How to use intent signals to act on buyer interest

Observe: the B2B SaaS buyer in their natural habitat as they research your solution. They are stealthy—never actually visiting your website or filling out your forms. Rather they gather information from industry publications, review sites, and *shudders in marketer* ChatGPT. 

Their covert behavior doesn’t mean they’re invisible, though. Intent signals are your early detection system for interested buyers. They let you know when a company or contact is actively exploring competitive solutions, or researching topics related to your solution.

And if you use them right, they let you engage potential buyers with context instead of guesswork, so you can turn them into revenue-generating opps faster. 

Why intent signals matter now more than ever 

There is so much information available to buyers today that they don’t need to set foot (finger?) on your site to know whether or not they want to purchase your product. If they do end up on your site, a single visit won’t likely get them over the hump. In fact, research shows buyers often make it more than halfway through their decision-making process before even talking to sales. 

If you’re waiting for a demo request before reaching out, you’re already behind. Intent signals let you leapfrog your buyers’ full decision-making process by identifying which of them are in-market and actively researching.

Here’s why intent signals are more important than ever right now: 

More noise, less attention 

Buyers are bombarded with generic outreach emails and blanket advertisements. With intent signals, you can create personalized, timely messaging that stands out and captures attention. If you know, for example, that a buyer has been doing research on your competitors, you can target them with ads and content that positions you as the better option.

Longer sales cycles 

Very rarely can one buyer make a purchase decision when it comes to SaaS and enterprise software. And the larger the buying group, the longer the sales cycle. Intent signals give you the intel you need to tailor outreach to the whole buying group and get them on the same page, faster.

Tighter budgets and teams 

With leaner marketing and smaller budgets, efficiency is everything. Focusing on accounts that are most likely to convert lets you maximize your resources. Intent signals let you intentionally funnel time, effort, and spend toward individuals actively showing intent.

Ways to gather intent signals 

Intent signals are one of the most powerful inputs for building higher quality pipeline faster. But first, you need to know how and where to find them. 

Identify the right intent signals 

The first step in gathering intent data is understanding which types of signals matter most for your business. Common types of intent signals include: 

Implement robust website tracking 

Your website is a goldmine for identifying intent. It’s where prospective buyers reveal both their interests and the degree of their intent through their browsing behavior. 

To capture this level of insight, implement advanced tools to track elements like: 

• Time spent on solution pages
• Downloads of key resources
• Return visits to pricing pages

For effective tracking, tools like Vector’s free contact-level de-anonymization can identify website visitors and provide actionable data. 

Your website is a goldmine for identifying intent. It’s where prospective buyers reveal both their interests and the degree of their intent through their browsing behavior. 

Use technology to capture signals 

Manually tracking intent signals isn’t feasible. AI-based tools and platforms streamline the process, freeing up your team for strategic work. 

Key technologies to consider:

• Marketing automation systems like HubSpot or Marketo help track email and site engagement.
• Intent data providers like Vector aggregate engagement signals across the web, giving insights into on- and off-site activity that suggests active research.

Segment and prioritize signals 

Not all intent signals hold the same value, so it’s crucial to rank and prioritize them. 

Categorize signals into three tiers:

1. High-value signals (urgent): Frequent visits to pricing pages, downloading product guides, demo requests.
2. Medium-value signals (engaged but exploratory): Webinar attendance, frequent content interactions.
3. Low-value signals (early interactions): Casual browsing, newsletter signups.

Focus your resources on high-intent accounts while nurturing those in the lower tiers.  

Personalize your outreach 

Intent signals are most effective when used to create hyper-targeted engagement. 

• Email campaigns: Reference specific topics they’ve researched and provide relevant content.
• Retargeting ads: Serve ads that echo their interests or the solutions they explored.
• Sales conversations: Equip your team with insights to make conversations more relevant. For example, “I noticed your team is focused on exploring solutions for enterprise security. Can I share some best practices we’ve developed?”

Continuously optimize your approach 

Like all strategies, working with intent signals requires constant fine-tuning. 

• Analyze which signals are most—and least—predictive of actual purchases.
• Adjust your scoring and prioritization criteria as patterns emerge.
• Refine messaging based on response rates and engagement levels.

Turning intent signals into revenue opportunities 

Gathering intent data is only half the equation. The real power comes from acting on it to accelerate your pipeline and close deals. 

Here’s how to turn intent signals into revenue:

Prioritize outreach with intent scoring 

Create an intent scoring system that assigns value to different behaviors. For example:

• A demo request might score 10 points.
• Visiting pricing pages scores 8 points.
• Downloading a guide scores 6 points.

Accounts with higher scores should be prioritized for immediate follow-up.  

Align content to buying stages 

Provide prospects with the right information at the right time based on their signals. For example:

• Early stage buyers engaging with high-level blog articles should receive awareness-focused content.
• Mid-stage buyers interacting with solution pages might need detailed case studies or white papers.
• Late stage buyers exploring pricing pages benefit from lead gen ads or personalized demo invites.

Provide sales with actionable context 

Sales teams don’t need just another notification. They need actionable context to make their conversations meaningful. 

For example, create “intent briefs” for high-value accounts, including:

• The specific topic(s) they are researching.
• Resources they’ve engaged with.
• Suggest topics or conversation starters tailored to their activity.

Use intent-focused nurture streams 

Develop automated nurture journeys that respond to specific signals. For instance:

• A visitor attending a webinar might enter a drip campaign offering additional resources on related topics.

Test and refine your strategies 

Testing intent-based outreach strategies is essential. Optimize aspects like timing, channel selection, and messaging to find what resonates most with your audiences. 

Avoiding common intent signal pitfalls 

While intent signals are powerful, they’re complex and not without their challenges. Avoid these pitfalls to get the best results. 

Don’t confuse research with buying intent 

Not all research indicates active buying. A company could be conducting very early market research or competitive analysis. 

Pro tip: Look for patterns and escalating engagements across multiple channels. True buying intent rarely stems from isolated actions. 

Don’t act too slowly 

Intent signals have a short shelf life. You typically have a 2–3-week window before buyer interest moves elsewhere. 

Pro tip: Set SLAs (service level agreements) for following up on high-value accounts within 1–2 days. 

Avoid the creepy factor 

Avoid overly specific references to a prospect’s digital activity as it may come across as invasive. Instead, you want to elicit a feeling of serendipity—that your message reached the prospect at exactly the right time.

Instead of saying, “I saw you downloaded three of our guides this week,” try something like, “Many companies in your industry are exploring solutions like ours to address X challenge. Is this something you’re focused on?” 

Measuring ROI from intent signals 

To justify your investment in intent data, track these KPIs:

• Increase in opportunities generated from intent data
• Sales cycle velocity for intent-driven accounts
• Conversion rates at each pipeline stage
• Revenue influenced by intent-based outreach

Turn intent into action with Vector 

Vector brings intent data down to the contact level, revealing precisely who within your targets accounts is actively researching, what stage they're in, and how you can move them toward conversion.

With Vector, you can:

• De-anonymize visitors to your site.
• Identify who is showing intent off site, before they reach out to you.
• Automatically deploy marketing plays that match a contact’s exact stage in the buyer's journey.
• Funnel high-intent contacts into targeted campaigns or hand them off to sales for the right follow-up.

So you can stop guessing which signals to pursue, and start filling your funnel with high-intent contacts.

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