Intent data is information about the topics a buyer is researching, signaling that they may be in-market for a product. In B2B, intent is what turns a static target account list into a dynamic priority queue: the same account ranks differently this week than last because somebody on the buying committee just read three articles about your category.
First-party versus third-party intent
First-party intent is what your own properties capture: page visits, pricing-page time, demo requests, content downloads, gated webinar registrations. It is high-quality, low-volume, and yours alone.
Third-party intent is research activity collected across a publisher network. Bombora, G2, TrustRadius, 6sense, and Demandbase all sell flavors of it. It is lower-quality per signal but covers accounts that have never visited your site. Used together with firmographic fit, it identifies accounts that are in-market but not yet aware of you.
How buying intent is measured
The standard approach is topic-based scoring. A vendor maintains a taxonomy of topics (“CRM,” “data warehouse,” “revenue intelligence”). They observe how often people from a given company read content on each topic compared to baseline. When the rate spikes meaningfully above baseline, the account “shows intent” on that topic. The score is usually a 0-100 number relative to peer companies.
How to actually use it
Three plays cover most of the value:
- Prioritize outbound. Sort the target account list by intent score this week, work the top of the list first.
- Trigger ad spend. When an account hits a topic threshold, push them into a high-budget retargeting segment.
- Inform sales conversations. Show the AE which topics are surging at the account so the first call references the right pain.
The teams that get the most value treat intent as a tiebreaker, not a primary qualifier. Fit first, then intent ranks within fit.
Common pitfalls
- Treating noise as signal. Topic taxonomies are messy. “CRM” intent fires on accounts researching their existing CRM, not yours. Validate which topics actually predict closed-won.
- Acting too late. Intent decays. By the time a quarterly business review surfaces “high intent” accounts, the deal is in someone else’s pipeline. Run intent in weekly or daily cadence.
- Buying intent without ICP. Every account shows some intent on something. Intent without an ICP filter is a long, expensive list.
Related
- Signal-based selling — the broader motion
- ABM tiers — the tiering layer where intent applies
- 6sense — leading intent provider