Intent Data Limitations: Context is Key

A cornerstone of Aberdeen’s methods is something you’ve been hearing about: Buyer intent data. This refers to information we capture about online research conducted by actual buyers who emit a discernible purchase intent signal. Armed with this information, the possibilities for Marketing and Sales functions seem endless. But as with any business boon, there are moving parts and limits one must consider, master, and overcome. In a post on Leadspace’s blog, Ari Soffer explores the limits of intent data that you should be aware of.

Cut The Hype: When Intent Data Shines — And When it Doesn’t

As Soffer breaks it down, buyer behavioral data spans from buyer intent captured on your own website to buyer intent captured on a third party’s website. Most Sales and Marketing functions use predictive platforms to synthesize their amassed intent data. Use cases include:

• predictive account scoring models (for targeting likely prospects),
• persona development (for personalized content delivery), and
• lead segmentation (for sorting qualified and unqualified inbound leads).

Rolling out a predictive platform, however, is not the key to gleaning actionable, qualified leads; there are hard limits to how valuable this data is. To deliver real value and to truly qualify leads, your intent data needs context.

For example, a user might show a cursory level of interest in a topic on your site. Lacking context, you might not realize that the user is an entry-level copywriter trying to define “ABM,” and not the decision maker you assume them to be. Therefore, the personalized martech stack content you send them is both irrelevant to them and a waste of your time. Beyond directing personalized content to the wrong folks, incomplete buyer intent data can produce unqualified leads. Without context, intent data is essentially surplus unstructured data you’re hoping is of high quality, and hoping indicates a high likelihood of a purchase. But with the right context, intent data is immensely valuable.

Buyer Intent Data with Context

In simpler terms, Sales and Marketing shouldn’t count on any buyer intent data until they’ve verified the bigger picture of each buyer persona. We agree! But at Aberdeen, our requirements for a complete “bigger picture” extend beyond a predictive intelligence platform. And that’s why we do what we do, because not every organization is prepared or able to surmount the limits of intent data. Not every company can roll out the necessary predictive platform, strategy, tactics, personpower, and expertise.

Aberdeen provides the data intelligence you need to get the most out of the B2B purchase intent data in your market. We also provide the intent data itself and the context, too. Whereas a platform provides output, we offer expertise and actionable insights into over 200 marketspaces, in addition to our unmatched expertise gained over 30 years as a market research firm. We know what is being researched, when it is being researched, and at which company location, and we establish the qualified part of your qualified leads.

In his blog post, Soffer almost nails the complete picture as Aberdeen sees it, but you can’t truly overcome the limits of buyer intent data with tech and context alone. A little bit of expertise (see: 30+ years) and an impressive amount of insight into the Buyer Behavior Index go a long way.