What is Intent Data?

Have trouble determining your digital audience's business requirements and purchasing intent? Intent data is a set of information that can help you reveal what a person is thinking about and, as a result, what they are likely to do, say, or buy shortly.

What is meant by "intent data" is simply a collection of information that demonstrates what a particular customer is looking for and what products they are most likely to buy next. Every person who visits a website and looks for a product tactfully signs their interest in a specific product or market segment.

Success in B2B sales and marketing is strongly reliant on data. When it comes to using data, though, it's not enough to just utilize it for marketing purposes. B2B Intent data can assist marketers and salespeople accomplish a wide range of business goals. If you have an in-depth grasp of your customer's demands, equipped with data insight, you'll be in a position to generate a strong and consistent funnel for your sales staff. While many salespeople and marketers have a basic understanding of how to utilize data effectively, this knowledge is lacking within the marketing and sales community as a whole. To help with sales and marketing, Intent Data is an essential tool.

The following sections provide an overview of intent data, including its advantages, types, and how to use it to gain consumer insights:

What is Intent Data?

Identifying which prospects or customers are actively investigating third-party websites is a sort of sales intelligence known as intent data. An individual's or business's interest can be shown by the use of intent data. Your (or comparable) items or services are predicted to be purchased by the buyer based on this. In terms of data-driven marketing and sales, it's the next big thing in the market.

It can help marketers and salespeople make better informed and confident judgements. Sales and marketing information comes in the form of intent data. It is common for today's intent data to be derived from activities made on the internet related to research and prospective purchase.

For years, B2B marketing and sales teams have relied on intent data to make their marketing and sales efforts more effective. Body language, event attendance, phone calls, direct mail interaction, and trade fair activities are all examples of traditional examples. Email contact, social media interaction, content interaction, online chat interaction, and the breadth of SaaS feature use are all current examples.

To better comprehend an unknown or known prospect or client, each of these may be examined and understood.

Businesses may better adjust their marketing campaigns to fit the demands of their target audience by acquiring greater insights into the consumer buying process. Buyer intent data may be gathered using a variety of behavioral markers, such as:

1. Visiting a certain page on the site
2. A look at several items and their evaluations from a variety of people
3. The frequency of the visit and the number of times they go
4. Downloads (Whitepapers, case studies, eGuides)
5. Rates of participation (time spent on site, clicks, email open rate)

Aspects of Intent Data include-

• Information on how people use the internet and what kinds of material they find interesting
• Giving you the leads who are actively browsing for your items on third-party websites

In short, Intent Data is beneficial in-

1. Finding active companies
2. Finding Leads who got interests
3. Gaining audience insights

The Different Types of Intent Data

There are two types of intent data: First-Party (Internal) And Third-Party (External). In both cases, B2B marketing and sales may obtain a detailed view of the activities of a target account.

When you combine internal and external intent data, you get a complete picture of the buyer's journey, allowing you to make more informed decisions that lead to more sales.

First-Party Intent

Your company's systems and technologies can provide you with first-party intent data, or "internal intent data," as it's more commonly known. All of this might come from a variety of sources such as visitors to a website or social media listening tools or internal searches. There are several ways to collect first-party intent data, such as through tracking visits to your website or tracking the behavior of your potential customers online.

Your own site's first-party intent information refers to any data that you gather yourself. Visitors' IP addresses or forms filled out for gated content are examples of this.

As a result, this data can either be completely anonymous, or it can be linked to a specific consumer based on IP identification of previously submitted forms.

In a B2B scenario, first-party intent data is more valuable than Google Analytics, which can indicate intriguing trends, such as what browsers individuals use or what nation they're in. A buyer's interest in your products or services is indicated by their activity, such as a target account filling out a contact form or often viewing your price page. A lack of first-party intent data may be costing you money in the form of pipeline and revenue. You have more control over what and how you gather data when you use intent data internally. This also allows you to act on the data almost instantly.

Third-Party Intent

Third-party intent data is any intent data gathered from a different website. This also contains forms that have been filled out and IP addresses that have been obtained. In most cases, intent data providers collect it and sell it to consumers.

If you don't have access to the information you need in your systems, it's called third-party data or external intent data. For the most part, it's sourced from other people; it is obtained by site scraping, or via publisher network, user registration processes, or cookies. In contrast to internal purpose data, this alternative data is more comprehensive; for example, gathering data from websites shows you what comments people post, what sorts of information they seek or download, what they look for on websites, and more.

Only (third-party) data providers may give access to this sort of information, which aids firms in gaining a better understanding of the overall market. Ad targeting and content personalization are just two examples of how third-party intent data may be put to use in marketing.

It is possible to gain an even more complete view of your prospects' activity by tracking their online behavior with third-party intent data.

From data platform providers and data aggregators, B2B marketers may access third-party intent data. Unlike first-party intent data, third-party intent data provides enterprises with a comprehensive perspective of the buyer journey, including every stumble, jump, or retreat.

As part of a buyer-centric journey, leading firms combine first- and third-party data sets. Third-party data often reveals research first, allowing businesses to gain a leg up on their competitors and provide a more tailored experience for customers when they arrive at the business's website.

How Is Intent Data Used?

Sales and marketing initiatives may be launched and operated more effectively with the help of Intent Data. Intent data aids sales and marketing teams in developing successful go-to-market plans, precise segmentation, and targeted communication to the proper individuals.

The following are the five most common ways sales and marketing teams make use of intent data:

1. Personalization
2. Identify the interest of early buyers
3. Build a list of targeted accounts
4. Lead scoring and prioritizing data accounts
5. Digital Advertising
6. Event Planning

When it comes to attracting new consumers, intent data sources from external data providers (third-party data), provide various advantages, like:

• Find out who is interested in what you have to offer
• Advertise to that specific group
• Expand your horizons

Why do B2B marketing and sales see Intent Data as its future?

When you have Intent Data, you might get an advantage over your competition since it offers you a greater understanding of your market. If you want to be a more successful marketer or salesperson, you must understand what drives your consumers. Intent Data is the new future for marketers. Prospects' behavior and triggers may teach businesses a lot about their consumers' purchasing behaviors and triggers. As a result of this information, marketing and sales teams may target a specific consumer profile and implement a personalized strategy on demand. Prospects who are "ready to buy" can be identified and fine-tuned based on a variety of aggregated intent signals by businesses.

Intent Data is useful for sales in the following ways:

First, you'll be able to get in front of buyers early on in the buyer's journey. You'll be able to reach out to those clients sooner because you're already aware of their intentions to shop around.

Second, Intent data allows you to score prospects according to their level of interest. This will provide you with a prioritized list of potential customers.

Third, to have a more fruitful conversation with a potential client, it helps to know what sort of company they are looking at and what type of company you are.

Fourth, reducing churn and upselling is made possible by intent data, which shows businesses what services and products their present customers are interested in. They may incorporate features that you don't currently have, as well as alternatives to your own.

Intent Data is useful for marketing in the following ways:

1. Create effective ABM campaigns

ABM campaigns may be made more effective with the use of intent data. Your cost per lead will be significantly reduced if you target the appropriate company at the right time with relevant advertisements.

2. Improve your focus

You'll have a better understanding of your ICP once you've sorted your leads based on purpose. With this information, you'll be better able to target potential customers. Aiming your marketing efforts will lead toward these potential individuals.

3. Optimize your website

Your website may be adapted to suit your audience's needs. Intent data offers you the ability to continually compute ICP and make minor modifications to reflect the change. Make pages just for the people who come to your site the most often and who have the highest level of intent.

If you utilize intent data appropriately, you can see a significant rise in the number of new leads and conversions.

Wrapping Up

Investing in data is becoming increasingly important for businesses as intent data may be used to fuel marketing efforts and customize the content, resulting in increased sales and customer conversions. Intent data may help you develop your business quickly, improve your competitive edge, and increase customer engagement and retention rates when matched with other forms of data.

More pipeline and new possibilities can be unlocked by understanding the intention of your buyer. When it comes to predicting behavior, intent data can only take you so far. You can target potential companies more precisely, quickly, and confidently with intent data because it provides you with background information.

There must be a well-thought-out strategy for collecting, qualifying, and utilizing intent data. Intent data can be put to work for you only if you have a well-thought-out strategy and apply it with creativity and rigor.

In the field of B2B media publishing, Valasys Media is a pioneering brand that can guide and support you with a wide range of B2B marketing solutions. The B2B marketing industry in 2022 will see a tremendous change through data-driven marketing, and Valasys Media can assist you in making the most of it.

Do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.