A practitioner’s field guide to the behavioural signals that fuel modern B2B activation, why scoring beats counting, and the five questions every B2B marketer should ask
Intent data is one of the most misapplied tools in B2B right now. The signal tells you someone is researching a category — not that they're in an active buying cycle or that your timing is right. We need to treat intent as a sequencing trigger for content and engagement, not as a hand-raiser flag for SDR outreach.
Very salient points Matt. Third party data vendors commercial incentive is always aligned to bigger segment sizes which capture more impressions on a CPM model. This should be factored. Many categories are broad and intent sits, often, at that broader category level. So you’re left with buying committees in those segments seeking solutions within the sub verticals that can be very misaligned to what you sell even if they have high intent, as well as signal miscues and misleading signal.
There is real value in these signals when used judiciously but they’re not a silver bullet and I like your direction towards sequencing off them vs treating them as a go/buy today signal
Intent data is one of the most misapplied tools in B2B right now. The signal tells you someone is researching a category — not that they're in an active buying cycle or that your timing is right. We need to treat intent as a sequencing trigger for content and engagement, not as a hand-raiser flag for SDR outreach.
Very salient points Matt. Third party data vendors commercial incentive is always aligned to bigger segment sizes which capture more impressions on a CPM model. This should be factored. Many categories are broad and intent sits, often, at that broader category level. So you’re left with buying committees in those segments seeking solutions within the sub verticals that can be very misaligned to what you sell even if they have high intent, as well as signal miscues and misleading signal.
There is real value in these signals when used judiciously but they’re not a silver bullet and I like your direction towards sequencing off them vs treating them as a go/buy today signal