
According to a report, “90% of B2B Marketers are leveraging intent data in some way or the other”. B2B marketers highly rely on data for carrying out their marketing activities. But just having tons of data isn’t the key. The main focus should be on the quality and the type of data the B2B marketers use. Using the Intent data in the correct and efficient way can reap great benefits. If you are confused about what type of Intent data would be right for you? Then, read the blog till the end to know the different types of Intent data and how you can use it.
Different Types of Intent Data to drive Demand Generation
1. Search Intent
Oftentimes when we want to know about something we go to search engines and just type a few words about it. But do you know that by what we type, we leave our digital footprints behind.
According to a research by Google, “ B2B buyers make 12 searches on an average before they engage with a brand.”
These digital footprints that we leave can be used by the B2B marketers.The words that we use to search on search engines are called keywords and queries. These trails of micro signals are used by marketers to know where the prospects are in their buying journey. What type of content would be relevant to them and how they can be influenced more effectively. Majorly there are 4 types of queries made by the people which are as follows:
- Informational queries: These are the types of searches which are broad focused and cover a wide range of topics. Most of the people make these types of queries and internet searches. These searches include generic keywords and provide popular topics and trends for marketers.
- Navigational queries: This type of queries include semi-generic keywords related to specific brands or websites. Knowing this, marketers get to know which brand is popular and is being searched by people.
- Transactional queries: When people use words such as, “best”, “top” and “cheap” , these are the type of transactional queries. This signifies that the buyer is in the consideration phase and is narrowing down it’s options.
- Internal queries: The type of queries that are made on your own site and blog search bar are called Internal queries. This lets you know what people are interested in and what type of content you are lacking in.
2. Browsing Intent
By browsing intent, we mean cookies and browsing history. This shows you what your potential customers are viewing. From search to how the users move through websites and interact with information shows you the user’s behaviour.
Tracking cookies and browsing history shows you the consumption of information across different browsers and devices. You can get the following information from that:
- First party browsing intent: The content which is accessed through your website. You can consider the metrics such as time of engagement, and content viewed etc.
- Third party browsing intent: The content which is viewed on other B2B websites and online platforms or social media groups. By knowing this type of information you can discover and connect with new prospective customers.
3. Action Intent
After browsing intent, comes the interaction and downloads. You can get this type of data from the B2B intent data providers.Tracking down the path of potential customers’ digital journey let’s you know how they navigate through different channels and websites.
This way you can understand the behaviour of your potential customers and how they move digitally. You can know what type of content they like to engage with and spend more time on. Based on their interactions and downloads you can create your demand generation program and optimize your content for better engagement.https://vsynergizeoutsourcing.com/15-skills-an-sdr-needs-to-master-to-contact-prospects/
This will help you to enhance your customer experience and get you a better conversion rate. According to the reports by Gartner, “ This type of customer intent will increase business profits by upto 15% by 2020.”
However, to study this type of customer intent data you need to determine the digital footprints of the customers. See what actions they have taken and what the customers want to hear and customize your data accordingly.
4. Firmographic Intent
An Account Based Marketing strategy is an essential part of demand generation tactics. Firmographic data is about the companies such as geographical area, industry, revenue, no of employees, and no of clients etc. This can help you to segment and prioritize the companies in your target account list.
By gathering firmographic intent data you can understand how the companies behave and what exactly they are interested in. Using this type of intent data you can better do Account Based Marketing tactics and change your approach to well fit your buyer criteria. Firmographic intent data can also be used alongside second or third party intent data sources to find and reach new audiences.
5. Predictive Intent
Predictive Intent is also known as Lookalike modelling. This type of intent is based on identifying and predicting patterns and trends that might come in the future. While the other types of data are based on historic and real time data, it is focused on recognizing patterns and trends.
By utilizing the lookalike modelling with your demand generation strategy you can get a better engagement rate. You can identify new customers that look and behave like your existing customers. You can connect with these audiences by tapping through the data and get better conversions.
Through analysis you can also see what type of content is getting maximum engagement like videos, blogs and articles etc. So, you can use similar types of content to target other potential buyers and companies. Trying and testing out different content types can help you to enhance your demand generation tactics.
The Key Takeaway
B2B marketers are constantly looking for ways to improve their demand generation strategy. However, the quality and the type of data used plays a major role in it. Marketers use Intent data for carrying out their B2B marketing activities effectively. But oftentimes people confuse the umbrella term Intent data as only being one. Intent data is basically of different types and can be used to serve different purposes for B2B Marketers. Nonetheless, it is also important to understand and know how you can utilize them in your demand generation program.