Data is the new gold and almost every business now knows its importance. But data sources and types are so diverse that it becomes difficult to use that to create a competitive advantage.
What if there was a tool that predicts a prospect’s purchase journey through subtle signals and helps your company to position to be first in line to make the pitch? Intent data does exactly that. It creates such a strong pipeline of leads that almost everyone (99%) who has utilized intent data marketing agrees that intent data has helped their business by growth in ROI and sales.
Nearly 40% of companies across the globe are already spending more than half of their marketing budget on intent data. But some recent studies have reported that a mere 28% of marketers have an intent data strategy in place.
In order to survive and strive in the growing competition, you cannot afford to lose on the opportunities that intent data can bring to your business.
Here is everything you need to know about intent data, its usefulness, sources, and how you can boost b2b sales by leveraging it to fetch customer insights.
WHAT IS INTENT DATA?
The general definition of intent data is behavioral information collected through web
content consumption of the users that provides insights that help in predicting
potential intent to take a specific action like purchasing a product or service.
Studies have shown that an average B2B prospect is already 67% in their purchasing journey before contacting a salesperson.
This journey typically starts with searching for solutions for problems they are facing and then moves toward comparing available options and finding out more information before making the decision.
The buyer intent data captures this journey and lets you know who might be inching closer to a buying decision and the most effective ways to convert these leads into customers.
WHY SHOULD BUSINESSES CONSIDER USING B2B BUYER
INTENT DATA?
At any given moment, only a small percentage of potential customers are actively on a purchase journey especially for high investment products like such as B2B services. Without buyer intent insight, your company might end up wasting a lot of time, effort, and budget targeting people who are highly likely to not purchase in near future.
HOW IS INTENT DATA COLLECTED?
Certainly, you cannot track user behaviors yourself without their agreement as it accounts for a violation of the new GDPR and CCPA legislation. But there are a couple of sources from where you can collect intent data:
Bidstream
Bidstream data is user behavior documented by an ad pixel and circulated via ad exchanges. The purpose data supplier posting ads on public sites can accumulate the keywords and visitor data on that site without the website owner’s or visitor’s knowledge.
DaaS (Data-as-a-Service) companies
DaaS companies compile information from social media platforms, websites, media publishers, and search engines to produce readable, easy-to-understand reports.
TYPES OF INTENT DATA
The intent data is generally further sub-categorized into two types:
First-party data
You probably are already tracking data from your own websites and trying to analyze behavioral patterns like which sections are more attractive, how long users stay on the website before purchasing something etc. Even if you identify businesses and individuals visiting your site by using IP identification or previously submitted form, this data separately still falls insufficient.
Third-party data
The intent data collected by sources other than your own website are called third-party intent data and since average buyers go through many searches, website visits before making a decision, their digital footprints can point toward the possible purchase.
HOW TO USE INTENT DATA TO BOOST YOUR BUSINESS?
Now that you have a basic understanding of intent data, let’s get straight to the business… Here are a few ways in which you can use intent data to boost your b2b sales.
Differentiating users with purchase intent:
Not everyone visiting your website is there to buy your product, this basic understanding can save a lot of money and efforts companies often waste chasing cold prospects.
Targeted advertising:
Now that you are aware of your real possible clients, you can use this information to target your advertisements towards those companies and businesses.
Personalized campaigns:
Intent data can be useful to customize your emails and advertisement according to their requirement and behavior. Isn’t that more effective than cold mailing to cold prospects?
Expanding your scope:
Once you get a holistic picture and patterns of customers’ purchase journeys, you can mold and expand your marketing efforts considering those patterns. This will make sure that you are focusing on areas with the highest possible conversion rate.
Awesomengers 