How To Use Intent Knowledge To Determine Goal Accounts And Perceive Purchaser Wants

Intent knowledge is a robust software that may rework the best way we strategy B2B advertising and marketing methods.

Over the previous two years, we delved into what entrepreneurs must profit from B2B intent knowledge. On this put up, we’re going to discover how one can reap the benefits of this knowledge to determine goal accounts and acquire a deeper understanding of your patrons’ wants.

Right here, we’ll present you the way intent knowledge can present key insights into your goal accounts, improve your understanding of purchaser wants, and ultimately drive extra profitable advertising and marketing outcomes. 

Pinpointing good goal accounts with the assistance of intent knowledge

When navigating by way of the multitude of potential prospects, intent knowledge may help you slender down your goal accounts—these accounts which can be going to learn from what it’s a must to provide and convey essentially the most worth in your efforts. However how do you do that?

Step one to figuring out your goal accounts utilizing intent knowledge is to outline your Perfect Buyer Profile (ICP). 

An Perfect Buyer Profile (ICP) is an in depth description of a hypothetical buyer who would get essentially the most worth out of your services or products and offer you essentially the most worth in return.

Your ICP is the theoretical embodiment of your good buyer—the shopper that can see essentially the most worth in your resolution.

By cross-referencing your ICP with intent knowledge, you possibly can make sure that your advertising and marketing efforts are aimed on the most related and probably rewarding targets.

This could considerably improve the effectivity and effectiveness of your advertising and marketing actions. Intent knowledge can be utilized to validate and refine this profile, guaranteeing that you’re directing your advertising and marketing efforts towards organizations that can deliver essentially the most worth.

Gartner reminds us that entrepreneurs shouldn’t be creating an ICP only for the enjoyable of it:

“ICP growth just isn’t an educational train. It’s a plan for motion. Now that it’s full, the ICP have to be shared throughout your entire group and embedded into gross sales and advertising and marketing packages.”

We’ve already warned in opposition to relying too closely on intent knowledge or utilizing it in a vacuum to make choices and create methods. Firmographic knowledge, which a majority (86%) of B2B organizations contemplate to be no less than considerably necessary when constructing a goal account record for account-based advertising and marketing, is one type of knowledge you shouldn’t ignore. 

Coupling intent knowledge with firmographic knowledge akin to firm measurement, trade, location, and income may help you additional refine your record of goal accounts,

You’ll additionally wish to contemplate the shopping for phases your goal accounts are in. You should utilize intent knowledge to determine these prospects which can be actively researching options in your trade.

Extra importantly, you possibly can prioritize accounts based mostly on their degree of engagement and chance to transform. These are the accounts you wish to be sure that are included in your record of goal accounts.

Zooming in on essentially the most promising accounts utilizing intent knowledge

Intent knowledge not solely helps you slender down your goal accounts but in addition means that you can determine essentially the most promising ones. Listed below are some issues to maintain an eye fixed out for that can show you how to pinpoint these accounts with essentially the most potential:

1. Lively analysis: Intent knowledge can be utilized to identify which accounts are actively researching subjects pertinent to your services or products. Purchaser-level intent knowledge goes a step additional and informs you about who inside an account is doing that analysis.

   This degree of perception will come in useful when laying out your messaging and outreach to your goal accounts.

2. Sustained curiosity: Whilst you wish to maintain your eyes peeled for these prospects who’re actively researching what it’s a must to provide, it helps to go one step additional and search for sustained curiosity.

   Give precedence to accounts exhibiting continued curiosity over time, not simply occasional spikes in exercise. An account that’s constantly partaking together with your content material is extra prone to convert than one which solely exhibits curiosity as soon as.

   With regards to sustained content material engagement, findings from NetLine’s 2023 State of B2B Content material Consumption and Demand Report present that the consumption of sure content material (white papers, dwell webinars, and on-demand webinars) is extra probably related to rapid shopping for choices.

   Likewise, if an government is doing the consuming, this exhibits a better chance of a right away shopping for resolution, which is why buyer-level intent knowledge is so necessary.

3. Competitor Engagement: In an ideal world, potential patrons would go to your web site, take a look at what you might have on provide, and instantly resolve to get in touch with gross sales to begin the acquisition course of.

   Realistically, patrons are going to completely analysis their choices earlier than transferring ahead to investing into an answer.

   This, too, is a chance. Intent knowledge may help you notice these accounts which can be partaking together with your competitor’s content material and visiting their web sites. These accounts are probably contemplating options like yours and could possibly be prime targets in your advertising and marketing efforts.

4. Excessive Intent, Low Engagement: Lastly, intent knowledge may help you determine accounts that suit your ICP and have a excessive chance of changing. These could possibly be accounts that aren’t but engaged together with your model however have demonstrated excessive intent to buy.

Constructing higher purchaser personas utilizing intent knowledge as your blueprint

To profit from intent knowledge, it’s important to have well-defined purchaser personas. 

SurveyMonkey defines purchaser personas as “descriptions of every of your goal prospects, based mostly on buyer and client analysis. Every persona describes a unique fictional purchaser who embodies the demographics, ache factors, shopping for behaviors, and motivations of a selected market section.” 

Purchaser personas differ from ICPs as they’re on the customer degree, whereas in B2B an ICP is predicated extra on an account or group you want to goal.

For instance, here’s a purchaser persona template supplied by UXPressia: 

The instance above is only one of many instance purchaser personas that may be discovered on-line. The necessary factor is that any persona that you simply create must be custom-made to your group.

Let’s take a fast take a look at some attainable parts to incorporate in a purchaser persona and examples of what inquiries to ask whereas creating them:

Intent knowledge can be utilized to validate and refine these personas, ensuring they precisely replicate your patrons. It could actually additionally show you how to determine new purchaser personas based mostly on the precise subjects and key phrases your goal accounts are researching.

Furthermore, intent knowledge can present helpful insights into the distinctive wants and ache factors of every purchaser persona, permitting you to personalize your messaging accordingly. Keep in mind, your purchaser personas must be dynamic, and you must constantly replace them based mostly on new insights gleaned from intent knowledge.

Purchaser-level Intent Permits You to Go From Persona to Particular person A

Certain, it’s a cheeky approach of claiming that intent knowledge means that you can get extra granular. Extra particularly, buyer-level intent knowledge means that you can transfer on from personas and focus extra on the individuals it introduces you to. 

There’s nothing flawed with utilizing personas to information your advertising and marketing strategy. We extremely advocate B2B entrepreneurs use Viewers Explorer to do that, in actual fact. It’s essential, nonetheless, that after you have found who your prospects and patrons truly are, that you will need to transfer past the persona.

Personas are a terrific compass whenever you’re first beginning out. However when you’ve gotten your fingers on a GPS sign, you’re much better off following these actions relatively than basing your strategy on an outdated methodology.

Decoding purchaser wants and ache factors utilizing intent knowledge

This could’t be overstated. By understanding your prospects’ wants and ache factors, you possibly can craft advertising and marketing messages that actually resonate, addressing their particular considerations and illustrating how your services or products can clear up their issues. 

Understanding the wants and ache factors of your prospects is essential to creating advertising and marketing messaging that resonates. Intent knowledge is a gold mine of insights for figuring out these, together with different potential insights.

Analyzing the precise subjects and key phrases your goal accounts are researching will show you how to determine what issues they’re attempting to resolve.

Associated to purchaser wants and ache factors is the place your goal accounts are of their purchaser’s journey. Intent knowledge may help point out the place your purchaser is of their journey.

Combining this info with the recognized ache factors will show you how to tailor your content material and messaging to the precise wants every account has and align it with the place they’re of their journey.

Trying extra broadly, analyzing patterns in intent knowledge may also reveal wider market developments and alternatives. Moreover, intent knowledge may help you determine new purchaser personas and tailor your messaging to those newfound viewers segments.

By profiting from all that intent knowledge has to supply, entrepreneurs can ship extra certified leads and have a tangible impression on the gross sales pipeline.

The data gleaned from intent knowledge supplies unparalleled insights into purchaser behaviors, wants, and ache factors, enabling companies to tailor their advertising and marketing efforts for optimum impression.

Able to take your B2B advertising and marketing technique to the following degree?

Discover NetLine’s buyer-level intent options and uncover how we may help you profit from intent knowledge. And for those who discovered this put up useful, try our different posts on the subject of buyer-level intent knowledge.