2 Approaches to Leverage B2B Intent Data for Better Outcomes

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Hi All! This week’s topic is Demand Gen and Marketing Automation. Everyone is talking about using intent data in their go-to-market motions. But the devil is in the details. Here are 3 Approaches when using Intent Data to improve your business outcomes.

What are your thoughts on using intent data in your Demand gen programs? Share your ideas on The Buzz Community.

And, of course, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for being part of the Buzz community. This endeavor is not possible with you -- our readers. For questions, comments, and feedback, please don't hesitate to let me know.

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2 Approaches to Leverage B2B Intent Data for Better Outcomes

Much has been said about using intent data in your go-to-market motions across marketing, sales, and customer service. But the reality is all intent data is not created equal and certain kinds of intent data can even reduce the impact on revenue, pipeline, and customer satisfaction.

Additionally, much 3rd party intent data is a lagging indicator of intent. The systems that collect the content consumption to understand intent take days if not weeks to process intent. There are a few 3rd party tools that validate intent via calling which makes these insights closer to reality. The voracity of intent insights is key to its usefulness.

This leads us to our approaches on how you use intent data in context to maximize your go-to-market.

Approach #1 - Start with Intent Under Your Hood

Content consumption within your website, landing pages, social platforms, etc. can be aggregated and put into indices via timescale to understand intent velocity by ICP. This is important since this is your closest audience that will drive pipeline and SQLs. Simply put, folks reading your blogs, product pages, etc. are a group of “hand-raisers” interested in your brand and its offerings. “Under the hood” intent can help identify the group of hand-raisers that are really the most interested using volumetric and engagement analysis.

Many tools could be used to set this up and operationalize this. I recommend using your marketing automation and web analytics toolsets to begin. Analyze page consumption of key content pages by ICP / audience. You’ll need a tool that analyzes page views by individual and aggregates those “activities” into lists (for retargeting) and can support a scoring model that can influence the lead score to push this subset of hand-raisers to the front for sales or sales development.

Approach #2 - Use 3rd Party Data to Understand the Market

3rd Party intent data, while backward looking, can provide a good “pulse” of the market. Again, some data providers have better intent insight than others. So be aware of the differences vendor by vendor and select the one that best fits your business. Understanding the method of validation for intent data providers is extremely important. Not only how the insight is sourced, but also how it is validated can greatly influence the voracity and timeliness of the insight. Be a smart shopper.

Additionally, use 3rd party data to contextualize your own. Are there large discrepancies between what you are seeing from first-party sources versus 3rd party ones? Determine the reasons for those discrepancies. Also, think about the 3rd party data as the baseline and your internal intent data as an additive layer on top of that. Develop scoring methods to understand the movement and velocity of specific leads that are not only showing high intent but also demonstrating interest underneath your own hood.

What are your thoughts on using intent data in your Demand gen programs? Share your feedback on The Buzz Community.

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