Trying to pinpoint potential customers that are most likely to be ready to buy? 

Your marketing message might be right, but the timing might be wrong. Pushing features and sales offers to B2B buyers who aren’t in solution-seeking mode can be a major turn-off for your target audience.

So what’s the answer? You need to understand buyer intent.

Analyzing the online behavior of your prospects can help you understand exactly where they are in their buying journey. 

Are they just browsing, or are they actively downloading content and engaging with your brand on social media?

These data points are a gold mine — allowing B2B marketing teams to tailor their approach for each lead, nurturing them more efficiently and creating a smoother buyer experience.

The result? Higher conversion rates and a sales team that celebrates wins, not wasted effort.

What is buyer intent?

Buyer intent is the likelihood that someone is interested in purchasing your product or service. It's about understanding how far along the prospect is in their buyer journey. 

Did something “happen” that made them realize they have an urgent problem that needs solving? Or are they already comparing the features of different options available on the market?

You can gauge buyer intent through various digital actions and information: such as browsing behavior, content downloads, social media activity, and search queries.

Real-world example

Let's say someone searches online for "best sales intelligence tools." It’s a clear signal there’s explicit buying intent — the person is actively researching and comparing options of sales intelligence software available on the market. 

On the other hand, if someone is searching for "B2B sales intelligence" — we don’t know for sure if they’re in “buying mode” as they are likely earlier in the buying journey, therefore an informational approach would be the best. 

Think of understanding buyer intent as a roadmap for sales and marketing. It lets businesses create targeted messages that resonate with potential customers at the right time.

For instance:

• High intent: At this stage, you can already offer a free trial or highlight features that address your potential customer’s specific needs.
• Low intent: At this point, it’s best to provide educational content that explains different options or answers common questions.

Types of buyer intent

We can categorize buyer intent into two main groups: by data source and by customer behavior. This categorization will help you better understand what each set of intent data can reveal about your customers.

By data source

• First-party intent data: This data comes directly from your own sources, such as website activity tracked through analytics tools, your CRM system, or any data collected through direct interactions with potential customers. First-party data is often the most reliable since it comes from your direct observations and interactions. For example, if a user frequently visits your product pages or downloads your whitepapers, this behavior signals strong intent and interest.
• Second-party intent data: This involves data from a trusted external source. For instance, a review site might collect and analyze user behavior to understand their buying intent and by partnering with this site, you can gain access to valuable data segments. For example, if a user reads multiple reviews about a particular product category on a popular review platform, this information can be shared with your sales team to target those users more effectively.

By customer behavior

This categorization focuses on the actions a potential customer takes, indicating their level of interest in buying.

• Awareness-based intent: At this stage, the customer is actively researching a product or service but hasn’t narrowed down their options. They may be gathering information, reading reviews, or engaging with educational content to better understand their needs. These customers are open to discovering new brands and exploring different alternatives. For instance, someone researching “best laptops for remote work” is likely at the awareness stage, looking for comprehensive guides and comparisons.
• Passive buying intent: This is a potential customer who may be dissatisfied with their current solution and is open to switching. They are researching alternatives but haven’t yet committed to an active buying process. These potential buyers might be quicker to convert if presented with compelling options. For example, a customer reading articles about the downsides of their current software solution may be primed to switch if they encounter a more appealing alternative.
• Active buying intent: This prospect is actively researching a specific product and has an immediate need. They are likely to purchase soon and exhibit behaviors such as using specific product keywords, visiting product pages, or engaging with pricing information. For instance, someone searching “how much does Zendesk cost” and comparing prices across different solutions is displaying active buying intent.

Benefits of using buyer intent data

Buyer intent data offers a significant edge over traditional demographic or interest-based customer profiles. While demographics and interests provide a general idea of a customer, buyer intent data reveals their active purchase intent.

Imagine it like the difference between knowing someone lives in California (demographic) and knowing they’re researching vacation packages to Hawaii (intent).

Here’s a breakdown of the key benefits:

Improved outbound sales

Forget cold outreach with low success rates. Buyer intent data tells you exactly who’s interested in your product, allowing you to target qualified leads with personalized messages.

Using buyer intent data will help you discover leads who are actively showing buying signals. Your sales team can then focus their efforts on prospects who are more likely to convert, resulting in higher efficiency and better conversion rates.

Powerful Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Buyer intent data goes beyond basic user data, revealing a prospect’s journey on your website. This empowers you to tailor ABM campaigns with laser focus. For example, if a potential customer repeatedly visits your pricing page, it’s a strong indicator that they’re considering a purchase.

By understanding where a prospect is in their purchase journey, you can deliver highly relevant content and offers that resonate with their specific needs, significantly improving engagement and conversion rates.

According to G2 Learning Hub, companies using ABM experience a 208% increase in marketing revenue.

Reduced customer churn

Buyer intent data can identify potential customer dissatisfaction before they churn. By analyzing web activity, you can see if customers are researching alternative solutions, indicating unmet needs.

Proactive intervention can bridge this gap and retain customers. For example, if a customer who has been loyal for years suddenly starts looking at competitor websites, it’s a red flag. Addressing these pain points early helps improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately reducing churn rates.

Data-driven sales strategy

High-quality buyer intent data from trusted sources informs all levels of your company. This data fuels better decision-making, leading to a more efficient and data-driven sales strategy.

Insights from buyer intent data can help your team prioritize high-potential leads, optimize resource allocation, and refine sales tactics to better meet the needs of your prospects. 

According to Salesforce, data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain customers, and 19 times more likely to be profitable.

How can SDRs and sales teams use buyer intent data?

Sales teams can leverage buyer intent data to close more deals by understanding which prospects are actively interested in their products or services. This is particularly beneficial for companies working with outsourced SDRs or sales teams, as it enables them to provide these teams with highly qualified leads, thereby maximizing their effectiveness and return on investment.

Here are a few sales activities that sales reps and SDRs can optimize with buyer intent data:

Target high-quality leads

Leads exhibiting buying signals such as downloading white papers, attending webinars, or visiting product pages display a higher purchase intent, so sales teams should identify and prioritize targeting these prospects. This way, the entire sales process can become more productive, as most of the effort will be allocated toward leads most likely to convert.

Personalize outreach

Insights from intent data allow sales reps to move beyond generic greetings and deliver personalized communication, creating targeted messages that resonate with the prospect’s specific needs and stage in the buying journey.

For instance, if a prospect has been researching solutions for remote team management, a sales rep can tailor their message to highlight how their product specifically addresses remote work challenges.

Prioritize leads effectively

Buyer intent data can also help in lead-scoring activities. Relying on this data will enable sales reps to recognize the hottest leads with the highest chance of conversion and focus on them first.

For these high-priority leads, utilizing tools like digital sales rooms to provide a centralized repository of relevant content and mutual action plans to outline next steps can further accelerate the buying cycle and improve win rates.

This ensures that your time and efforts are spent on prospects most likely to result in successful deals.

Align sales and marketing

Sharing buyer intent data with marketing teams ensures messaging consistency across different touchpoints. When marketing and sales work together, it can contribute to a smoother buying experience for the prospect, as they receive coherent and relevant information throughout the buyer’s journey. Such a unified approach eventually can lead to better customer satisfaction and increased revenue.

How can account managers use buyer intent signals?

Account managers can benefit from buyer intent data in similar ways, but with a focus on existing customer accounts.

Identify renewal opportunities and prevent churn

Imagine you have a customer who’s been using your software for almost a year. Suddenly, you notice they’re researching alternatives. This could be a red flag indicating potential dissatisfaction.

Buyer intent data can help account managers spot these behaviors early and ensure proactive outreach, which can make all the difference for your customers. 

For instance, reaching out to address their concerns, offer additional assistance, and highlight upcoming features or improvements can reinforce the value of your product and secure renewals, boosting customer satisfaction along the way.

Discover upsell and cross-sell opportunities

Buyer intent data isn’t just about retaining customers; it’s also about growing your relationship with them. If a customer is showing interest in complementary products or additional features that you offer, it’s a golden opportunity for upselling or cross-selling.

For example, if a client frequently visits your product page for advanced analytics features, it’s a clear signal they might be interested in upgrading their current plan.

By providing personalized recommendations and demonstrating how these additional features can benefit them, account managers can increase revenue from existing accounts while enhancing customer satisfaction.

How can marketing teams use buyer intent data in their strategies?

Marketing teams can leverage buyer intent data to give their marketing efforts a boost in several impactful ways:

Create personalized content

Imagine you’re in the early stages of planning a big purchase. What kind of content would you find most helpful? Probably something that answers your initial questions and guides your research.

Marketing teams can use buyer intent data to identify these content gaps and create personalized content that aligns with different buying stages. For example, they might develop informative blog posts for prospects in the early research phase and detailed case studies for those closer to making a purchase decision.

Optimize website conversions

Understanding which pages and content drive the most engagement is crucial for optimizing your website.

By analyzing buyer intent data, marketing teams can focus on refining high-performing pages and personalizing landing pages based on visitor behavior. For instance, if visitors frequently engage with a specific product page, optimizing it with personalized calls-to-action can significantly boost conversions.

Use targeted advertising

Traditional demographic targeting only goes so far. Buyer intent data allows marketing teams to go beyond basic demographics and target prospects who are actively researching your industry or similar solutions.

This means your ads reach people who are already showing interest in what you offer, making your advertising efforts much more effective. For example, if intent data shows a spike in interest for a particular feature of your product, targeted ads highlighting that feature can attract high-quality leads.

Nurture leads effectively

Segmentation is key to effective lead nurturing. Buyer intent data allows marketing teams to segment leads based on their specific interests and intent, and then provide targeted content that addresses their needs.

For instance, if a lead has shown interest in detailed product comparisons, sending them an in-depth comparison guide can move them further down the sales funnel.

How to collect internal and external buyer intent data

Collecting buyer intent data is essential for understanding and targeting potential customers effectively, but how you’ll do it depends on the data source. Below, we’ll provide a breakdown of numerous ways to gather buyer data from different sources:

First-party intent data (internal)

First-party intent data comes directly from your business interactions, providing highly reliable insights due to the context you have around the data.

Here are some key sources:

• Sales team interactions: Track conversations with potential buyers to understand their needs and their stage in the buying journey. This direct feedback is invaluable for identifying high-intent prospects. For example, if a sales rep notes that a prospect is repeatedly asking about specific product features, it indicates a strong interest.
• Social media engagements: Monitor social media interactions like likes, comments, and shares to gauge interest in your brand and products. Social media activities can reveal early-stage interest and engagement.
• Direct email interactions: Analyze email opens, clicks, and replies to identify leads actively considering your offerings. Email engagement metrics can indicate a prospect’s level of interest. For instance, a prospect who consistently clicks on product-related links in your emails is likely considering a purchase.
• Marketing automation data: Leverage data from signup forms, website visits, and email campaigns to understand prospect behavior. Tools like marketing automation platforms provide detailed insights into how prospects interact with your content, helping you tailor your follow-up strategies.
• Website analytics (such as GA4 data): Track website visitors' activity such as page views, time spent, and content downloads to see what interests your audience. Website analytics tools can highlight the content and pages that resonate most with potential buyers. For instance, a spike in downloads of a particular whitepaper could indicate a growing interest in the topic.

Second-party intent data

Second-party intent data is another company’s first-party data, often obtained through partnerships. This data can be highly valuable as it extends your insights beyond your direct interactions:

• Review sites (G2, Capterra): Analyze customer reviews and surveys on these platforms to gather insights into buying behavior and competitor comparisons. Reviews can provide direct feedback on what customers are looking for. For example, frequent mentions of a competitor’s feature might indicate a demand you can address.
• Customer feedback forms: Partner with businesses serving your target audience to access their customer feedback data. This collaborative approach can broaden your understanding of potential customers. Sharing insights with complementary businesses can uncover new opportunities for targeting and engagement.
• Product vendor engagement: Collaborate with complementary product vendors to share data on user interactions with webinars, demos, and other engagements. These insights can reveal shared interests and potential cross-selling opportunities. For instance, attendees of a joint webinar might be interested in integrated solutions.

Third-party intent data (external)

Third-party intent data is collected by external providers, offering a broader view of market activity. 

Here’s how you can use third-party data:

Aggregate research and buying activity: Third-party vendors gather data from various sources like website visits, online content consumption, and social media activity. This aggregated data provides a comprehensive view of market trends and buyer behavior, helping you identify potential leads you might not have discovered otherwise.

Digital footprints: Every online interaction leaves a trace, which third-party data providers can analyze to understand user intent. This data can reveal patterns and insights that are not visible through first-party data alone. For example, a surge in searches for a specific solution can signal emerging market demand.

The power of third-party data lies in its volume and scope, offering insights into a broader market landscape beyond your direct interactions. To maximize the effectiveness of third-party data, you’ll need the right tools:

• Data Management Platforms (DMPs): These platforms help you organize, analyze, and activate third-party data for marketing campaigns. DMPs can integrate various data sources to provide a unified view of your audience, enabling more precise targeting.
• Intent Data Platforms (IDPs): These specialized platforms focus on collecting, analyzing, and activating buyer intent data specifically. IDPs offer advanced analytics and actionable insights to drive your sales and marketing strategies. By leveraging IDPs, you can prioritize high-intent leads and tailor your outreach for better results.

8 Intent Data Providers and Tools to Consider

Now that you have a proper overview and essential information regarding the basics, it’s time to get to know some of the best intent data providers and tools that can help you put all this theory into practice:

1. UserGems

UserGems is a comprehensive sales intelligence solution that tracks the career moves of important contacts (champions) and notifies sales teams to prevent churn and find new opportunities.

UserGems also identifies new executives in target accounts, helping prioritize accounts for Account-Based Marketing (ABM).

What can UserGems do for you? Here are its most prominent features:

• Champion tracking: Monitor job changes of key contacts to leverage existing relationships for new opportunities.
• New hires & promotions: Identify new decision-makers in target accounts for early engagement.
• Meeting Assistant: Automatically add new contacts from meetings to your CRM, saving time and ensuring accurate data.
• Data quality: UserGems maintains high data quality with a bounce rate below 5%.
• CRM integration: Integrates seamlessly with popular CRM platforms for easy adoption.
• Automated playbooks: Pre-built outreach campaigns for new hires and promotions save time and effort.
• Prioritization & ROI tracking: UserGems prioritizes leads based on valuable insights and tracks the impact on your pipeline and revenue.

And why do users love UserGems? Key benefits include:

• Pipeline Generation: Target ideal customer profiles (ICPs) for higher conversion rates.
• Deal Acceleration: Track changes in potential deals to stay engaged with prospects.
• Churn Prevention: Reduce customer churn by identifying potential risks and proactively reaching out.
• High-Quality Leads: Provides accurate and relevant leads, especially for reconnecting with past users in decision-making roles.
• Accurate CRM Data: Automatically update your CRM with fresh contact information every month.
• Easy to Use: User-friendly platform with seamless CRM integration and exceptional customer support.
• Increased ROI: Ask renowned companies like Lattice and Workramp how they achieved significant sales growth since they started relying on UserGems data!

2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator leverages LinkedIn’s vast professional network to provide insights into buyer intent. It offers features like advanced search filters, lead recommendations, ROI reporting, and real-time updates on potential prospects.

The tool provides insights into a company's connections to your network, allowing for potentially warmer introductions. You can get real-time alerts about your prospects’ job changes and reach out to prospects when they’re most receptive.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator also integrates with other applications to streamline data entry and research, saving salespeople valuable time. For example, popular CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot.

3. HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that excels in tracking website activity, form submissions, and email engagement. As part of the robust HubSpot ecosystem, it offers everything you need to close more deals, manage your pipeline with laser focus, and cultivate lasting customer relationships.

With HubSpot Sales Hub, you’ll know exactly when and how often your prospects engage with your messages, allowing you to follow up at the perfect time. Also, the tool helps you eliminate scheduling headaches with automated appointment setting, so that you can let prospects choose a time that works for them, streamlining the process and saving valuable time.

With HubSpot, you can get started quickly thanks to its intuitive interface and simple setup process. No need for complex configurations, HubSpot Sales Hub is designed for ease of use. And as your business grows, so too can your CRM. Extensive customization options ensure HubSpot Sales Hub adapts to your specific needs.

4. Dealfront

Dealfront (formerly Leadfeeder) is a B2B lead generation game-changer specifically designed for the European market. It helps businesses identify valuable companies visiting their websites, even if they haven't filled out a form.

This tool lets you leverage over 100 firmographic, technographic, and persona filters to pinpoint companies perfectly matching your ideal customer profile (ICP). Then, you can optimize your B2B advertising campaigns to reach all decision-makers within a company, not just a single contact.

For instance, if a visitor from a specific company spends a lot of time on your product pages, Dealfront can flag this lead as high-priority, allowing your sales team to engage them with targeted communication.

5. Bombora

Bombora offers B2B intent data based on website visits, online content consumption, and business activities. By analyzing digital signals from over 5,000 premium B2B websites, Bombora enables sales and marketing teams to focus on prospects with active buying intent, enhancing targeting and engagement.

The company’s very own Company Surge® methodology filters noise to deliver high-quality data, seamlessly integrating with existing tech stacks to improve sales and marketing processes. These data-driven insights enhance marketing and sales strategies by revealing the topics and solutions that prospects are interested in.

For example, if a company shows increased engagement with content related to network security, Bombora can alert your team to target this company with relevant offers.

6. ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a B2B contact database and prospecting tool that helps identify and target decision-makers showing buying signals, such as recent website visits or content downloads. It provides detailed company and contact information, enabling sales teams to engage with the right people at the right time.

For instance, if a decision-maker at a target company downloads a whitepaper on your website, ZoomInfo can alert your sales team, allowing them to follow up with personalized outreach.

ZoomInfo goes beyond data. It streamlines workflows with automation tools that free up your sales and marketing teams to focus on high-impact activities. Thanks to ZoomInfo, you can generate high-quality leads and close more deals with less effort.

7. Demandbase

Demandbase is an account-based marketing (ABM) platform that leverages intent data to easily identify high-value leads — accounts actively researching solutions in your space.

It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for targeting, engagement, and measurement, allowing marketing and sales teams to coordinate their efforts and drive higher conversion rates with intent-driven campaigns.

Demandbase mostly caters to larger companies, with its robust set of features and AI-powered analytics, making it a scalable solution, with excellent customization options.

8. 6sense

6sense uses AI to identify B2B buying committees and predict buying behavior based on online activity and digital interactions.

By analyzing vast amounts of data, 6sense provides insights into which accounts are in-market and ready to engage, enabling highly targeted and effective sales and marketing strategies.

Some notable 6sense features include access to B2B account and contact data with insights for when to engage prospects, account intelligence with CRM & SEP insights for prioritization and personalization, and prioritization dashboards that help sales reps identify which accounts to engage and when.

Stay on top of buyer intent data with UserGems

Imagine this: seamlessly identifying high-value leads, crafting personalized outreach that resonates, and nurturing them efficiently through the buying journey. Buyer intent empowers you to do just that — it’s your roadmap to sales success.

Stop spending hours on manual tasks and chasing outdated leads. UserGems is your key to unlocking a world of sales automation and data-driven insights.

You can count on:

• Effortlessly identifying high-value prospects and reconnecting with past champions in new roles
• Building a thriving sales pipeline fueled by accurate data and personalized outreach campaigns
• Closing deals faster with real-time insights into customer behavior and engagement

UserGems' proven track record speaks for itself. We've helped companies like Axios HQ, Dozuki, and WorkRamp achieve impactful results in a very short time.

But don't just take our word for it. See for yourself how UserGems can transform your sales process.

Request a demo today and discover a future of smarter sales and explosive growth.

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