In the competitive landscape of B2B lead generation, it's essential to target prospects when they are actively searching for solutions like yours. That's where intent data comes in. By understanding the signals that indicate a company is in the market for a product or service, your business can prioritise high-intent prospects, shorten sales cycles, and ultimately drive more revenue. At Bravura Digital, we specialise in helping businesses harness intent data to identify, engage, and book meetings with qualified leads.
What is Intent Data?
Intent data is information gathered about a prospect's online behaviour that indicates their intent to purchase. This data reveals which companies are in the market for specific solutions based on their web searches, content consumption, and site visits. By tracking these signals, companies can pinpoint prospects further along in their buying journey and tailor their approach accordingly.
Intent data comes in two primary forms: first-party intent data and third-party intent data. Understanding the difference is crucial for leveraging each type effectively.
First-Party Intent Data
First-party intent data is collected directly from your website or digital platforms. It includes behavioural insights such as the pages a user visited, how long they spent on each page, and whether they returned to view specific content again. This type of data is immensely valuable because it gives you a direct window into what potential buyers are interested in on your own website. For example, if a prospect repeatedly visits a product page, this is a strong indicator of high purchase intent.
The advantages of first-party intent data include:
- Specific Behaviour Tracking: You can see exactly which pages a prospect has visited, how much time they spent on each page, and what content they engaged with.
- Enhanced Personalisation: First-party data allows for a deeper understanding of a prospect's interests, enabling you to tailor your outreach and improve the relevance of your messaging.
- Higher Data Quality: Because first-party data is collected directly, it is often more reliable and up-to-date.
Third-Party Intent Data
Third-party intent data is collected from sources other than your own website, typically through data providers who aggregate intent signals across multiple websites. This data is often sourced from web searches, content downloads, and other online activities across a network of websites. For example, Bombora is a well-known third-party intent data provider that collects information through cookies on partner websites.
The benefits of third-party intent data include:
- Market-Wide Insights: Third-party data can help you identify companies interested in your solutions even if they have not yet visited your website.
- Expanded Reach: By monitoring online behaviour across a broad range of sites, third-party intent data provides access to a wider pool of potential leads.
- Enhanced Prospecting: Third-party data allows you to identify trends across industries, helping you to focus your sales efforts on the companies most likely to convert.
How Intent Data is Collected
Intent data is often collected through tracking mechanisms like cookies, which monitor user behaviour across various websites. For example, when a user accepts cookies on certain websites, they agree to share their browsing information with intent data providers. This data includes details such as which topics they’ve researched, the frequency of their visits, and how recently they've engaged with relevant content. By aggregating these signals, intent data providers offer a probability score indicating how likely a prospect is to be in-market for specific solutions. Typically, a probability score of over 70% signals strong buying intent.
Tools to Identify Intent
There are several tools available to help businesses leverage intent data effectively:
- Bombora: One of the leading intent data providers, Bombora tracks business activity across over 5,000 websites, offering deep insights into which companies are researching particular topics.
- 6sense: A predictive analytics platform that combines intent data with AI to help you identify, prioritise, and engage with high-potential leads.
- LinkedIn: When used in conjunction with intent data, LinkedIn can significantly boost brand awareness among decision-makers who are more likely to convert.
- Demandbase: This platform helps businesses deliver highly-targeted campaigns by combining intent data with account-based marketing tactics.
Challenges of Using Intent Data
While intent data offers tremendous benefits, it also comes with certain limitations. One of the main challenges is that intent data is usually aggregated at the company level, meaning it doesn’t provide specific details about individual decision-makers. You may know that someone at a particular company is interested in your solution, but you won’t know exactly who that person is. Additionally, as more companies leverage intent data for prospecting, there's a risk of potential customers being targeted by multiple brands, leading to fatigue and diminishing returns.
To overcome these challenges, Bravura Digital recommends combining intent data with complementary strategies, such as LinkedIn advertising. By building awareness among your target audience, you can position your brand front and centre when they are ready to make a purchase decision.
Why Intent Data Matters for B2B Lead Generation
Intent data is invaluable for lead generation because it enables businesses to prioritise leads based on buying signals. According to a recent survey, 70% of B2B buyers research products online before engaging with a sales representative. This means that by the time they reach out, they are often well into their decision-making process. With intent data, you can connect with these prospects earlier in the journey, allowing you to influence their purchasing decisions more effectively.
Additionally, a 2023 study found that using intent data can increase conversion rates by up to 40%, and companies that leverage intent data typically see a 15% reduction in sales cycles. This data-driven approach makes sales efforts more efficient, allowing your team to focus on leads with the highest probability of conversion.
Leveraging Intent Data with Bravura Digital
At Bravura Digital, we are committed to helping B2B companies capitalise on intent data to improve their lead generation and prospecting efforts. We work with our clients to identify high-intent prospects and book meetings with decision-makers on their behalf. By combining our expertise with the latest intent data platforms, we can help you reach the right people at the right time, making your marketing campaigns more targeted and effective.
With intent data, you can transform your lead generation strategy from reactive to proactive, capturing demand as it emerges. Contact Bravura Digital today to learn how we can support your B2B lead generation efforts, enhance your prospecting activities, and drive meaningful results for your business.
