The sales and marketing of your business-to-business (B2B) depend on data. Each successful salesperson and marketer understand the importance of intent data and how it can help power their sales pipeline. Understanding customers’ needs with the help of data intelligence will not only lead to the growth of your business but will also enhance the relationship between you and your customers and produce a solid and consistent sales pipeline.
However, not all salespersons and marketers know how to make use of intent data for the success of a business. Read on to learn more about what intent data is and how it can power your sales pipeline.
What Is Intent Data?
Intent data is a behavioral dataset showing the kind of business an organization or individual is interested in. It indicates whether someone is interested in investing in your products or services similar to yours.
It’s believed that before negotiating with a salesperson, an average B2B potential customer is already halfway through the purchasing process. When combined, prospect signals and intent data provide a clear view of potential customers’ interests for the company’s benefit. This means that the salesperson already knows that prospects are interested in investing in the products or services, and all they need is to focus on the remaining part to close the deal.
People may be the heart of your business, but you’ll need information as well to thrive amidst competition. This is why it’s worth hiring B2B data providers. B2B data providers are companies that collect and provide essential information to end-users who are usually sales representatives.
There are two types of intent data, and one of them is first-party intent data. This data refers to what’s happening on your website. You can track it by using marketing automation platforms, analytics tools, or the backend of your website. On the downside, though, relying on first-party data only supplies you with customer data during one part of the buying journey, so you’re likely to miss ideal prospects that never visit your website.
The other type of intent data is third-party intent data. It looks at buyer research everywhere else, giving you a vivid picture of your prospect’s activities. Essentially, most customers conduct research before making a buying decision. Rarely will you come across customers who only visit one website. With third-party data, you’ll be able to view the entire buying journey—from research to purchase.
Why Is Intent Data Ideal For B2B Sales And Marketing?
Knowing customers’ intentions and interests is an effective way for marketers and salespersons to grow a business. Knowledge of what customers want and when they want to make purchases helps sales teams target specific buyers and influence their decisions.
Businesses can find customers ready to buy and intensify their campaigns with several intent signals. In addition, they can continue to use intent data since it offers insights into their interests and behavior.
Even if your competitor isn’t using intent data, they’re highly likely to use it eventually. According to some reports, 25% of B2B businesses are using intent data, and 35% have already reached out to B2B data providers and are expected to start using intent data.
Why Is Intent Data More Valuable Than Other Data?
After a prospect visits your website, monitoring their activity and assigning them lead scores gets easier with intent data. A salesperson can use retargeting ads or emails to promote the leads once someone has filled out and submitted a form on the website.
However, you won’t be able to see prospects looking for similar solutions to yours on other websites. Additionally, once a prospect leaves your website, you lose their visibility and won’t be able to know what they’re engaging with. So, without a marketing and sales outreach, only a fraction of prospects searching for solutions will head to your site, and only about 15% will be interested in investing in your services or products.
How Can Intent Data Power Your Sales Pipeline?
Getting intent data is the first step in transforming your sales pipeline. However, challenges come in when determining how to use it. Fortunately, with better strategies, intent data can positively affect essential areas that will lead your business  to success. Here are ways intent data can power your sales pipeline:
- Identifying Potential Clients In Buying Mode
The first and most significant benefit of using intent data is the ability to identify prospects in the buying mode. Besides eliminating the concentration on uninterested prospects, using intent data allows you to concentrate on potential buyers and those already buying.
- Retaining Customers
Maintaining your customer base is as vital as expanding it. You wouldn’t want to attract customers only to lose them in a short period. Thankfully, intent data isn’t only designed to help you find new customers but to retain those you already have.
Once a customer has purchased your products or availed of your services, you can track their activities on product review sites and know when they’re considering engaging with a competitor. Intent data helps you set up triggers to track your customers’ actions and know if they’re staying or leaving. If you’ve discovered that your customer is considering switching to another provider, you can schedule a call or reach out to them through email, address their concerns, and improve your products or services.
- Leading Score
To see potential customers ranking high in the consideration phase, you must identify the characteristics indicating their likelihood to buy and assign value to their actions. With intent data, you’ll get to know when a prospect is actively researching and making a purchase. You can also determine prospects who are browsing but have no intention to purchase. When you’re equipped with tools that help you prioritize leads with the highest scores, you can save time that could have been wasted on prospects at the bottom of your pipeline.
- Refining Targeted Advertising
After your buyer intent has welcomed active prospects willing to purchase your services or products, you can use the information to develop straightforward emails, search engines, and social media ads. As a result, your ad campaigns will be guaranteed a higher return on investments (ROI), and your ads won’t be used on prospects who aren’t keen on buying.
- Enhancing Content
Once you have robust intent data, you can start building a content strategy that responds to what your prospects are looking for. Whether trending topics or popular keywords, you can refine your content to address your prospects’ concerns and queries. With this approach, you can draw more prospects who need your services or products.
Conclusion
The power of intent data lies in implementing sales and marketing strategies. With intent data, you can develop a deep understanding of your target audience’s interests and pain points, run sales and marketing programs that are tailored to their needs, and establish meaningful relationships with them.
