B2B sales teams are drowning in data — yet still starving for genuine purchase intent signals. While prospects leave digital traces across multiple channels, traditional lead scoring often fails to differentiate between casual research and real readiness to buy. 

As an outcome, sales teams waste time on unqualified leads while missing critical windows of opportunity with in-market accounts.

The solution lies in capturing and interpreting true buying signals, from organizational changes and engagement patterns to relationship dynamics. In this guide, you’ll learn how to use these intent indicators to figure out which prospects are ready to buy and reach out to them at the exact moment they're ready to make the decision.

What are B2B buying signals?

B2B buying signals are actions, behaviors, or data points that indicate buyer intent - when a business is interested in purchasing a product or service.

These signals come from various sources and help sales and marketing teams understand when someone researching your product or service might be ready to buy, giving insight into where the prospect is in their buying journey and how likely they are to move forward in the sales process.

Some common B2B buying signal sources are:

• Website visits: When someone frequently visits your product or pricing pages, it can indicate interest in your solution.
• Social media engagement: Interactions such as likes, comments, or shares on platforms like LinkedIn can show potential customers are paying attention to your content.
• Email interactions: Opening emails, clicking links, or responding to messages can signal purchase intent.
• Downloads: Whitepapers, case studies, and other resources downloaded from your website provide insights into a prospect's specific needs.
• Third-party intent data: Some providers collect and analyze broader industry data to identify when a company is researching similar solutions.

We can classify the signals above as either explicit or implicit:

• Explicit buying signals are direct actions, such as a company filling out a demo request form or contacting a salesperson.
• Implicit buying signals are indirect indicators, like increased visits to your blog or following your company on social media.

Tracking these signals helps sales and marketing teams achieve several goals:

• Identify qualified leads (company decision-makers) that are the most likely to convert
• Prioritize sales outreach and connect with the hottest leads
• Personalize messages to address the potential customer needs and interests
• Improve the timing of sales activities and connect with prospects when they're most receptive

Advanced tools, such as CRM systems and intent data platforms, can help companies track these signals in real time, ensuring they engage with prospects at the right moment in the buyer’s journey.

Greenhouse, an HR software company, is an excellent example of how businesses can use B2B buying signals to find new opportunities and connect with the right customers. This business faced challenges when former users and decision-makers changed jobs, which often led to missed sales opportunities.

The team then implemented our sales intelligence tool to automatically detect when past customers moved to target companies. UserGems provided Greenhouse’s sales team with timely notifications, which helped them prioritize high-value leads and align sales and marketing efforts.

As a result, the company created 150 new sales opportunities using B2B signals like customer triggers, firmographic insights, and behavioral data to engage the right prospects at the right time.

Why are buying signals important?

By integrating buying signals into sales and marketing strategies and tactics, companies of all sizes can become more data-driven, improve efficiency, and stay ahead of their competitors. Here’s how:

1. Improve lead qualification

Prospecting is the most difficult aspect of the sales process for more than 40% of salespeople. Similarly, 61% of marketers agree and confirm that generating high-quality leads is their biggest challenge.

This is where buying signals step in — identifying them helps sales teams focus on high-value leads and reduces time wasted on unqualified prospects.

By using intent data, companies can prioritize leads based on their activity and behavior, improving the efficiency of their sales cycle. Tracking actions such as website visits, content downloads, and social media engagement can reveal which prospects are genuinely interested and ready to engage.

2. Personalize outreach efforts

Modern buyers expect personalized communication and generic messaging is deemed as spammy — it just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Tracking buying signals allows sales and marketing teams to craft relevant messaging that addresses specific pain points and prospects’ interests. Interactions such as email engagement, webinar participation, and demo requests provide information for businesses to tailor their outreach strategies to resonate with potential customers.

Personalization driven by real-time buying signals increases engagement and improves the chances of converting leads into customers. This approach also strengthens relationships, as prospects feel understood and valued.

Here’s an example:

Smartling, a translation management company, used our software to improve sales by tracking job changes of past customers and prospects. Before using UserGems, their sales team struggled to identify the right leads and spent too much time manually sorting through reports.

Now, they have automated their pipeline workflow and can focus on high-value leads and send them personalized messages based on their relationship with the company, reducing manual work by 97% and allowing the team to focus on selling instead of admin.

This has helped their sales team work more efficiently and book more meetings, with Smartling generating $1.87 million in new sales opportunities and closing $1.29 million in revenue.

3. Align sales and marketing teams

One of the biggest challenges in B2B sales is sales and marketing teams working in siloes instead of collaborating closely. B2B buying signals create a shared source of truth that allows both teams to work toward common goals using data-driven insights, reducing friction and ensuring that leads receive the right messaging at the right time.

For example, if marketing detects increased website visits or whitepaper downloads, they can alert sales reps to initiate follow-up conversations at the right time. This alignment leads to better lead nurturing, reduced friction in the buyer’s journey, and, ultimately, more closed deals.

Metadata, a B2B marketing platform, successfully used buying signals to create a seamless workflow between both teams. The team used our tool to track job changes and new hires, helping their sales team reconnect with past customers and find new opportunities. They found that 25% of their database was outdated due to frequent job changes.

By automating buying signals, Metadata could quickly reach out to leads and reduce churn risks. With this approach, the company achieved an 81% shorter sales cycle, 17% bigger contract sizes, and 50% of its Q4 pipeline from returning customers.

4. Shorten the sales cycle

Most prospects will know exactly what they’re looking for before they finally engage with sales representatives, especially in long B2B sales cycles where research can take months.

This makes it crucial for businesses to identify intent signals early and respond with timely and relevant engagement, which can help speed up the purchasing decision.

Signals such as pricing page visits, demo requests, and competitor comparisons indicate readiness to buy. Using tools that track and analyze intent data, like UserGems, businesses can anticipate needs and provide solutions proactively, increasing the likelihood of a swift purchasing decision.

5. Provide competitive insights

Tracking buying triggers can reveal whether prospects are considering competing solutions. Monitoring behaviors such as comparing features on product pages, reading competitor reviews, or engaging with competitor content can help businesses adjust their approach and position their offering more effectively.

Understanding competitor engagement allows businesses to address concerns, highlight unique selling points, and craft offers that resonate better with the ideal customer profile (ICP).

5 Types of buying signals you should be capturing

Capturing the right buying signals is essential for B2B companies to identify and engage with high-intent prospects effectively. These signals provide valuable insights into a prospect’s buying journey, helping sales and marketing teams tailor their outreach and improve conversion rates.

The key types of buying signals you should be capturing include:

Behavioral signals

Behavioral buying signals are actions and interactions that indicate prospects’ interest in your product or service. By tracking behaviors across various touchpoints, businesses can adjust and personalize their outreach messaging and move prospects through the buying journey more efficiently.

Key examples of behavioral signals include:

• Website engagement: Visiting product and pricing pages or downloading content such as whitepapers and case studies are strong indicators of interest. Repeated visits suggest a higher level of intent.
• Email interactions: Prospects who frequently open emails, click on links, or reply with inquiries demonstrate growing interest in your solution.
• Social media activity: Engaging with your posts, following your company on LinkedIn, or commenting on industry-related content signals awareness and curiosity.
• Event participation: Registering for webinars, asking questions, or downloading event materials can indicate readiness to learn more or move forward in the buying process.
• Direct sales interactions: Requesting product demos, inquiring about pricing, or asking for customer references are clear buying signals that indicate strong interest.

Capturing and analyzing behavioral signals allows businesses to:

• Prioritize high-intent leads, reducing wasted efforts
• Personalize outreach, improving engagement rates
• Shorten the sales cycle by engaging prospects at the right time
• Align sales and marketing efforts, ensuring both teams focus on the most engaged prospects

Tools such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, and analytics software help businesses monitor behavioral data in real time. Platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Google Analytics provide insights into how prospects interact with your brand.

Intent signals

Intent buying signals indicate that a prospect is actively researching solutions and showing interest in purchasing. By tracking intent signals, businesses can engage with potential customers at the right stage of the buying journey, increasing their chances of conversion.

Examples of intent signals include:

• Content consumption: Prospects who read blog posts, download resources like whitepapers or case studies, and frequently visit your product pages signal a growing interest in your offerings. Interestingly, one out of five B2B buyers is actively looking to purchase, while 80% continue to engage with content to obtain information, improve their knowledge, gain sales skills, or join communities.
• Search behavior: Conducting searches for industry-specific terms and competitor comparisons or directly searching your brand name suggests a prospect is exploring solutions in the market.
• Competitor engagement: Evaluating competing products, interacting with competitor content, or attending their webinars can signal that a prospect is in the decision-making process.
• Third-party data: External data sources, such as B2B intent data providers, track behavior across multiple websites and platforms to identify companies showing high-intent activity.
• Product comparisons and reviews: Prospects who spend time on comparison sites or review platforms like G2 and Capterra are often closer to a purchasing decision.

Tracking and analyzing intent signals help businesses:

• Identify in-market prospects, focusing efforts on those actively seeking solutions
• Personalize messaging, addressing the specific needs and pain points of high-intent prospects
• Accelerate the sales cycle by engaging prospects when they are most interested.
• Improve marketing ROI by targeting accounts with demonstrated buying interest

Businesses can use tools like CRM systems, intent data providers, and marketing automation platforms to monitor and analyze intent signals in real time. Platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator can also provide insights based on prospect engagement with your content.

Firmographic signals

Firmographic buying signals are company-related data points that help sales and marketing teams determine whether a business fits their ideal customer profile (ICP). Firmographic signals allow organizations to focus on companies most likely to benefit from their products or services.

Examples of firmographic signals include:

• Company size: The number of employees or annual revenue can indicate whether a company aligns with your target market, whether it's small businesses, mid-market, or enterprise organizations.
• Industry type: Understanding which sectors your solution serves best (e.g., healthcare, finance, SaaS) helps you develop targeted messaging and industry-specific solutions.
• Geographic location: Some businesses operate in specific regions or countries, and location data can help prioritize outreach to areas where your product is most relevant.
• Growth stage: Whether a company is a startup, a scaling business, or a mature enterprise, its growth stage can impact its needs and purchasing behavior.
• Funding and mergers: New funding rounds, acquisitions, or expansions can signal potential buying opportunities and an increased budget for new solutions.
• Technology stack: Knowing which software and tools a company already uses (e.g., CRM platforms like Salesforce) can indicate compatibility with your product.

Tracking firmographic signals helps:

• Prioritize high-fit accounts by focusing on companies that match their ICP criteria
• Personalize outreach efforts, aligning messaging with the company’s size, industry, and growth phase
• Optimize account-based marketing (ABM) strategies, ensuring targeted efforts on the right organizations
• Improve resource allocation by directing efforts toward accounts with the highest conversion potential

Businesses can collect firmographic data through:

• Platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot store company details for better segmentation and tracking
• Services such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator provide firmographic insights and real-time company updates
• Lead capture forms that ask for industry, company size, or location help gather firmographic data directly from prospects

Technographic signals

Technographic buying signals provide insights into the technologies and tools a prospect’s company is currently using. With technographic data, businesses can improve their sales process and targeting strategies.

Examples of technographic signals include:

• CRM and marketing automation platforms: Knowing if a company uses tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Marketo can help sales reps position their solution as an integration or alternative.
• Cloud and hosting providers: Companies using platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure may have specific scalability or compliance needs that your product can address.
• Security solutions: Businesses relying on cybersecurity tools such as CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, or Cisco Security may require solutions that align with their security protocols.
• Collaboration and communication tools: If a company uses Slack, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, it indicates its communication preferences and potential integration needs.
• E-commerce platforms: Identifying the use of platforms like Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce can provide insights into their online operations and growth potential.

Tracking and analyzing technographic signals helps:

• Better target high-fit prospects by offering solutions compatible with their existing tech stack
• Personalize outreach efforts, showcasing how your product integrates with their current systems
• Improve competitive positioning by identifying prospects using competitor tools
• Optimize sales efficiency by focusing on companies with the right technological infrastructure to adopt your solution

Custom signals

Custom buying signals are unique to a business and are tailored based on specific interactions and behaviors relevant to a company’s sales process. They provide deeper insights beyond generic buying signals by capturing prospect actions that align with your specific product offering and business model.

Custom signals allow sales teams and marketing teams to engage prospects with highly personalized strategies, which is particularly useful for companies targeting big enterprises, as large teams often require a high level of customization.

Two key subtypes of custom buying signals are:

1. Product-led signals

Product-led signals are based on how users interact with your product or service, providing valuable insights into their interest and intent to purchase. These signals are especially relevant for product-led growth (PLG) companies, whose product drives conversions and expansions.

Examples of product-led signals:

• Freemium to paid conversions: Tracking when a user reaches the limitations of a free plan and starts exploring premium features, indicating readiness to upgrade.
• Feature usage: Monitoring which product features a user engages with the most, helping sales reps identify potential upsell opportunities.
• Logins and activity frequency: Analyzing how often users log in and engage with key functionalities to gauge product value realization.
• Support requests: Frequent inquiries about advanced features or integrations can indicate growing interest and potential for expansion.
• Trial expirations: Users nearing the end of their free trial who have engaged deeply with the product may be prime candidates for conversion.

Tracking product-led signals helps:

• Identify high-value users ready for conversion or expansion
• Personalize outreach by focusing on features the user is actively engaging with
• Optimize product experience by understanding user behavior and removing friction points
• Reduce churn risk by identifying disengaged users and addressing their concerns proactively

2. Customer triggers

Customer triggers are events or changes in a prospect’s business environment that indicate a potential need for your product or service. These triggers allow businesses to engage with prospects at the right time by recognizing critical moments that could lead to a buying decision.

Examples of customer triggers:

• Job changes: When a key decision-maker moves to a new company, they may bring purchasing influence and previous vendor preferences with them.
• Funding rounds: Newly funded companies often have increased budgets and are looking to invest in tools to support their growth.
• Mergers and acquisitions: Companies undergoing changes may have new technology requirements and be open to evaluating new solutions.
• Regulatory changes: Shifts in industry regulations may require companies to seek new tools to stay compliant.
• Product launches: When a company launches a new product or service, it may require complementary solutions to support its operations.

Monitoring customer triggers helps:

• Engage prospects at the right moment, increasing the chances of conversion
• Prioritize high-potential opportunities based on significant business events
• Position solutions strategically, aligning with the company’s evolving needs
• Shorten sales cycles by using timely engagement based on business changes

Best practices for creating a signal-based program for B2B sales and marketing teams

1. Go beyond basic intent data

While traditional intent data — such as website visits or content downloads — is a great starting point, a truly effective signal-based program requires deeper insights. Expanding beyond basic intent data helps sales and marketing teams better understand potential customers’ actual interest levels and readiness to engage.

Combining multiple data sources, such as technographic, firmographic, and behavioral signals, provides a holistic view of a prospect's engagement.

• Use first-party data from CRM, marketing automation tools, and website analytics to capture deeper insights into customer behavior
• Incorporate third-party intent data from providers like G2 to track broader research activities across the web
• Use social listening tools to monitor prospect engagement on LinkedIn and industry forums
• Track relationship intelligence, such as job changes and organizational shifts, to capture buying triggers beyond website activity

2. Develop a sophisticated signal-scoring system

Not all buying signals carry the same weight. A sophisticated signal-scoring system allows sales and marketing teams to prioritize leads based on the strength and frequency of their engagement across multiple touchpoints.

A well-defined scoring system ensures sales reps focus on the most qualified prospects, improving conversion rates and optimizing the sales cycle.

• Assign different values to high-intent signals, such as demo requests and pricing inquiries, versus low-intent signals, like general blog visits
• Use a weighted scoring model that considers factors such as recency, frequency, and type of interaction
• Integrate scoring models within your CRM and marketing automation platforms to automatically prioritize leads
• Continuously analyze closed deals to refine and validate your scoring criteria over time

3. Use personalized multi-channel engagement

Once buying signals are captured and scored, the next step is to engage prospects across multiple channels in a personalized way. 

A multi-channel engagement strategy ensures that your outreach resonates with prospects across their preferred touchpoints, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

It ensures prospects receive relevant messaging at the right time and through the right medium, improving their experience and driving higher conversions.

• Use email marketing, social media, phone calls, and targeted ads to create a consistent, personalized experience
• Tailor messaging is based on a prospect's buying journey stage, addressing their needs and pain points
• Use automation to trigger timely follow-ups based on prospect behavior, such as a second email after a whitepaper download
• Ensure sales and marketing alignment to deliver a unified brand experience across all touchpoints

4. Continuously refine your signal strategy

A signal-based program is not a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. The effectiveness of buying signals evolves, and it’s crucial to regularly review and optimize your approach based on data-driven insights.

Regular refinement will help you stay agile and ensure you continue capturing and acting on the most relevant and impactful buying signals.

• Monitor key metrics such as engagement rates, lead-to-customer conversion rates, and revenue impact to assess effectiveness
• Conduct regular audits of your signal sources and scoring model to identify areas for improvement
• Test new data sources and technologies to stay ahead of evolving buyer intent patterns
• Gather feedback from sales reps to understand which signals have the most impact on deal progression

5. Champion data literacy and collaboration

A signal-based program is most effective when the entire organization understands and embraces data-driven decision-making. When teams are well-versed in using data effectively, they can collaborate more efficiently, leading to improved lead nurturing, higher close rates, and better customer experiences.

Encouraging data literacy among sales and marketing teams improves collaboration and ensures that insights are used to their full potential.

• Provide regular training sessions on how to interpret and act on buying signals
• Implement dashboards and reports that visualize key signals in an easy-to-understand format
• Encourage a culture of collaboration where sales and marketing share insights and work together on data-driven initiatives
• Align goals and KPIs between teams to ensure they work toward the same objectives

How UserGems helps identify intent-based B2B buying signals

UserGems is an AI-driven platform that excels at identifying intent-based B2B buying signals by focusing on a key element: people. It uses the power of relationship intelligence and tracks any changes within your existing customer and prospect networks to surface high-value opportunities. 

By combining data from multiple sources, UserGems helps businesses stay ahead of buying intent and proactively engage prospects at the right time.

Here's how UserGems helps identify intent-based buying signals:

Tracking key personnel changes

UserGems helps identify buying signals by tracking key personnel changes. When key stakeholders, decision-makers or influencers change jobs, they often bring their preferences and existing vendor relationships to their new roles. 

UserGems monitors your CRM and other data sources to alert your sales team when these job changes occur, ensuring timely outreach and engagement. This signal presents a powerful opportunity to reconnect with past users who are familiar with your solution and may advocate for its adoption in their new company. 

John Gragnola, Sales Operations Manager at Outreach, confirms the value of tracking personnel changes:

“We’ve tracked over 5,000 job changes since using UserGems about a year ago. We consider the UserGems-sourced pipeline a little under $1.2 million, with 101 opportunities created. We saw great success with an 8x ROI on our contract with UserGems.”

Similarly, tracking new hires at your target accounts provides crucial insights into company growth, expansion into new markets, or shifts in strategic priorities. These insights empower sales teams to position their solutions effectively and capture new opportunities.

Monitoring company activities

Beyond personnel changes, UserGems actively monitors company activities that are strong buying signals. Tracking funding rounds allows businesses to identify accounts that have recently secured new capital and are likely to invest in new solutions. 

Mergers and acquisitions are another key signal, as they often lead to organizational changes and new technology needs. UserGems keeps businesses informed of such activities, ensuring they remain top-of-mind when opportunities arise. 

The platform also monitors product launches and expansions within target accounts, providing an early indicator of potential interest in complementary solutions or services.

Analyzing relationship networks

Another way UserGems delivers value is through its ability to analyze relationship networks. By identifying champions within your existing customer base — those highly engaged and likely to advocate for your product — UserGems helps businesses take advantage of these connections for referrals and upselling opportunities. 

Relationship mapping also uncovers warm connections between your sales team and decision-makers at target accounts, making outreach efforts more effective and increasing the chances of engagement.

Providing actionable insights

UserGems provides prioritized lead lists based on identified buying signals and relationship intelligence to make these insights actionable. This ensures that sales teams focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities. 

Automated alerts keep teams informed in real time, enabling proactive engagement as soon as key signals are detected. Additionally, UserGems equips sales reps with detailed prospect insights, facilitating personalized outreach tailored to the prospect’s context, pain points, and objectives.

“The really cool thing about UserGems is that it enables us to zoom into the issues that a new person in a specific industry might face,” says Jessica Placencia-Perez, Director of Marketing at Axios HQ.

With UserGems, your sales and marketing teams are equipped with the intelligence to identify high-intent B2B buyers, personalize outreach, and close deals faster. With actionable insights derived from relationship intelligence and key buying signals, businesses can stay ahead of their competition and maximize revenue potential.

Are you ready to see UserGems in action? Book a demo today to discover how it can transform your sales strategy.

‍