To effectively engage customers and prospects, revenue teams need to look beyond traditional, superficial metrics. Considering only 3% of site visitors fill out a form, it’s time for marketers and sellers to dig deeper and have access to actionable account data.
Buyer intent data helps to reveal hidden demand and identify accounts that are ready to buy. In this article we’ll define buying intent, highlight its many uses, and share best practices.
What is Buying Intent?
Buying intent is a measure of a customer’s readiness to purchase a product or service. Also known as purchase intent, it’s determined through various factors like online reviews, website visits, and past purchases to identify opportunities. With this intent data, sales and marketing teams can better understand when certain accounts are ready to buy and adjust their approaches accordingly.
Buying Intent vs. Buying Signals
You may see “buying intent” and “buying signals” used interchangeably, but there are key distinctions between the two:
- Buying intent is the intention of a business to make a purchase, while B2B buying signals are external indicators that provide insight into the likelihood of a purchase being made.
- Buying intent is based on internal factors such as budget, timeline and product needs, whereas B2B buying signals are based on external market factors such as competitor activity, industry trends and market sentiment.
- Buying intent is typically more long-term and strategic, while buying signals are more short-term and reactive.
- Buying intent focuses on predicting future behavior, while buying signals provide insight into the current state of a customer’s purchase journey.
- Buying intent can be measured quantitatively by analyzing customer search behavior, website visits, and other online activities. Buying signals are typically qualitative and may include actions such as product comparison, adding items to a shopping cart, or contacting customer service.
| Buying Intent | Buying Signals |
| Based on internal factors | Based on external market factors |
| Long-term and strategic | Short-term and reactive |
| Focused on predicting future behavior | Focused on current state of the journey |
| Measured quantitatively | Measured qualitatively |
What are the Different Types of Buying Intent?
There are three types of buying intent — explicit, implicit, and inferred — each providing unique insights.
Explicit buying intent is the most straightforward form of intention, as it occurs when a customer expresses an interest in purchasing through direct communication. Explicit intent signals that customers are actively looking for a specific product or service and are ready to purchase immediately. The 3% of people who fill out web forms fall into this category.
Implicit buying intent occurs when accounts demonstrate behavior that suggests an intention to purchase without explicitly expressing it. These signals include activities like researching a product online or visiting your website repeatedly. Implicit intent can provide valuable insights into customer preferences that revenue teams can use to target messaging more effectively. Anonymous traffic to your website falls into this category.
Inferred buying intent takes into account both explicit and implicit buying behaviors and uses AI-powered analytics tools to track buyer activity across multiple channels like social media and other third-party sites. By gathering data from multiple sources, you can gain an understanding of customer sentiment toward your products or services and gauge potential interest. This makes it easier to prioritize and engage likely buyers.
Buying Intent for Sales & Marketing
Purchase intent data provides B2B sales teams with valuable insights into the needs, interests and motivations of prospective customers, enabling them to tailor their strategies to deliver the most effective outreach.
Marketers can use buyer intent data to better understand their target audience and develop campaigns personalized to an account’s interests and needs. Further, purchase intent data can help identify opportunities in the market, optimize marketing channels and content, and measure the success of campaigns.
How is Buying Intent Data Collected?
With the right tools in place, the process for collecting and leveraging buying intent data is simple:
- Collect and analyze B2B buyer activity. Track interactions such as website visits, social media engagement, email opens and clicks, and any other relevant metrics.
- Match data to accounts. AI tools use a mix of IP addresses, mobile advertising IDs, and other signals to match individual user traffic to specific accounts.
- Use marketing automation technology to store and organize data. Automate collection and management of data from various sources, including web forms and customer surveys.
- Analyze data to identify patterns. Run reports to identify trends in customer behavior, such as what types of content are most effective or which customers are likely to purchase a particular product.
- Create data-driven, personalized customer experiences. Leverage insights to personalize experiences for customers, including targeted campaigns or tailored content.
- Monitor buyer feedback and engagement. Continue to track activity and campaign performance to gain further insights.
Indicators of Buying Intent for Outbound Prospects
When assessing your outbound strategy, note the following indicators:
- Increase in website visits
- Increase in email open frequency
- Increase in webinar or virtual event attendance
- Case study and white paper downloads
- Product demo or trial request
- Pricing request
Indicators of Buying Intent for Inbound Prospects
When assessing inbound leads, note the following indicators:
- Increase in website visits
- Social media interactions such as commenting and liking
- Form submissions on relevant webpages
- Multiple visits to your pricing page
Best Buying Intent Tool in 2023
As businesses continue to compete for market share, understanding purchase intent is a must. Using the right tool for gathering this data ensures you’ve got access to accurate and up-to-date insights for informed decision-making.
6sense is revolutionizing the efficiency of B2B revenue generation by providing these insights to sales organizations and providing the sales intelligence tools needed to streamline efforts and maximize ROI.
