ABM Accounts
Article | May 26, 2022
There is a New Marketing Landscape and it is critical for companies to rethink their marketing and sales strategy. This is a world of financial uncertainty for your prospects and customers, resulting in decreased budgets, longer sales cycles, and higher churn. It’s also a world of competing priorities. Key influencers and decision makers are drowning in priority issues, making it challenging to earn their attention. Given these new realities, Account Based Marketing/Sales/Customer Success (ABX) is top of mind for marketing and sales leaders given its proven efficiency and effectiveness in engaging and converting priority accounts.
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ABM Accounts
Article | March 9, 2022
Many businesses employ Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for its flexibility and simplicity to fulfill their marketing requirements. Different types of SaaS marketing platforms help companies simplify their marketing needs. But growing a SaaS company isn’t easy. It is quite challenging because the industry is flooded with competition. Research had predicted very early on that 73% of the companies would turn all their apps into SaaS by 2021, making SaaS competition fiercer than ever. Marketeers eye for consumers’ already limited attention spans in B2B and B2C spaces.
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ABM Accounts
Article | July 23, 2021
Harnessing the power of intent data to create effective account-based marketing strategies can help sales and marketing teams effectively achieve their goals. According to HubSpot, Google processes approximately 63,000 search queries every second. Of these queries, a significant few may be associated with your business. These web searches count as behavior, and they make up intent data. Intent data is of two types: internal (gathered from websites, automation systems, and other software like CRM) and external buyer intent data (review sites, competitor’s websites, forums).
Intent data is captured by buyer intent data tools. It provides insights into a customer’s behavior, interests, pain points, needs, and expectations. These insights can be leveraged to pinpoint users closest to making a purchase decision. You can then work to convert them into customers swiftly.
The Power of Intent Data
Intent data is the number one priority for account-based marketing strategies. Companies harness the power of intent data by integrating it into the workflows of their sales and marketing teams. With the help of intent data, they can tailor their interactions to the needs of their users and create valuable connections with them.
Primarily, intent data helps prioritize a list of target accounts that should be pursued for conversion. Furthermore, some companies also create specialized groups and targeted lists to hyper-personalize their content offerings to influence purchase decisions. Once the sales and marketing teams are aware of the position of a user in the sales cycle, they can focus on pushing them forward in the buying process with the help of personalized content.
Charles Crnoevich, Vice President of Partnerships & Business Development at Bombora defines intent data as:
“Intent data helps B2B teams better their prospect and customer experience at all stages of the buyer journey. From top-funnel ad messaging that meets prospective buyers in their initial research phase, to bottom-funnel sales messaging that includes context around specific product needs, intent insights give every touchpoint the ability to be backed by data. It eliminates room for human guessing and the risk of being irrelevant to your audience.”
Let us look at how intent data is transforming businesses and the importance of an intent data strategy to scale your business.
Target Account Selection
Relying only on basic firmographic data is a thing of the past when it comes to selecting a target account. Here are five steps that you can follow to create a target account selection based on the intent data you gather:
Defining Your ICP
Revenue should not be the only factor you consider while defining your ICP. Look at the cost to convert, lifetime value, and churn rate. Observe what your best customers have in common. Is it their company size, their domain, the challenges they face, or their growth rate? Once you know these details, consider finding a solution for their problems. You may have more than one ICP if you have multiple products, features, and services on offer.
Understanding the Intent
Based on the key signals like downloads, sign-ups, booked demos, or reading certain pages on your websites that buyer intent data tools record, you can understand the intent of the user. Once the intent is clear, you can gather your data with the help of buyer intent tools.
Gathering Relevant Data
Lead generation platforms like Leedfeeder, email marketing platforms like MailChimp, CRM platforms like HubSpot CRM, and marketing automation platforms like WebEngage are your sources of intent data. How you gather data depends on the platforms you are using. Most lead generation platforms will allow you to download the data in an Excel sheet or a CSV file. What is great about this kind of data is that you can always combine the spreadsheets from all these sources and clean up the inconsistencies.
Segmenting the Target List
Segmenting your target list is very important to understand which accounts are high intent. The other categories can be of medium or low intent. Filter out the low intent accounts first. These accounts aren’t quite ready to make any purchase decisions. Add them to your remarketing list or your account development team can nurture them. The medium and high-intent accounts can stay on your list so your sales and marketing can focus on them.
Targeting Key Accounts
Once your teams have the list of key accounts they need to target, they can create an effective strategy to approach these accounts and push them towards conversion. They can accelerate their conversion efforts with the help of email marketing, content marketing, advertising, and direct mail. Finding the right leads at the right time can help a great deal with targeting. With the help of B2B intent data, everything functions smoothly once you find the right key accounts.
Message Selection
The best part about B2B intent data is that it doesn’t miss any important information about the account, so your messaging strategy is based on facts and not speculation. Quality intent data will provide the prospect’s research history, going as far as including searched products and companies. The otherwise invisible, actionable prospect trends can thus come to light, and you can create messaging that can help you beat your competition.
According to a Gartner research study, more than 70 percent of B2B marketers will utilize third-party intent data to target their prospects or initiate engagement with buyer groups in selected accounts by the end of 2022.
Message optimization may not be at the top of the chart for the most impactful uses of intent data, but it does play an important role in helping content marketers be successful. Buyer intent data enables them to better align their sales pitches to accommodate the buyers’ interests and needs that they discover using the third-party site buyer signals.
Decreasing Churn Rate
By monitoring the intent data signals of clients who search your competitor’s website to find alternatives to the products or services you provide, you can know which clients need more attention and support. This information indicates that these clients do not find your product or services up to the mark or are not fulfilling their needs and expectations. You can set up triggers for such clients and ask for feedback from them to find out the shortcomings of your product or service. You can use the feedback as a guide for future product development and reduce your churn rate by retaining clients. Another interesting approach would be to provide your team access to reliable and clean intent data so they can make decisions to enhance the sales strategy.
Image Source: Orbitmedia
Sales Outreach
According to Gartner research, prospects spend about 50% of their time trying to find information from third-party sources. Usually, the sales team has to wait for a buyer to either fill out a form or perform a trigger action to be classified as a prospect. However, with buyer intent signals, prospect movement is revealed. The prospect’s intent indicators help the sales team decide when to outreach.
Enhancing Content Personalization
Use third and first-party data to create informed blog content, email marketing campaigns, and other content marketing initiatives to appeal to your prospects. By leveraging the intent data at hand, you can offer what the clients want in an appealing way. You can target their entire buyer persona by creating a more effective content strategy. Your content marketing team can know the topics they need to cover in their marketing efforts. It can also improve the existing content to make it more impactful.
Discovering New Leads
Whenever a customer searches for products or services that you offer or topics relevant to them, third-party intent data aggregators can track them and notify you about this customer. If this customer hasn’t already interacted with your business, then these are new leads your teams can pursue with appropriate messaging and tailored content.
Enabling ABM Strategy
In ABM marketing, knowing which accounts to target is the most crucial step. With the help of data insights on specific accounts, you can build a focused ABM strategy. You can analyse their research data and interpret their buying intent, and based on that, you can add them to your target list. Measure and test the content they interact with and what makes them move further along the sales funnel. You can find the content that isn’t creating any impact and replace it. Adapting an ABM strategy in real time becomes easy, so you are more customer-centric than ever before.
Improving Marketing Automation
Intent data tells you exactly where your prospects are in the sales funnel. Use this information to trigger certain actions to nurture these prospects. For example, once you find that a certain prospect has stopped consuming the awareness-stage content on your website and starts devoting time to consideration or conversion-stage content, you can trigger a change in the kind of marketing content you send out.
Targeting Keywords Effectively
Search engine marketers find long-tail keywords important because they are descriptive, relevant, and do a great job of implying the buyer’s intent. However, it is challenging for advertisers to target long-tail keywords because they do not have enough search volume. This affects ad visibility as compared to when high volume keywords are used. To get the same results with the long tail keywords, companies need to optimize many long tail keywords.
Automated bidding technologies can easily carry out this task. By using your third-party intent data, you can know the kind of long-tail keywords your audience is searching for. Use your website analytics to discover fresh information on keywords and then use it to target keywords or create relevant ads.
You can also automate ad personalization with the help of intent data aggregators that identify qualified leads based on information like domain and device advertisement. You can then place the right ads on your audience’s devices.
Now that we know how intent data helps with account-based marketing, intent based marketing, and other marketing endeavors, let us look at the key elements of an intent data strategy and how to make the most of it.
8 Key Elements of an Effective Intent Data Strategy
We have already established how important intent data is in B2B marketing in improving targeting, lead generation, lead nurturing, and overall customer experience. When it comes to creating an effective intent data strategy, you should follow these guidelines:
Align ABM Initiatives & Intent Data Strategy
In an ABM strategy, you can deploy intent data for account prioritization in the following ways:
Fuse intent data with your defined ICP
Identify your target accounts and check which of these are showing buyer intent. Your sales team can have relevant information to talk to these accounts and convince them to make a purchase.
Segment accounts showing intent but don’t align with your ICP
You can increase your sales pipeline by segmenting the new accounts by showing buyer intent but not aligning them with your ICP. This is especially useful for companies with a smaller database.
Define Your Goals and Strategies
Break silos and work towards the same goals. Get a buy-in from the higher-ups in the company and let the teams know what to achieve with the intent data. Share the intent data strategy with every team member, align the goals and metrics, and train those who need to know more about intent data.
Integrate the Data from Different Systems
Increase the efficiency of your intent data strategy by integrating systems like CRM to improve the visibility and performance of the funnel. A step-by-step approach goes a long way when it comes to an intent data strategy.
Start with a Small Pilot
Trial and tweaking your intent data strategy can be a good idea. Create an intent data framework for a small set of accounts and share it with a limited group of sales team members at your company. Streamline your processes through this pilot test. Once you know the intricacies of what works and what doesn’t, you can launch intent data strategies with other sales teams.
Collect Performance Metrics
Ensure you collect your conversion rate before rolling out a pilot program for testing. This way, you can compare the before and after. Monitor the performance metrics throughout the program. Your marketing and sales teams can go over the metrics together to see what tweaks are needed to the intent data strategy before multiple teams adopt one.
Gather Buyer Journey Intelligence
Identify trends through specific search terms, topics, asset types, features or product interests so you can create topic clusters for specific content that can be distributed throughout the funnel. You can do this by gathering first-party data from your marketing automation software, CRM, and other customer-data platforms. You can also interview customers to get any other useful information to understand a buyer’s journey better. You can also engage intent data providers to find out more about historical buyer journey analysis.
Monitor Important Topics
Select the right topics to monitor. The intent data will only work if you know which specific topic or clusters of topics will determine the status of a prospect. Choose the topics that are critical for success. Remember, the higher the use cases in a fuller, the lower the number of topics you should monitor. As you move down the funnel, be more specific about the topics you want to monitor.
Explore Potential Integrations
By integrating your intent data with the right platform, you can amplify the results of your intent data strategy. Since intent data supports the complete customer lifecycle and increases the value of your other martech software or sales-tech investments, it is important to explore integrations that may enhance your sales and marketing strategy. When used wisely, intent data can transform your business, one department at a time. It can also ensure customers’ satisfaction and help you scale your business faster than you ever imagined.
Ultima Generated ROI in Eight Weeks Through Cognism
Ultima, a UK-based infotech company led an example by generating ROI in just eight weeks using intent data provided by Cognism. "Our sales cycle is typically 6-8 months long. At Cognism, we saw ROI in 8 weeks from intent data and direct dials. One deal pays for a year’s Cognism subscription." - George Mckenna, Head of Cloud Sales at Ultima.
Conclusion
Creating an effective intent data strategy can be a game-changing factor for your business. With its implementation, not only will you be able to connect with your customers on a deeper level, but you will also be able to get higher win rates than your competitors that practice manual prospecting.
FAQ
How can you collect intent data?
You can collect intent data through signals like website clicks, social media ad clicks, length of time spent on a website, email newsletter subscription behavior, or frequent website visits.
What are the benefits of intent data in B2B marketing?
With the help of a good intent data strategy, you can find new potential leads, focus on companies already a part of your sales funnel, promote yourself to your customers early on in their decision-making process, prioritize your leads, and personalize your outreach. These benefits can drive your sales growth.
How does intent data help in ABM marketing?
ABM marketing is also intent-based marketing. Intent data for ABM is an asset as it helps with account prioritization (lowering the scale of the program to focus better on key accounts) and account activation through personalized and specific marketing messaging.
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Buyer Intent Data
Article | September 11, 2023
Gain insights into 2023 buyer intent data trends. Explore key marketing technologies and strategies essential for businesses to enhance their ability to engage potential customers effectively.
Buyer intent data is indispensable for businesses in an increasingly fast-paced and data-centric account-based marketing (ABM) space. It serves as a compass guiding marketing and sales efforts by providing profound insights into consumer behavior and purchase intent. With this information, businesses can precisely target their targeted audiences, personalize their messages, and optimize their resource allocation, all of which result in higher conversion rates and a greater return on investment.
With rapidly changing customer behavior and evolving marketing space, buyer intent data has become the cornerstone of contemporary marketing and sales strategies. In 2023, it is set to reach new milestones, fueled by growing technological advancements and a deeper understanding of consumer behavior.
As a result, it is essential for B2B businesses and marketing teams to be aware of the emerging buyer intent data trends to adopt cutting-edge technologies and strategies that enhance their ability to understand and engage potential customers effectively.
Futuristic Buyer Intent Data Trends for 2023 and Beyond
In an era where competition is fierce and customer expectations are continually growing, harnessing the power of buyer intent data is not just advantageous; it's fundamental for achieving sustainable growth and increasing market share in the space. Furthermore, it bolsters customer engagement and loyalty by demonstrating a commitment to understanding and meeting their needs.
Businesses that embrace B2B buyer intent data gain a decisive advantage, positioning themselves as agile and customer-focused enterprises ready to thrive in the marketing domain. Consequently, staying informed about buyer intent data trends is not only a strategic advantage, it's a necessity for sustained growth and relevance.
Here are some of the latest buyer intent data trends that businesses must be aware of in 2023
AI-Powered Predictive Analytics
One of the most exciting trends in buyer intent data is the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics. AI-powered buyer intent data tools analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and trends that might not be apparent to human analysts. This, coupled with predictive analysis, enables businesses to predict buyer intent more accurately.
With advanced AI algorithms, businesses are able to sift through vast datasets, recognize intricate patterns, and predict buying intent with unprecedented precision. This technological advancement enables companies to not only identify prospective customers but also create customized marketing strategies and engage them at the precise moment when they are most likely to make a purchase. In essence, AI-powered predictive analytics is elevating buyer intent data to an entirely new level, making it an invaluable asset for any forward-thinking business striving for marketing and sales excellence.
Integration of Multiple Data Sources
Buyer intent data relied on a single source of information, such as website analytics or email engagement metrics in the past. However, with increasing emphasis on understanding customer behavior, there's a growing recognition of a holistic view of buyer intent. This, in turn, is increasingly creating a need to integrate multiple data sources.
The trend of integrating multiple data sources provides a more detailed and deeper understanding of consumer behavior, thereby significantly enhancing the value of buyer intent data. Businesses can construct an extensive mosaic of each lead's digital journey by combining data from various touchpoints and channels, such as website interactions, social media engagement, email responses, and chat interactions. This multidimensional perspective provides more in-depth and accurate insights into buyer intent, allowing companies to tailor their marketing and sales strategies with unmatched precision.
Real-time Intent Monitoring
As businesses and marketers increasingly adopt advanced technologies, the days of post-event analysis are rapidly diminishing. Now, real-time monitoring of intent has become the primary focus. The strategy involves the use of innovative tracking technologies to detect and respond to buyer signals in real-time. The trend is increasingly gaining prominence as it allows businesses to respond to buyer signals as they happen.
When a potential customer exhibits strong purchasing signals, such as extended engagement with pricing pages, repeated product demo views, or initiating a live chat, real-time alerts trigger immediate action. This instantaneous response capability enables marketing and sales teams to provide highly relevant information and immediately deploy targeted messaging or offers, significantly increasing the chances of conversion.
Cross-channel Engagement
As businesses recognize the significance of engaging with leads and consumers across multiple channels, the need for innovative strategies, such as cross-channel engagement, is rapidly growing to ensure that businesses are present where their audience is, be it via email, social media, website interactions, or even chatbots.
In an era where consumers frequently switch between channels during the purchasing journey, cross-channel engagement ensures that businesses are consistently present and responsive. It improves the customer journey, enables complete data capture and analysis, and contributes to a more in-depth and accurate understanding of buyer intent. Cross-channel engagement enriches buyer intent data by providing businesses with a more detailed and real-time view of their audience's behavior and preferences, ultimately resulting in more effective marketing and sales strategies and stronger customer relationships.
Hyper-personalization
The hyper-personalization trend is ushering in a new era of consumer intent data utilization by bringing personalization to new heights. The approach utilizes the abundance of available consumer intent data and AI-driven content recommendation engines to deliver personalized experiences to individual leads and customers.
By analyzing a prospect's past actions, preferences, and interactions, businesses can create hyper-personalized content and offers that precisely align with their interests. It also optimizes time, ensuring that engagements occur exactly when a prospect has the highest possibility of converting. This level of personalization increases the chances of conversion as well as fosters a deeper connection between brands and their target audience. Hyper-personalization is not merely favoring consumer intent data; it is elevating it, enabling businesses to deliver exceptional, one-to-one experiences that boost engagement, trust, and brand loyalty.
The Bottom Line
Buyer intent data is the lifeblood of modern businesses, providing vital insights into consumer preferences and behavior. It enables companies to determine when potential consumers are prepared to buy, allowing timely and targeted marketing and sales efforts.
Staying informed about the latest buyer intent data trends enables businesses to employ cutting-edge technologies and strategies that improve their capacity to comprehend and engage potential customers. Companies can improve their techniques, enhance customer targeting, and optimize resource allocation by foreseeing and adapting to these trends. Furthermore, being aware of these trends is crucial for maintaining customer trust and compliance with evolving data privacy regulations, thereby ensuring the ethical and responsible use of data.
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