intent Data is Going Mainstream

Like any new technology, its adoption is following a predictable pattern. First to get on board are the innovators, then the early adopters, then the early majority, the late majority, and finally the laggards.

In business (especially in B2B sales and marketing) no company can afford to be a laggard. However, buyer intent data adoption is moving quickly into the early majority and late majority stages.

According to respected industry source Gartner, 70% of B2B marketers will utilise third-party intent data to target prospects or engage groups of buyers. As this goes mainstream, it becomes the new marketing norm and sets a new benchmark. Those B2B companies not using buyer intent data will be placed at a disadvantage.

5. Buyer Intent Data Can Source Prospects Globally

If your business operates across more than one territory, you will understand how difficult it is to rank in search results for different terms, in different countries, and in different languages. Without featuring in search results, your brand is almost invisible unless you invest in costly pay-per-click or social advertising.

However, buyer intent data can be a more cost-effective solution. You can engage with relevant prospects without needing them to find you in search or engage with you first. As long as the internet activity is there, the companies and prospects will be found - in any country you choose.

So if your lead generation depends on website leads from either paid or organic traffic (both of which require significant time and investment) then considering buyer intent data as part of your sales and marketing mix can generate significant returns.

6. Buyer Intent Data is Crucial for Demand Generation

Intent data is best used when combined with a great content marketing strategy. It allows you to deliver ultra-personalised content, at the right time, to the right prospects.

If your business currently deploys an inbound marketing strategy, such as blogging, or automated email journeys, then you already likely have the great content you need to get the most out of your buyer intent data.

Intent data is now so inherent to the success of marketing campaigns that 98% of respondents to an Insights for Professionals survey said buyer intent data was crucial to demand generation.

How Can Automaly Help Your Business?

The facts above make it clear that buyer intent data can transform your lead generation and sales strategy.

At Automaly, we are able to help you automate data and all of your sales and marketing processes.

Just book a free consultation to get started, and we will do the rest.