5 Tips to Crush Your Intent Data Goals from G2 and ZoomInfo

In life and in sales, timing is everything.

Here's the most moderate take ever: there's no point in pitching prospects who aren't ready to buy. The primary concern of a sales professional is knowing when to engage buyers.

This is where intent data comes in. Instead of hoping your marketing efforts hit your prospects at the right time, you can use intent data to determine where your ideal buyer is currently in their journey.

But there's a catch: If you're new to incorporating intent data into your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy, where do you start? By learning from the experts, of course.

In our recent webinar, attendees heard from Ben Salzman, SVP, Special Projects at ZoomInfo, and Robin Izsak-Tseng, VP of Revenue Marketing at G2, talk about some key best practices and considerations for building data strategies strong intentions. If you didn't have the chance to attend the webinar, this recap is for you.

What is Intent Data?

Intent data is a collection of signals or data points that help determine if an account is in the market and at what stage it is in the buying journey. The value of intent data is that it takes a lot of the guesswork out of marketing and sales campaigns.

Teams that most often work with intent data are:

Sales: The most common users will use this data throughout the sales process, from prioritizing prospect outreach, to crafting relevant pitches, to closing. Marketing: When aligned with sales in an ABM strategy, marketing uses this data to build target audiences, inform its targeting and demand generation campaigns, influence buyers, and retain customers. Customer Success: Intent data can help inform customer success teams where current customers are struggling, build better relationships, and reduce churn. Why is intent data more important now?

The world is experiencing turbulence and uncertainty. Inflation impacts governments, businesses and citizens everywhere. And in markets where a possible recession is looming, organizations need to determine where they can cut costs to hedge against an economic downturn.

First things on the chopping block in these scenarios? Marketing budgets. For this reason, marketers must rely on proven tactics and strategies.

"Launch campaigns that capture the interest of people reporting that they are looking for a solution like yours in the market. This is where I will look into whether I need to be careful about how much I spend and whether I need to prove ROI."

Robin Izsak-TsengVP of Revenue Marketing at G2

Guesswork is an unavoidable obstacle that can lead to higher costs. Intent data, however, is an excellent remedy for budget efficiency in today's economic climate.

An example of intent data

Having an example of what intent data might look like will be helpful to add more context to what Ben and Robin are covering. In this case, we will use G2 buy intention signals.

The following are data points or "signals" that sellers on G2 can use to gauge where customers and buyers are in the sales cycle. All of this data is captured from user activity on G2, as buyers can search for software in different ways. Sellers can act on all of these signals, segmenting appropriately.

G2 Profile Visits: When buyers visit a software publisher's G2 product profile page. Sponsored Content Visits: When shoppers visit a competitor's page displaying sponsored content. Category Page Visits: When shoppers browse a specific software category page on G2. Competitor Page Visits: When buyers make a comparison between one or more different software vendors. Alternative Page Visits: When shoppers look at alternative comparisons for a given software vendor.

Suggested reading: Learn how to get intent data in front of your revenue teams with The Buyer Intent Playbook.

Common intent data issues businesses face

Now for the juicy part...