Not all Intent is purchase intent data.
There’s a lot of noise in the intent data market today that you should get ahead of. Just because someone says, “I have Intent too”, that claim in no way tells you what they’re actually offering and how it helps you reach your goals. I’m genuinely excited that folks are taking an interest in intent, but because so many intent vendors have popped up seemingly overnight, I’m growing concerned that many buyers are unknowingly looking at inferior intent solutions to help address their problems..
Not doing your homework could easily prevent you from realizing results. Let’s dig into this more.
Many of these new “intent” offerings tout giant numbers of ‘signals’ as if all you need for success is volume. They claim that by applying some AI/ML magic that, you can discover value somewhere in this cloud of low-cost noise and across the dark corners of the web. But too many of these providers, who willingly won't disclose where the data is coming from, are simply sourcing weak data from the programmatic ad bidstream. The Business Publishers Association has been out in front of this lately drawing attention to the lack of quality, let alone the ethically questionable approach as well – more on this here. To understand exactly what you’re getting, you need to push vendors hard to disclose how the sausage is made - and how you can turn this straw into gold. There shouldn’t be any magic or fairy dust in the data. You should be clear on exactly what’s in it and exactly how it will help you.
Weak signals yield poor outcomes. False positives – “surging” accounts that having nothing to do with a real buyer’s journey – are worthless to you. Period. End of story.
When it comes to high quality intent data:
· It should be clear how relevant the signals are to you and your business
· It should be clear what content is actually generating the signal. Can you actually tell whether the surge could impact your business?
· It should be clear if a buying team has actually formed. Because if one hasn’t, there’s little likelihood of there being a real opportunity there.
· It should be clear who the right people are to reach out to at the account (so you don’t have to just call every title that’s related at random), and they should be opted-in so you have permission to reach out to them however you wish.
Make sure you know what you need – and what’s in some of these various intent solutions -- before you buy. Intent isn’t the rise of machines, or something magical that you shouldn’t be able to see, experience, understand where it’s coming from. Good intent is sourced from directly observing both prospects’ and accounts’ real interests in down funnel topics related to what you sell.
Be informed - don’t get involved with intent that’s just going to disappoint the teams you’re supposed to be helping. Reach out to me – I’d be happy to take you through the key differences and similarities between intent sources and types so that you can make the right decision for your business.
Experienced B2B Go-to-Market Strategist and Problem Solver
4 年I remember the days when intent was in its infancy. Thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. There are now hundreds of solutions. I tend to favor those that pull from the most sources (duh right). Point being there is a lot more out there than the "bigs" most marketers default to. Great post Steven.
VP, Product Marketing at Intentsify
4 年I agree that there’s “a lot of noise in the intent data market today” and that intent data providers should be transparent regarding how they derive their intent signals. I also agree with your bullet points on what constitutes high-quality intent data (though I’d add a few points here). Where we seemingly disagree—though I could be wrong—has more to do with your idea that one type/source of intent data can do it all. I’ve seen many forms of intent data at work—some provide target-account coverage breadth, some focus on providing a highly nuanced picture of audience research activities but lack sufficient coverage, some aggregate data across a cooperative of third-party web properties and some focus on content consumption among walled gardens, while others gather data among public domains. In my experience, each intent data type holds complementary values to one another. No single source can paint the entire picture of buyer needs. Accessing a range of intent data sources ensures both the broad and in-depth coverage B2B orgs need to effectively serve their target audiences.