This is an updated article on the significance of B2B intent data in modern marketing and choosing a reputable provider.
B2B marketers often grapple with high churn rates and the constant challenge of generating traffic and leads. Even with a robust pipeline, leads dropping out of the funnel is all too common.
This is where intent data and B2B intent data providers become a lifeline for marketers.
B2B intent data empowers marketers with the insights they need to minimize churn rates, enhance conversions, and boost marketing ROI. It provides a deep understanding of potential B2B clients, their activities, and, most importantly, their level of interest in your products or services.
However, choosing the right B2B intent data provider isn’t as simple as it seems. With numerous data providers available, it can be daunting to find the right one. So we’ve narrowed down your choices with the leading B2B intent data providers today. All you have to do now is choose the right intent data provider that offers the unique capabilities you need.
Understanding B2B Intent Data and How It Helps Sales and Marketing Teams
B2B intent data is a dataset that provides insights into buyers’ interests, preferences, and online behavior.
It goes beyond tracking clicks, views, or website visits. It decodes behavioral data to understand what consumers are truly interested in and what would compel them to purchase from your brand.
Armed with this knowledge, your sales and marketing teams can adjust their strategy to target potential customers.
This data can enable marketing and sales teams to:
- Attract new visitors and turn them into loyal customers
- Convert high-quality leads, particularly account-based clients or high-value accounts
- Intervene early with B2B clients at risk for churn
- Use competitive intelligence to create and implement sales strategies
- Build prospect lists with B2B clients aligned with their ideal customer profile
Today, businesses can leverage two main types of intent data: first-party and third-party intent data.
First-party data is collected directly from your website and internal resources. It includes insights from sources such as forms submitted by site visitors, IP addresses of users, Google Analytics, CRM software, and other information from plugins or internal platforms. This data can reveal how visitors arrived at your website, the pages they browsed, and what products they were interested in. First-party data can be limited, but it’s often the most accurate, timely, and exclusive to your company.
Third-party intent data is sourced externally from advertising networks, social media platforms, publishing co-ops, and other third-party websites. It captures behavioral information on search intent, social media postings, content consumption, and other online activities from a broader range of sources. Since most B2B decision-makers conduct multiple internet searches to find solutions to their specific needs, this can offer valuable information about these searches. When they visit your site, you’ll be armed with this information and deliver personalized content that effectively answers their needs. The challenge with third-party B2B intent data is that it can be inaccurate, outdated, and only applicable to the portion of customers that are able to be matched with account or contact information.
A combination of both first-party and third-party intent signals can provide a more comprehensive view of customer behavior.
Why Should You Use an Intent Data Tool?
Here, we'll dive into the compelling benefits that make leveraging intent signal tools a strategic imperative.
- These data tools are your eyes and ears in the digital realm. They collect and analyze data signals to unveil buying patterns and consumer trends. Let’s say you’re a software provider, and your intent signals reveal that a group of businesses in the same niche is actively researching cloud-based solutions. With this insight, you can create targeted content and experiences tailored to your business niche. This personalized targeting increases the likelihood of conversion.
- Intent data tools give you access to real-time insights. Successful conversions occur when consumers find the solutions they need at the right time. As they gain insights into what potential clients are currently doing, your sales team can initiate outreach at the precise moment of interest. On exceptionally busy days with dozens of visits, you can assign scores to leads based on their level of interest. This helps your sales team prioritize their efforts and reach out to the hottest prospects first.
- B2B data enables precise audience segmentation that allows for hyper-targeting. One-size-fits-all marketing is no longer effective. By categorizing prospects based on their interests and intent, you can craft tailored messaging. For example, a cybersecurity company can use intent signals to segment prospects into those interested in network security, cloud security, or data encryption, and then customize marketing messages accordingly.
- Intent signals can be your compass in navigating a vast sea of potential leads. By uncovering what topics are most relevant to your prospects and understanding which competitors they're considering, you can identify new opportunities and optimize marketing campaigns effectively.
Top 10 B2B Intent Data Providers to Consider
B2B data providers help businesses decode the digital footprints of potential customers.
They possess the capability to dissect IP addresses or browser cookies that allow them to peer into online activities. They empower marketing and sales teams to understand what topics are currently relevant to their prospective clients. Additionally, they unveil critical insights such as which lead generation strategies to deploy.
Here are the top 10 leading B2B intent data providers compared according to their key features. Use this as a guide in choosing intent data software for optimizing your sales process.
Lift AI offers a powerful solution for businesses aiming to leverage buyer intent signals for website optimization and revenue generation. By utilizing behavioral data, it identifies and engages both anonymous and identified high-intent visitors.
Lift AI's buyer intent technology unveils conversion opportunities that might be overlooked by other tools. Even the intent of completely anonymous website visitors can be revealed and engaged based on their real-time behavior. High-intent visitors can receive tailored engagement such as online chat or content personalization, while lower-intent visitors can be serviced with automated resources for support, nurturing, follow-up, and escalation.
Lift AI integrates seamlessly with various tools and resources, such as chat support, ABM, CRM, and BI tools. This integration capability with ad tech platforms helps uncover new opportunities and close deals faster.
Key Features
- Anonymous visitor scoring
- True real-time scoring and insights
- Powerful machine learning and predictive analytics
- Integration with other intent data tools
Best For: Businesses seeking to track both anonymous and identified visitors with high intent
ZoomInfo offers a robust platform designed to help businesses capture their most valuable buyers. With a focus on buyer research, ZoomInfo identifies and engages potential customers precisely when they start researching solutions that align with their offerings.
By mapping the ideal customer profile against ZoomInfo's own database, users can uncover sales-ready prospects actively searching for topics and keywords relevant to their business.
Key Features
- Extensive database of intent signals and buyer data
- Targeted customer mapping
- Streaming intent data for continuous leads flow
- Seamless integration with marketing tools
Best For: Mid-sized to large businesses aiming to power their GTM strategies with data insights
6sense is a top-tier B2B data provider offering comprehensive insights into buyer intent. It focuses on personalization, efficiency, and data accuracy to drive marketing and sales growth.
6sense's Intent Data allows businesses to proactively identify accounts that display intent to purchase or are actively researching competitors. By leveraging real-time buyer information, it enables users to create hyper-personalized campaigns tailored to individual experiences and needs.
Key Features
- 6Signal Company Graph
- Comprehensive B2B intent network
- AI-powered natural language processing
Best For: Businesses looking for an intent data tool that integrates well with other buyer data platforms
Bombora focuses on revolutionizing B2B martech through high-quality data, collaboration, and innovation. Its mission is to transform the way businesses approach sales and marketing by providing data that enhances relevance, timeliness, and accuracy.
One feature that sets Bombora apart from other tools is its emphasis on ethical data sourcing. All data it uses are gathered from consent-based frameworks that value individuals’ privacy.
Key Features
- Exclusive data from consent-based frameworks
- Compatibility and integration with other business and marketing platforms
- Sales intelligence and demand identification
Best For: Businesses seeking an intent data tool that promotes ethical data collection and sourcing
Dealfront offers innovative solutions for businesses to identify and target prospects showing real buying intent.
Dealfront's suite of tools enables businesses to capture and utilize intent data from their website visitors and external events. It tracks the real-time activities of target accounts and provides insights into what they’re researching. Business users can also receive real-time alerts when opportunities for engagement are identified.
Key Features
- Prospect prioritization and personalized outreach
- Upsell & cross-sell insights
- Sales prospecting and B2B advertising
Best For: Businesses looking for GDPR-compliant intent data providers for B2B advertising, sales, and marketing
Demandbase provides users with a comprehensive set of intent signals by partnering with multiple data providers. This ensures that users have access to a broader spectrum of intent data sources.
Demandbase uses AI and natural language processing to decipher context, minimize irrelevant activity, and provide users with historical intent, intent strength, trending intent, and keyword quality. It supports over 100 languages to track intent behaviors in various markets around the world.
Key Features
- Supports 133 languages and multi-byte characters
- Real-time and historical intent
- Natural language processing and AI technology
Best For: Global B2B companies focused on ABM and sales for international organizations
G2 Buyer Intent leverages the immense traffic on G2, a trusted platform for software research, to provide invaluable insights for marketing, sales, and customer success teams. With G2 Buyer Intent, businesses gain access to first-party intent data on potential customers actively researching software solutions. This data is sourced exclusively from in-market buyers, offering unique insights that only G2 can provide.
G2 Buyer Intent seamlessly integrates with CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, ad management tools, and ABM platforms.
Key Features
- ICP filters and targeted campaigns
- Integration with CRM and marketing tools
- Access to G2 first-party intent data
Best For: B2B and software-focused companies
SalesIntel partners with Bombora to provide users with access to a comprehensive dataset. Its powerful search filters along with Bombora’s accurate intent data allow users to target their most qualified prospects.
With SalesIntel, users can detect early buying signals and engage with a high-intent target audience. Gleaning actionable insights from the intent data, users can shorten sales cycles with faster deal closures. SalesIntel also combines firmographic and technographic data with custom search filters, so users can identify companies actively seeking products or services similar to their own.
Key Features
- Precise targeting with a wide range of Intent topics
- Actionable insights for sales and marketing teams
- High data accuracy with a 95% contact accuracy rate
Best For: Sales and marketing teams focused on maximizing ROI and lead conversion
TechTarget provides buyer intent data with its Priority Engine tool. TechTarget Priority Engine is a robust prospect-level intent data solution designed to accelerate sales, enhance ABM, and improve overall data effectiveness and accuracy. It empowers businesses by providing direct insights into prospects interested in their market. It also enables them to focus their efforts on high-potential accounts in their target market.
Key Features
- GDPR-compliant database of responsive prospects
- Proprietary data integration for enhanced ABM
- Salesforce integration
Best For: Businesses that cater to B2B clients in the tech sector
Terminus provides a holistic solution that merges multi-channel ABM campaigns, multiple intent data sources, and relationship data to personalize engagement with high-value B2B clients. It combines first- and third-party data to pinpoint where marketing efforts should be focused. Its focus on engagement spikes also helps teams identify optimal outreach moments.
Key Features
- Comprehensive multi-channel ABM campaigns
- Insightful relationship mapping
- Real-time alerts for engagement spikes
Best For: Small to mid-sized businesses that want to integrate third-party intent data into their sales and marketing strategies
Finding the Right B2B Intent Data Provider
Choosing B2B intent data providers is a strategic decision that should align with your business goals. Aside from data accuracy, here are some key factors to consider for a fruitful partnership that helps you reap the immense benefits intent data brings into your marketing efforts.
Anonymous Buyer Intent and Known Buyer Intent
At the time of writing, only Lift AI can accurately dissect the buyer intent of anonymous website visitors, while all other tools focus on known website visitors or identified accounts / contacts outside of your website.
Reporting and Analytics
An effective intent data software should offer robust reporting and analytics capabilities. These features allow you to track campaign progress and assess their effectiveness.
Customization and Precise Targeting
Look for platforms with powerful filtering and segmentation features. Effective targeting translates to higher conversion rates and better campaign outcomes.
Integration Capabilities
Ensure that the intent data provider can seamlessly integrate with your existing tech stack. Integration simplifies data access and utilization within your campaigns.
Pricing and Value
Evaluate the intent data cost to ensure it aligns with your budget. Strive to strike a balance that maximizes your budget's potential returns.
Reviews and Reputation
Customer reviews can provide valuable insights into the functionality and effectiveness of the intent data software. They offer real-world perspectives on how the tool performs, its features, and customer support quality.
The Future of B2B Intent Data
Two key trends shaping the B2B intent data landscape are intent intelligence and real-time data enhancement.
The integration of machine learning, AI, and advanced analytics is poised to strengthen intent intelligence. These technologies such as Lift AI play an increasingly pivotal role in fine-tuning intent data strategies. They enable more accurate predictive analytics, helping businesses identify prospects with a higher conversion potential.
2023 is dubbed as the year of real-time intent data. B2B intent data providers are exploring ways to deliver timely, actionable information that empowers marketers and sales teams to engage with prospects.
Staying updated with emerging trends is essential to harness the full potential of B2B intent data in driving business success.
Conclusion
Indeed, B2B intent data can significantly enhance your sales and marketing efforts. Understanding its benefits and how to choose the right provider is important for continuous growth. As you navigate this field, consider making an informed choice with Lift AI, a top-tier B2B intent data provider. Add it to your marketing stack and start harnessing the full potential of intent data to boost your business's success today.
