Intent Intelligence Simplified - How To Make The Best Use of Intent Data?

Today, we have a topic that is alien to even some of the most advanced B2B marketers - intent intelligence. There are multiple reasons for this such as:

1. The complexity of the concept itself (though it looks complex, trust me, it isn't once you know it).
2. The lack of access to intent intelligence tools owing to their high cost.
3. Not knowing how to use an intent intelligence platform for maximum ROI.
4. The tendency to measure everything in marketing quantitatively.

However, all these challenges can be overcome through proper learning (except for #2, for which you need to have the budget of course) and practice.

In this context, I attempt to help three segments of people through this edition of the Elevate Your Marketing newsletter:

1. B2B marketers who do not understand (or are not familiar with) the concept of intent intelligence.
2. Those who know what it is, but do not know how to use intent data and intent intelligence tools properly for the best results.
3. Those who think intent intelligence platforms are not useful at all.

We will learn the concept and its best practices by using a sample dataset as you would get it from something like a Demandbase (one of the most popular intent intelligence tools available in the market today). In addition, we will also have a quick look at some of the alternatives of Demandbase.

So, let's start the adventure, shall we?

Note: This article will be more enjoyable if you read it with a frame of mind that intent data can definitely move the needle when it comes to marketing and sales.

What is intent data?

The word intent means an interest in exploring the solutions offered by a company. In that sense, any of the following actions can be termed an intent for a business:

• A demo request
• A contact us form inquiry
• A direct email requesting more details about your offerings
• A download of your solution brief document

In fact, the above actions are possibly the best indications of a prospect's intent. However, the intent data that we are referring to here is third-party intent data.

Let me explain.

All the examples I mentioned above are based on intent shown either on your website or through direct interaction (like a mail or LinkedIn message). But what if you could find the companies that are showing intent around your topics of interest on the web (on websites and platforms other than yours)?

That's exactly what intent data tells you.

Intent data is captured based on the content consumed by people on the web. Though for privacy reasons the exact individuals who viewed content around a topic cannot be found, what you get from an intent intelligence platform is the consolidated set of accounts that had a high consumption of content related to your niche in a given period of time.

The science of intent

I don't wish to complicate the science behind third-party intent data. So, let me try to explain it in plain simple language.

Assume you work at Amazon. Today you visited a popular blog post that talks about cloud transformation. Now, say, given below are the core keywords the content of the page revolves around:

• cloud migration
• cloud transformation
• cloud data warehouse

In this scenario, 1 unit of intent will be marked against the account Amazon for each of the 3 keywords given above. Depending on the intent intelligence platform you use, the time period for which the data is taken would differ. For example, to the latest of my knowledge, Demandbase has a default duration of 12 months - which means that the intent data you obtain from the platform is aggregated for the last 12 months.

Now, imagine the benefits of getting this data consolidated across all your core keywords, and that too for all your target accounts. This is information that you cannot otherwise collect. Even your first-party data will not always give the necessary insights into the different areas of interest of your target accounts (we will talk more about how to leverage intent data to the best of your advantage in the upcoming sections).

What does intent data look like?

So far, we have covered the theory. But what does intent data look like on a sheet?

Check out the below link to learn what an intent datasheet obtained from Demandbase would look like:

Sample intent datasheet

Note: There might be minor changes in the way data is represented today on the platform. This data is constructed based on my understanding of Demandbase from two years ago. However, the fundamentals of the concept still remain the same.

Let us try to understand all the columns and data points in the sheet.

I guess columns A to F do not need an explanation (in case you are wondering, an account domain means nothing but the website of the company). Columns G and H represent the NAICS and SIC codes respectively - which are both standard industry codes used to identify a company (I suggest you read more about them if you are interested).

Columns I through M are again self-explanatory.

Next, let us move to the tough part - columns N to AA. This is where you get to see the actual intent data.

Let us start with account rank (column N). This is the ranking that indicates the level of intent shown by a company in the solutions you offer (or a topic of interest of yours). This means that the account with rank 1 exhibits the highest intent towards your offerings, whereas the 10th-ranked one shows the least intent on the list.

Next is overall score (column O).

Overall score is the numerical representation of rank. Like what marks are to rank in exams, overall score gives a numerical value to an account's position in terms of showcasing third-party intent.

Demandbase qualification score (column P), like rank, is a relative representation of intent where the entire set of accounts is categorized into high, medium, and low intent (make a note of this. We are going to talk about this again later).

Column Q gives the list of parameters the platform has used to rank each account. You might notice here that the ranking is not done purely based on third-party intent, but also depending on the types of products the companies sell, the same revenue range. similar social media presence, etc.

Column R gives the list of the top 5 keywords for which the accounts are showing intent. This means that out of all the keywords you are checking intent against, the 5 given in this column are the ones for which the intent value is the highest.

Columns S to AA are important. This is where you see the individual intent values.

For example, the value 4 in cell S4 means that 4 people from Account 3 have shown intent for the keyword '3d augmented reality' in the last 12 months (again, this duration could vary depending on the platform or the settings you use). If a cell is empty, it means that the value is zero or there is no intent shown for that keyword by that particular account in the last 12 months.

In a similar way, columns T to AA show the intent values for the other keywords for each of the 10 accounts.

How to read intent data?

Now that we understand the fundamentals of third-party intent data, we need to know how to read an intent report.

The first step involved in this process is quite easy. You look at Demandbase qualification score and determine whether an account belongs to the high, medium, or low intent category. Ideally, accounts showing high intent in a group of accounts that belong to your target list are what you should prioritize over those with medium and low intent. Account rank and overall score can be considered to be different ways of expressing the same thing.

Note: The process is to upload a list of all your target accounts and run intent analysis against each of your solutions or offerings. The objective of running an intent analysis is to find out high intent accounts for each of those offerings. Also, though I have explained the process of reading intent data using Demandbase, the idea would remain the same in other platforms (such as 6sense & Terminus) as well with differences in terminologies.

The second stage is when you look at the individual intent values. This can get a little complicated. In most cases, categorizing accounts based on Demandbase qualification score should do the job.

However, let's say, you want to further drill down and find accounts that are surging for specific keywords. In such a scenario, you need to look at the intent values for individual keywords.

For this, you might want to create an excel program/template where you reorder accounts based on the intent value for the keyword of your interest. The only limitation with a manual method like this is that you are not taking into consideration other factors that contribute to the overall intent score - such as revenue, social media presence, products, etc.

So to make things simple, I would recommend that you simply look at the intent category or Demandbase qualification score (high, medium, or low) of a particular account.

How to make the best use of intent data?

As mentioned just above, the simplest way of making use (and sense) of third-party intent data is to classify accounts as high, medium, and low intent. The main advantage here is that you get to focus your campaign and outreach efforts on a select set of - high intent - accounts instead of doing a spray and pray.

But, in addition to this, what are the other ways in which you can utilize intent data? Here are my recommendations:

1. Marry intent data with website visitor data and technographic data

Most intent intelligence tools come with an inbuilt module for website visitor tracking whereby they can integrate directly with Google Analytics. This would act as an additional point of validation for you.

I will explain.

Say 100 accounts visited one of your solution pages in the last 1 month (you can find this data using the visitor tracking module). In these 100, you might find some that are part of your target list. It means that these accounts have shown one more indication of intent in your products or services.

You can apply the same logic in the case of technographic data. For instance, Demandbase offers you technographic data of accounts. You can read the intent score and the technographic data of your target accounts together to further narrow down your list.

2. Run targeted ad campaigns only to high intent accounts

Whether you are using Demandbase, 6sense, or Terminus as your intent tool, all of them come with targeted ad modules using which you can run ads to high intent accounts.

In addition to using these tools, you can also use something like LinkedIn to run custom accounts campaigns targeting only the high intent accounts. This will also help you optimize ad costs and improve CPM, CTR, & conversions.

3. Run person-based advertisements to relevant contacts at these accounts

Not so long back, I had spoken about a platform using which you can run ads to specific individuals (and not accounts). The name of the tool is Influ2 . Just like how you would send emails to people, this tool helps you serve ads to individuals. With all the privacy rules like CCPA, GDPR, CASL, etc., in place, you get a hit rate of about 50% - which is quite impressive.

4. Personalize website user experience based on intent

Personalization is a relatively new addition to the feature set of intent intelligence platforms. While Terminus does it using website content and chat, Demandbase currently focuses on website personalization alone.

5. Integrate multiple marketing campaigns

Intent platforms are diversifying in terms of features to stand out from the competition. Demandbase acquired two companies to add B2B company and technographic data to the platform, whereas Terminus integrated chat and email signature marketing into its ecosystem (Terminus too has a B2B company database called Data Studio).

With these additions, you get to create an integrated ads and campaign ecosystem using which you can target your ideal customers across multiple channels.

6. Use real-time intent-based insights in sales conversations

Using intent intelligence tools, you can configure notifications to be sent out to the respective salesperson when someone from a particular account of interest visits the company website. This can be taken as input or an additional piece of information that can be leveraged during sales conversations. You can also consistently look at the third party intent signals of your target accounts to see if they are surging for any keyword or topic of your interest.

Popular intent intelligence tools

With the increasing adoption of intent intelligence in the B2B space, many platforms have added it as a module to their existing products. Some of the notable new entrants in the space include ZoomInfo, LeadSift, and Cognism.

My favorite players who have kind of set the benchmark in this space are Demandbase, Terminus, and 6sense. I have added the explainer videos of these products below for you to get a quick understanding of how they work and their features.

Demandbase

Terminus

6sense

One of the things I don't like about these videos is that most of them do not do a great job of explaining what the platform actually does in reality. They tend to stay superficial by saying things like 'helping sales close more deals', 'establishing solid pipeline', 'enhancing revenue', etc. In that context, I liked the 6sense video the most.

Some FAQs related to intent intelligence

For the first time in this newsletter, I am introducing an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section. Whenever it makes sense, I will use this section to address some of the most common queries and challenges related to the topic of the day.

Here are some FAQs and my responses to them with respect to intent intelligence:

1. Does intent mean interest to purchase?

Though intent intelligence platforms have been trying hard to position intent as an indicator very close to an interest to purchase, it might not be entirely true. The third-party intent data that we are referring to here is just at the level of content consumption.

While it is definitely useful to have this information, it is still very far from a prospect expressing interest to buy. The user could also be consuming a content piece for educational purposes. There is no way for us to filter out such interactions. So what I always suggest is to take intent data as an indicator to lead you in the right direction, and not the bible based on which you take all your marketing decisions.

2. Is intent intelligence worth it for your business?

There are three considerations while answering this:

1. The cost of the platform: Intent intelligence platforms start at a minimum of $15K to $20K per year. So if you don't have enough dollars to burn, an intent platform would be a burden on your budget.
2. The nature and industry of your business: intent intelligence tools are extremely helpful for businesses for which there is a lot of related content online already (e.g. IT services, cybersecurity). On the other hand, intent platforms are not recommended for very niche B2B businesses (say a VR app for travel agencies). In addition, if you are starting up, intent tools are a heavy lift. They are recommended to be used once you reach a certain level of stability (and have the budget to use one).
3. The internal capability of your martech or markops team: One of the key challenges many teams are facing after purchasing an intent intelligence platform is the inability to use it properly owing to the lack of the right resources to manage it. Don't be one among them. Make sure you have someone familiar with these tools (or at least a person who can be trained in them).

3. Third-party cookie deprecation - a threat for intent intelligence platforms?

The ensuing third-party cookie deprecation by Google is likely to affect many adtech and martech companies badly. This is because the sharing of intent data to a large extent is made possible by the ability to leverage third-party cookies. Though Demandbase is claiming that this will not impact the tool's output, I foresee the accuracy of data going down significantly - in all the platforms. However, let us wait and see how things progress once Google exercises the deprecation in 2024.

Final words

At least to many, intent intelligence is a geeky topic. I wouldn't blame them. The topic is somewhat difficult to digest if you do not have hands-on experience managing any of these tools (I learned the nitty-gritty of intent data by using Demandbase for doing various types of analyses. That's why you saw me explain almost all the concepts related to intent using the tool).

However, I hope this article kind of simplified the concept and helped you at least learn how to read an intent report and make sense of it. Also, it is extremely difficult to cover all the nuances of intent data in a single article. If you have any further queries on the topic, please feel free to reach out to me over DM.

If you are considering using an intent intelligence tool for your business, I suggest you do a thorough research and evaluation of all the features. These platforms keep evolving, and hence some of the features I mentioned in the article need not be the most recent.

By the way, have you subscribed to the newsletter yet? Join 2165 learners to understand how to practically implement various B2B marketing strategies to grow your business.

As always, until we meet next time, happy learning!