Predict B2B Prospect Behavior With Intent-Based Marketing

User intent data provides B2B marketers with a formidable system for identifying ideal customers and influencing their buying journey.

This in turn, positively impacts the company’s return on investment, pipeline growth, and other key metrics, according to the data.

In ways very similar to predictive analytics, intent-based marketing helps you predict user behaviour based on the data collected from the user.

The difference between intent-based marketing [IBM] and predictable prospecting is that IBM looks at:

User’s current actions
User’s past actions
Predicts the user’s next action based on 1, 2.

Finally, while the decision is being taken, you stream marketing messages that influence the purchase decision.

To measure performance, the most beneficial intent-based marketing strategy includes two types of data:

First-party data sources [that which comes from the company’s analytics]
Third-party data suppliers [that which bought from others]

Most companies just focus on the interactions on the company’s owned and operated platforms.

While this is necessary, you get a more comprehensive picture of consumer intent when you integrate data from third-party data sources.

You can deliver customised campaigns, recommendations, and advertisements to B2B users by employing an intent-data-driven approach.

You then streamline operations by combining this with marketing automation, personalisation, and tools such as Salesforce and Hubspot.

This allows you to streamline your operations even further.

Using a highly targeted approach, you make marketing processes more effective and efficient. This results in a higher return on investment [ROI]

#1. What Exactly Is “User Intent,” And Why Is It Important?

In the context of online users, “user intent” refers to the identification and categorisation of the next action that they are likely to take.

Intent was initially used in the SEO world to describe what a user intended to do when typing in the search bar.

SEO Intent was classified as transactional, informational, commercial and navigational.

This intent classification quickly spread to the B2C and, more recently, to the B2B marketing industry as well.

User intent, when used in lead generation, has the potential to be more effective than predictive prospecting methods alone.

Marketers may utilise intent data obtained from internet users to reliably determine when they are in the process of making a purchasing decision.

A unique opportunity to deliver marketing messages at the precise time to positively influence the purchase decision, happens as a result of this.

Implementing effective intent monitoring processes helps a company predict what a prospective B2B customer is expected to do next in their sales cycle.

When intent data is consolidated with historical information such as websites visited and content read or downloaded, marketers can gain a clear picture of the consumer, even when a transaction has not taken place.

All of this information can be combined, cleansed, and aggregated to create an ideal consumer profile, which serves as the foundation for determining what users want.

In response to the advances in technology and big data, marketing approaches that are based on user intent have progressed at an even faster rate than before.

When it comes to B2B marketplaces, intent-based marketing practices have become increasingly popular as marketers strive to maximise return on investment by improving conversion rates as efficiently as possible.

Research shows that more than 80 percent of today’s B2B CMOs are capitalising in technology in order to collect and optimise buyer intent data to enhance their companies’ profitability.

#2. Increased Profitability With Intent Based Marketing

It is possible to increase return on investment (ROI) by incorporating B2B user intent into marketing strategies. This allows the team to concentrate their efforts on tasks that are the most productive for them.

Since it detects ideal customers and alerts them when they appear to be in the process of buying, it takes the speculation out of marketing and sales promotions.

How? By recognising target clients and alerting them when they appear to be in the process of making a buying decision.

Marketers can use high-value intent data to target the most qualified leads and prioritise them more effectively.

They can also develop targeted campaigns that are more likely to convert at the exact moment a customer is considering making a purchasing decision, rather than at a later time.

Data-driven prospecting strategies are designed to increase the efficiency of the team’s activities. They also lower operating expenses and increase the return on investment.

Marketers can demonstrate the value of their intent-based marketing programmes and gain buy-in from their organisations by presenting validated results.

#3. Intent-Based Marketing For B2B

The online trail left behind by a B2B consumer during a website visit is from where you gather intent data.

It includes things like

Searching for specific keywords in a search engine
Clicking on specific web links, and
Interacting with others on social media platforms

First Party Intent Data

First-party data, also known as internal data, is data that originates from internal, customer-facing platforms such as ERPs, CRMs, and websites.

They are completely free and, because they only contain historical information, they are generally accurate.

First-party data can only be used to infer a limited amount of information about user intent.

Second Party Intent Data

Second-party data is first-party data that comes from another company.

These data are not free, and they, like first-party data, provide only a limited amount of information about the intent of the user.

Third Party Intent Data

Third-party data comes from a variety of sources outside of the company, such as electronic publishers and ad exchange marketplaces.

Several third-party data providers are responsible for the collection, cleansing, and analysis of this information.

It is true that they are not free, but because the data covers 93 percent of the entire web, they provide access to massive amounts of information from a wide range of industries.

Marketers utilise these profiles to categorise their users or prospect pools, which they later use to target and customise advertisements and other promotional services.

Read:

#4. Best Method: Combine Third-Party Data And First-Party Data

To help you understand the importance of third-party data and the differences between first- and third-party data, here are two scenarios in which a user visits a B2B website to buy a laser printer.

The identity of the user is protected. If you see this error message, it either means that there is no ERP or CRM account or that the user has not yet logged in.
The user is well-known, but he or she has made previous purchases on this website, including mobile phones

If only first-party data were used, the following results would be obtained:

For an anonymous user, user intent would be determined solely by current site activity, and as a result, only content recommendations would be delivered.

An understanding of the users’ intent can be derived from past information (mobile phones) and recent site activity for the known users.

If third-party data were to be used, the following would happen:

According to demographics and/or IP intelligence, anonymous users‘ intent would be determined based on their IP address.

Depending on the situation, a complete user profile may be accessible. The content would then be determined by the user’s profile as well as the current site activity.

Besides topics of current interest (such as printers), the content would also include personalised messages according to the user’s profile. It would take into account factors such as average dollars spent, products similar or close to those, and so forth.

User intent would be determined for the known user based on the profile discovered in third-party data as well. It would be necessary to deliver content that was highly customised again.

#5. Conclusion

User intent data provides B2B marketers with an effective system for identifying ideal customers.

Companies can deliver customised campaigns, recommendations, and advertisements by employing an intent-data-driven approach.

The combination of intent data with archival information such as websites visited and content read or downloaded gives marketers a complete picture of consumers.