By Arko Chandra Published on : Jan 11, 2023
Customer intent has emerged over the past few years as one of the primary driving forces for B2B sales and marketing. As B2B brands aim to be more customer-centric to comprehend customer behaviors, intent data comes into the picture to ease things out for them; but what new does it have to offer, and how will it evolve with the ever-changing marketing dynamics?
Today, we are going to track and discuss how intent is going to shape the future of the B2B space.
Third-party intent data furnishes a broader view of the market and critical insights into the intent signals. Despite this, the current scenario is such that only 42% of marketers combine third-party data with first-party data (Source: OneMoreLead).
With third-party cookies set to leave in 2023, first-party data is going to be the one to move the needle for intent-based marketing. However, it lacks scope as that covered by third-party data. So, it’s only sensible that marketers integrate third-party data with first-party data to draw a clear, comprehensive picture of customer intent.
Cookies, form fills, webinar attendance, etc., are the typical sources to gather first-party intent data, and they work fine; however, interactive and gated content are surfacing as much subtler ways to drive voluntary intent data sharing. These exclusive content are far more effective considering the fact that these provide prospects with the resources and information they seek & want from brands.
Here’s how each plays out in favor of intent:
B2B brands can leverage personalized guides, surveys, and other content forms to collect customer data and utilize it to devise their marketing plan while simultaneously aiding buyers with crucial information that eases their journey all along.
These pieces capture user information and, in return, hand out specialized, detailed research reports, buying guides, case studies, etc. The data bagged assists brands in shaping their ICP.
As AI has already taken a leading role in the marketing space, it’s no secret that its ubiquity will transform how customer intent is gathered, analyzed, and applied to hit the marketing goals in the bull’s eye. Intent intelligence is a predictive term that covers AI/ML and customer intent and makes the intent data relevant at every point in time.
For example, customer data was gathered months ago, and parts of it are still relevant, while the rest is not valid anymore. In such cases, AI-based software can seek out new user information, merge it with the existing data, draw appropriate conclusions, and finally make it relevant for marketers.
An ongoing shift that we see is from using intent only in siloed groups to cultivating it to planning out the entire GTM strategy and understanding the state of target accounts. In most organizations, intent data is currently used by individual roles and/or teams, but it is rarely shared across functions. These siloes are barriers to mapping out a comprehensive GTM plan that entails all the metrics.
Moving forward, brands need to base their GTM planning on intent to get insights into their target accounts and take action on those insights while they still make sense.
Besides upping the marketing strategy for B2B brands, intent is capable of covering the organizational KPIs, namely customer satisfaction, revenue growth, upsell & cross-sell, etc. Empowered with precise KPIs, brands can take informed, error-free actions to improve their positions. This equation is a no-brainer - the more organized, accurate, and integrated intent data is, the better would be the KPI metrics.
The role and priority of intent are advancing as it’s becoming more of an essential ingredient in the entire demand generation process rather than just being used to hit the outbound sales numbers. As B2B brands tread on the path to becoming customer-first, understanding the true intention of customers and what drives them to interact with your brand will keep your brand ahead.
Customer intent has emerged over the past few years as one of the primary driving forces for B2B sales and marketing. As B2B brands aim to be more customer-centric to comprehend customer behaviors, intent data comes into the picture to ease things out for them; but what new does it have to offer, and how will it evolve with the ever-changing marketing dynamics?
Today, we are going to track and discuss how intent is going to shape the future of the B2B space.
Third-party intent data furnishes a broader view of the market and critical insights into the intent signals. Despite this, the current scenario is such that only 42% of marketers combine third-party data with first-party data (Source: OneMoreLead).
With third-party cookies set to leave in 2023, first-party data is going to be the one to move the needle for intent-based marketing. However, it lacks scope as that covered by third-party data. So, it’s only sensible that marketers integrate third-party data with first-party data to draw a clear, comprehensive picture of customer intent.
Cookies, form fills, webinar attendance, etc., are the typical sources to gather first-party intent data, and they work fine; however, interactive and gated content are surfacing as much subtler ways to drive voluntary intent data sharing. These exclusive content are far more effective considering the fact that these provide prospects with the resources and information they seek & want from brands.
Here’s how each plays out in favor of intent:
B2B brands can leverage personalized guides, surveys, and other content forms to collect customer data and utilize it to devise their marketing plan while simultaneously aiding buyers with crucial information that eases their journey all along.
These pieces capture user information and, in return, hand out specialized, detailed research reports, buying guides, case studies, etc. The data bagged assists brands in shaping their ICP.
As AI has already taken a leading role in the marketing space, it’s no secret that its ubiquity will transform how customer intent is gathered, analyzed, and applied to hit the marketing goals in the bull’s eye. Intent intelligence is a predictive term that covers AI/ML and customer intent and makes the intent data relevant at every point in time.
For example, customer data was gathered months ago, and parts of it are still relevant, while the rest is not valid anymore. In such cases, AI-based software can seek out new user information, merge it with the existing data, draw appropriate conclusions, and finally make it relevant for marketers.
An ongoing shift that we see is from using intent only in siloed groups to cultivating it to planning out the entire GTM strategy and understanding the state of target accounts. In most organizations, intent data is currently used by individual roles and/or teams, but it is rarely shared across functions. These siloes are barriers to mapping out a comprehensive GTM plan that entails all the metrics.
Moving forward, brands need to base their GTM planning on intent to get insights into their target accounts and take action on those insights while they still make sense.
Besides upping the marketing strategy for B2B brands, intent is capable of covering the organizational KPIs, namely customer satisfaction, revenue growth, upsell & cross-sell, etc. Empowered with precise KPIs, brands can take informed, error-free actions to improve their positions. This equation is a no-brainer - the more organized, accurate, and integrated intent data is, the better would be the KPI metrics.
The role and priority of intent are advancing as it’s becoming more of an essential ingredient in the entire demand generation process rather than just being used to hit the outbound sales numbers. As B2B brands tread on the path to becoming customer-first, understanding the true intention of customers and what drives them to interact with your brand will keep your brand ahead.
