No mention of ABM seems complete or possible without the term ‘intent’. Most ABM vendors tout their intent data as being the secret sauce for the success of your ABM efforts. Data is indeed a foundational element of ABM, but what many vendors may not tell you is that there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. And that not all intent data is created equal.
So, what is intent data really? And what are the nuances that you need to know to set your ABM program up for the most successful outcomes?
In the simplest terms, intent data is information about the ‘intent’ of a particular business (your target account) towards making a purchase of a product or solution in your category, and confirms if they’re in-market and primed to buy.
But, thinking about intent data as something that all ABM vendors can offer uniformly is a mistake. It’s like saying all cars are the same because they have four wheels and an engine. Knowing these 5 secrets will ensure that the intent data you buy can indeed paint a complete picture of the account’s activity.
Secret #1: The strength of the intent data depends on the source.
Most vendors will talk about ‘intent data’ but actually refer to only third-party data. This is the most likely scenario, because most vendors don’t have their own channels – be it specialist websites, events, or user communities – on which they engage with B2B buyers and track behavior. Instead, they depend on a network of third-party sites over which they have no control, to gather signals such as content consumptions or ad clicks. When they do refer to first-party data, they’re most likely referring to your own brand site (i.e. your first-party data) not theirs.
Look for ABM vendors who can give you both: first-party intent data from their owned and operated channels (websites, communities, events and more), as well as third-party data from a wide, credible network of partner channels that can enrich the first-party data.
Secret #2: The deeper into an account the intent data takes you, the better your ABM outcomes will be.
Most ABM intent data is really about one individual, from one account, performing one action, which is then labeled as ‘intent’. Let’s say, for instance, that Ms. Marketing Director clicks on a paper titled ‘Cloud Storage’ on a third-party site. Most ABM platforms will identify her and her company, add on firmographic data, and sell it to you as an ‘in-market’ account displaying intent. But ask yourself – can just a single interaction of a single individual really tell you with complete certainty that the account – the entire business – is in-market for cloud storage investments? Instead, your ABM partner should be able to connect a diverse set of intent signals from multiple members on the account’s buying committee, in order to give you a more complete picture of intent at an account level. This helps build a composite picture of the account, across departments and levels, so you can be more certain that the account- at the organization level- is indeed in-market.
Secret #3: The more the channels, the stronger the intent data.
Again, this is about the diversity of the intent data. Like in the previous point, you have to ask yourself – is one interaction on one channel, say clicking on an ad or reading a piece of content, really enough to indicate true intent and buyer readiness? Perhaps not. You need intent data that’s gathered from diverse signals across diverse touchpoints and channels, and preferably, these signals should be sent out by multiple personas in the account, to have a truly complete picture of the account intent and readiness.
For example, if your ABM solution is able to capture multiple interactions across various channels – content consumption on owned and third-party websites, ad clicks across multiple channels, and most crucially, ‘behind the firewall’ signals such as helpdesk and remote support interactions, tool downloads, infrastructure monitoring, community discussions etc., – you will have much higher visibility into what is happening in the account, from the server room to the boardroom. It’s important to note that while most ABM solutions will be able to source data about ads and content consumption, very few can actually tap into sources that bring signals from behind the firewall which come from owned and operated user communities and helpdesks.
Secret #4: An account list is not intent data. Intent data needs context.
Does your ABM intent data provide detailed context for each in-market account? Or is a ‘prospect list’ passing for ‘intent data’? Not only should it be based on the widest and deepest set of signals, but the ABM solution should be able to connect the dots across all that data to draw meaningful insights that give you the greatest certainty about which accounts are in-market with a business mindset and why.
Also, your ABM vendor should be able to provide you details about the signals behind the intent, and not just a list of accounts that are, according to them, displaying intent. When you know the why, who and what, you can add context to the intent and build the most relevant and compelling sales and marketing plan. This means starting strong with the ability to identify in-market accounts with the highest propensity to buy, and goes right through to nurturing those accounts with the right messages on the right channel at the right time, through their buying journey.
Secret #5: Intent data can be leveraged for scale.
The richer your intent data is, the more technology can help you scale. The most complete picture of the account’s intent, based on a variety of signals from a range of personas across multiple channels can help your ABM solution’s intelligent analytics capabilities build patterns and find many more accounts displaying similar behavior which would also likely be in-market, but who you might be missing out on. Look for ABM platforms that first and foremost have the ability to generate the wide and deep data, and then check for intelligent analytics, modelling, and decisioning capabilities.
Knowing these 5 secrets will help you appreciate that not all ‘intent data’ comes with the quality, diversity, and scale ABM needs to succeed. The trick lies in not just accessing sporadic interaction or engagement data and passing it off as account intent, but providing insights into an account in a connected, contextual way that can power your all-important ‘target account list’.
This list, which lies at the heart of your ABM efforts, needs to be based on high-quality intent data that enables complete visibility into an account at both organization and individual level. By quality, we mean the scale, the diversity, the number of signals and accounts covered, and the certainty with which you can say these accounts are in-market with a buying mindset.
Learn more about the 3 Critical Factors Needed for an Intelligent ABM Strategy in our eBook.