Intent data: why speed is the key to greater sales revenue

As big data grows in relevancy in today’s competitive digital age, so does intent data. Organizations around the world leverage it to determine who’s researching their solutions, weigh their lead-scoring models, and reach potential customers that have taken an active interest in what they offer. From there, companies can see clear patterns to gain insight into what these customers truly want, how to upsell opportunities to them, and how to retain their interest.¹

But at the end of the day, intent data itself is just that––data. It still requires mining, processing, and conversion before it can be deemed useful information. But the real trouble with intent data is how time sensitive it is. And no matter how big your database is, it means very little if you can’t pinpoint interested leads and target them at the right moment.

In this blog, we’ll explore why speed is the key component in any intent data strategy and how 2X helped two clients harness intent data to grow revenue.

Using intent data to grow pipeline

Given the time-sensitive nature of this type of information, the first thing you need to know is your target list’s level of interest or intent to purchase. Having accurate intel on your potential customers’ background––from where they are in the buying process to their content consumption behavior and IP address––is essential so as to not end up shooting in the dark.

As an example, a major IT consultancy firm in the U.S. needed help accelerating their sales pipeline. 2X worked to achieve that by procuring the services of Bombora and DiscoverOrg , which provided us with intent signals from target accounts that showed the highest propensity to buy. We tracked and captured leads based on web activity, download history, and keyword searches, and provided the company’s sales team with daily summaries of those high-propensity accounts based on engagement. These insights enabled the team to focus more on opportunities that have a greater potential to close. Now, they have a more holistic, granular view and an in-depth understanding of how to capture attention at the most opportune moments, resulting in higher win rates.

How to decipher intent data

As a B2B marketing agency, we see many companies today facing the challenge of making sense of data. These organizations could employ the help of data vendors, but many of them aren’t necessarily equipped to supply solutions to improve marketing or drive revenue.

Another existing client of ours, a large enterprise software and solutions provider, was struggling with this predicament. Although the company possessed the fundamental technologies and capabilities, the sheer amount of data, paired with different technology and platform owners working in silos, made the holistic analysis of data from various sources an incredibly arduous task. 2X stepped in, as an impartial party, using Leadspace and Bombora to capture data like relevant topics and lead scoring. We combined this third-party data with their internally captured data from Adobe Experience Manager and their interaction history to form a complete picture of the accounts’ activities, pain points, and intentions. This helped bridge the information gap between the siloed owners and, in doing so, created greater value for them and built their trust in us.

To this day, we assist the company in relaying intent information to its 100+ sales personnel so that they can leverage it to communicate with the exact accounts they need to be talking to at the exact moment. The result? Our client gets access to better quality leads, and the sales team now knows how and when to target them. A total of US$446.6 million in pipeline was generated from multiple intent data programs within a year, resulting in $14.8 million in returns for the company as of November 2019.

Always choose speed over perfection

The key to using intent data correctly is to prize speed over perfection. In reality, imperfect data exists, but what is more important is the speed at which you use it for what your clients need. If you wait to get to a level of certainty in perfect information from gathered intent data, it might take weeks, and by then your client will have moved on to other services.

We realize how critical speed is when managing intent data, and that information can go stale fast. Our “secret sauce,” you could say, is a combination of this understanding coupled with the use of the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule ––focusing on extracting the 20 percent of data that creates 80 percent of the value sooner, rather than going for 100 percent later. This also includes leveraging third-party intent data that unlocks the part of the audience’s interest that lies outside the bounds of your website and other properties you own. That way, you can obtain visibility of engagement and relevant interactions to quickly target the precise accounts at their highest level of interest.

The 2X edge over intent data

By knowing the information you want and what you want to achieve with it, 2X can extract and analyze the intent data you need and offer solutions you can implement to generate more revenue for your organization. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you harness your data and make a greater impact with marketing.

^{1 The Applications and Future Predictions of Intent Data for B2B Sales, Henry Schuck, Forbes Technology Council, Jan 31, 2019.}

Author

Domenic Colasante

Domenic Colasante is Co-Founder and CEO of 2X, and a thought leader on marketing organizational models and operating model transformation. He previously served as CMO of WGroup, an IT management consulting firm that grew over 30% per year under his tenure, and has held demand creation, marketing ops, analytics, and ABM leadership roles at Siemens and SAP.