In the digital age, B2B sales and marketing strategies have evolved radically, understanding what customers want, how they want it and when they need it from a digital perspective has become essential. Paying attention to customer behavioural signals is an excellent strategy to position your B2B business above your competitors, let's see how B2B Marketing Intent data can help us do this.
What is intent data?
Intent data is a set of online actions that indicate interest on the part of a company or individual. These actions include actions such as: searching for certain keywords, visiting specific pages or viewing content related to certain products.
This data reveals who is searching, what they are searching for and with what level of interest. Businesses can use these signals to align their strategies and generate better sales results.
Intention data on Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Account-Based Marketing is one of the most effective strategies for B2B marketing, and intent data is critical to its success. According to recent studies, companies that use intent data for their ABM strategies experience a 70% increase in key lead conversion rate and a 50% improvement in sales cycle efficiency. Knowing which specific accounts are actively researching related products or services allows companies to personalise their marketing efforts precisely, targeting the real needs of potential customers.
Example of ABM with intent data:
Consider a strategic consulting firm looking to attract large corporations interested in optimising their operational processes. Using intent data, they identify that a multinational pharmaceutical company has been exploring "supply chain efficiency improvements". Armed with this information, the marketing team designs a customised campaign that includes a pharmaceutical success story and organises a private webinar for executives to discuss specific supply chain optimisation solutions.
This approach demonstrates a deep understanding of the target company's needs and positions the consultancy as the ideal partner to address its strategic challenges, significantly increasing the chances of conversion.
Inbound Marketing Intent Data
In B2B marketing, Inbound Marketing plays a crucial role in attracting customers to your brand through relevant content and unique experiences. Intent data allows you to fine-tune these strategies by providing insights into how users interact with your content.
Example of Inbound Marketing with intent data:
Suppose a company detects that a number of technology SMEs are looking for information on "cloud security strategies". In response, they create a series of blogs and an e-book entitled "10 best practices for securing data in the cloud". In addition, they organise a free webinar with an IT security expert.
This content not only attracts an interested audience, but also positions the company as a thought leader in its industry. By analysing what content is being consumed and by whom, they can offer personalised recommendations that increase the likelihood of conversion.
Types of intent data
First-party intention data: Collected directly from your digital assets, such as:
- The pages visited on your website
- Products explored
- Content downloaded or consulted.
Third-party intent data: Obtained from external sources, such as:
- Reviews of similar products on other platforms.
- Interactions in specialised forums.
- Keywords researched in search engines.
Both types of data are essential: first-party data gives you direct information about your prospects, while third-party data helps you identify potential leads that have not yet interacted with you.
How do you turn intent data into useful information for your business?
Collecting data is only the first step; the real challenge lies in turning that information into actions that generate results. Companies must develop clear strategies based on business objectives, aligning data with internal processes and encouraging collaboration between sales and marketing. Let's look at three effective ways to use intent data:
Focus your commercial actions on real business opportunities: Integrating intent data with your CRM allows you to identify new active prospects and continuously update them. In addition to identifying the most promising leads, you can prioritise those most likely to convert by analysing their interaction patterns. This ensures that your contact list is not only accurate and relevant, but also strategic.
Define winning marketing strategies: Leveraging intent data allows you to identify the specific preferences of your leads and design personalised strategies to maximise their conversion. For example, if a prospect interacts multiple times with a report on market trends, you can send them a personalised invitation to an exclusive roundtable discussion with industry experts or an interactive workshop related to those trends. This level of personalisation not only captures their interest, but also positions your company as a valuable partner in strategic decision-making.
Detect upselling and cross-selling opportunities: Analysing existing customer interactions can reveal interest in new products or services. If a current customer shows interest in content about advanced functionality, you can organise a one-on-one consulting session to show how that functionality can be integrated into their current operations and optimise their results.
