How to Use Data to Increase B2B Sales

An important statistic: 74% of B2B customers conduct 50% of their online research before making offline purchases. Given this, it’s better to find them—and ideally nurture them—while they’re conducting research.

How? By using intent data, B2B marketers can understand whether someone is interested in purchasing your product or signing up for your services.

B2B intent data is a set of information about a user’s online intention to purchase a product or service from you or a competitor. It helps you determine whether a potential customer is actively seeking a solution you offer, so you can nurture them and move them further down your funnel through:

Creating relevant content
Personalizing marketing messages
Providing a seamless customer experience

B2B intent data provides you with purchase signals from your potential customers, which may include the following:

Searching for keywords relevant to your business
Requesting a quote
Scheduling a demo
Signing up for a free trial
Downloading gated content

There are two types of B2B purchase intent data: first-party data and third-party data. Together, they provide a picture of your potential customers’ online activity and give you context about your prospect’s journey. As a result, you can take action to nurture these leads and transform them into actual customers!

First-party data is data that your organization has collected and stored in your databases and tools. It includes data about your website traffic and interactions with social media pages.

Contact details collected from lead forms on your website are also first-party intent data. If a website visitor filled out a “Request a Quote” form, they likely want to learn more about one of your offerings.

Your website analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and marketing automation platform are sources of first-party intent data.

Here are some examples of first-party B2B purchase intent data sources:

Website lead forms: Sign-ups for free trials, quote requests, or demo bookings.
Actions taken on your website or app: Visiting your product pages and requesting access to gated content.
Ad clicks: Customer requests to learn more about your offerings.
Interactions with social media pages: Following your brand page, sharing your posts, or liking your content.
CRM and marketing automation platforms: Including lead scoring and NPS survey results.

Third-party intent data is data that your organization has not collected and stored in your own systems. Instead, this type of intent data comes from third-party sources.

Third-party intent data provides information about a potential customer’s online activity not conducted on your website. It gives you an idea of your prospects’ other interests, including the possibility that they are visiting your competitors’ websites.

For B2B companies, providing a personalized experience and a seamless customer journey is critical to closing deals. Thanks to B2B intent data, you know what your potential customers are searching for online and which of your products interest them.

Here’s how you can use B2B intent data:

Offer a personalized customer journey for your potential customers
Provide targeted ads
Implement informed account-based marketing (ABM) strategies
Attribute marketing campaigns to business results

When you better understand your audience, you communicate more effectively. B2B intent data reveals your potential customers’ pain points and the solutions they’re seeking online. You can use B2B intent data to personalize your marketing messages, headlines, and calls to action for your website visitors.

For example, suppose you offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) for doctors and hospitals. Your B2B potential customer’s purchase intent data indicates that a particular visitor comes from a medical practice.

Instead of a generic description of your product and how it can help medical practices and hospitals, you can display personalized marketing messages for medical professionals. This way, the website visitor will feel that you understand their needs and can provide a solution.

B2B purchase intent data fuels your advertising. Which ads do they click on? Which headlines grab their attention?

With answers to these questions, you can further refine your advertising messages and copy for prospects and audiences interested in your business!

ABM is a B2B marketing strategy that focuses on personalized, targeted campaigns for specific accounts and customers. B2B purchase intent data identifies accounts interested in your products and those of your competitors, so you can run campaigns to nurture and convert these accounts.

Additionally, B2B purchase intent data allows you to identify new accounts that are looking for offerings similar to yours. For example, if an online user posts on LinkedIn about their need for a service or product, you can add them to your account list, run campaigns for that user, and engage with them later.

We can therefore conclude that B2B purchase intent data helps you identify which marketing campaigns generate sales and business results. It also allows you to know which content on your website attracts your target audience and what drives them to move along your funnel.