There’s a reason you get ads for the running shoes you left in your cart while online shopping. 

It’s easier to sell to someone who’s already shown interest in a product compared to someone who doesn’t even know it exists.

That’s the premise of intent-based marketing. Intent data—data based on a customer’s online behaviors—takes the guesswork out of marketing. 

What Is Intent-Based Marketing?

Intent-based marketing is when you create a highly personalized marketing experience by targeting people based on what they intend to do. This marketing approach targets a narrow audience who have already shown interest in a topic or product, or have demonstrated intent to buy. 

For example, someone who searches for “best accounting software” is likely in the research phase of their buying journey. But someone who searches for something more specific like “QuickBooks vs. FreshBooks” and also visits the pricing pages for each has narrowed down their options and is most likely ready to purchase. 

Why Intent-Based Marketing Matters

Here are the top results intent-based marketing can bring to your marketing and sales strategies: 

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  Higher conversion rates: Intent data allows you to target prospects based on which stage of the buyer journey they’re in. If they’re already interested or ready to purchase, they’re more likely to click, buy, or engage, increasing the chance they’ll convert. 

  
  
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  More efficient ad spend: You get the most ROI from ads that are highly targeted. In fact, data shows ads that use intent data are 2.5 times more efficient than campaigns without.

  
  
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  Better alignment between marketing and sales: When you use buyer intent data to hone in on a narrow audience and ideal customer, marketing and sales collaborate more efficiently. 

  
  
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  Improved customer experience: When a customer receives content that is highly targeted and relevant for them, they’re more likely to see value in the ad or marketing content. 

  
  

What Does the Data Say About Intent-Based Marketing?

Intent-based marketing sounds like a winning strategy, but is it actually effective? The data indicates that it is.  

According to a report from Mixology Digital, 94% of B2B marketers say their lead conversion rate increases when they use intent data. 

The reason intent data is so effective is because it helps marketers improve personalization and nurture workflows. When 71% of customers expect personalized interactions from companies, this is essential.

Where Do You Get Intent Data From?

Intent data is powerful, but only if you’re looking for it in the right places. There are a few ways to get intent data about your ICP—from third-party providers to your own first-party sources. 

Third-Party Intent Data Providers

Third-party data providers collect buyer data using external sources or by maintaining their databases. Intent-based marketing tools track behavior online and then use those signals to score lead intent. You can then use this data to send prospects targeted ads or create personalized content.

Bombora and G2 are examples of B2B intent data platforms. Bombora collects off-site data across its network of over 5,000 B2B websites, while G2 tracks the activity of its readers. 

To illustrate how they work, let’s say a customer is researching accounting software solutions. They might visit several websites or download a whitepaper that dives deeper into the topic. Next, they visit a product comparison page showing the differences between QuickBooks and FreshBooks. Analyzing all of these actions, a third-party tool may label this prospect’s behavior as “high intent.” 

Third-party data providers provide actionable insights that you can apply to your sales and content strategy right away. B2B sales and marketing teams can use this intent data to generate leads, build target account lists, and prioritize marketing efforts based on intent signals. 

First-Party Intent Data 

First-party intent data is information you collect about prospects directly from your own audience and internal sources, not third-party sources. This data is usually gathered from digital marketing results, sales data, and customer feedback. 

First-party intent data includes any of the following: 

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  Website analytics like web page visits, link clicks, and time on site 

  
  
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  Content downloads like whitepapers and ebooks

  
  
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  Webinar sign-ups 

  
  
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  Sales email engagements 

  
  
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  Demo requests 

  
  

One consideration of using first-party data is that, compared to third-party tools that have access to broad, massive databases, the sample size is smaller. But what it may lack in size, it makes up for in accuracy. 

First-party data is highly personalized and exclusive to your company, which can give you a competitive edge in your industry. 

Another thing to keep in mind when using first-party data is that you’ll have to conduct lead scoring yourself. 

Lead qualification is a detailed and refined process on its own, but here are some quick examples of how to categorize different interactions based on intent: 

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  Low intent: Prospect reads blog posts or downloads an ebook 

  
  
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  Medium intent: Prospect visits case study pages or signs up for a webinar 

  
  
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  High intent: Prospect visits product comparison page, visits pricing page, or requests a demo

  
  

You can also use AI for lead generation and scoring. Artisan automatically scores leads based on internal behavioral data and third-party data sources. Ava, Artisan’s AI BDR, then prioritizes the highest-intent leads for targeted follow-up outreach. 

Search Intent 

Search intent data looks at SEO and PPC signals. It’s not always possible to tie keyword queries to specific leads (privacy restrictions are fairly tight), but you can sometimes connect the dots. 

To gauge intent based on search signals, take a look at the specific, high-intent keywords you’re targeting or ranking for, either organically or through PPC. Where possible, use UTM tracking (for ads) and website session monitoring to identify keyword queries used by leads.

Behavioral Intent 

A great example of behavioral intent data is website engagement. 

Use Google Analytics or Hotjar to see which pages and content prospects engage with on your website. Page views, frequency of visits, form submissions, and click-through rates all help you understand a prospect’s intent and position in their buyer journey. 

Website engagement signals to look for include: 

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  Frequent page visits (especially if it’s your pricing page)

  
  
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  Visiting case studies or product comparison pages 

  
  
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  Downloading whitepapers or ebooks 

  
  
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  Using free tools (i.e., ROI or pricing calculator)

  
  
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  Requesting a demo

  
  
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  Using the live chat feature 

  
  

For example, if a potential client frequently visits your pricing page, this tells you that they’re already interested in your product and are likely ready to make a purchase soon.

This indicates that they could be a high-intent buyer and gives you an opportunity to reach out or target them with personalized content. 

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Buying Intent 

Buying intent is the strongest signal that your prospects are actively looking to purchase or ready to make a decision. 

Most buying intent signals are sourced from first-party data. Sales teams are very keen on tracking this data and will prioritize leads they perceive as having high buyer intent. 

Here are the main buying intent signals:

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  Sales collateral: If a lead has downloaded bottom-of-funnel sales collateral, like technical specifications, they are likely nearing a purchase decision. 

  
  
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  Demo requests: A demo request indicates that leads are either sampling your product to make sure it’s suitable or actively considering options. 

  
  
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  Email engagement: A strong buying signal is not only being responsive to sales communication but also asking questions about the product, pricing, or use cases. 

  
  
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  Product usage: If a prospect is actively using their free trial, identify how they’re interacting with it. Have they invited other team members to use it? Have they shown interest in paid features?

  
  

Best Practices for Implementing an Intent-Based Marketing Strategy

Let's look at how to identify high-intent targets, segment them effectively, run tailored, automated outreach, and refine even more with A/B testing.

Step 1: Identify and Track Intent Signals

While there are several places to source intent data from, not all intent signals carry equal significance for your company. The intent signals you choose to track depend on your business, industry, and customer. 

Here’s how to pick the right intent signals for your business: 

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   Identify your target audience: Your target audience goes beyond the companies you’re trying to target. You also need detailed demographic, psychographic, and technographic data for your buyer personas to understand their intent signals on a personal level.

   
   
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   Understand your sales cycle: The average sales cycle depends on several factors, including your industry, product, and vertical. For shorter sales cycles—which are common for B2C businesses—immediate intent signals like add-to-cart rate are more important. Longer sales cycles take into account multiple intent signals over time.

   
   
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   Understand your customer behavior: Do they spend a lot of time conducting independent research online, or would they rather learn about a product by gathering recommendations on social media? Knowing how and where your customers engage with content helps you create a tailored marketing experience for them.

   
   

Lead databases can help you collect this data so you don’t have to manually identify customer demographics and behaviors. 

Artisan’s comprehensive B2B database, for example, includes a comprehensive set of lead data drawn from multiple web sources, including LinkedIn, directories, and public sources. 

Step 2: Segment and Prioritize High-Intent Prospects

Next, you’ll need to categorize your leads based on intent. The typical way to prioritize leads in sales is by identifying them as MQL, SAL, and SQL. 

From a marketing perspective, another way to segment your leads is by analyzing what content they engage with in the traditional content marketing funnel. 

For instance, low-intent prospects probably engage with ToFu content, medium-intent prospects engage with MoFu content, and high-intent buyers engage with BoFu content. 

Here’s how to categorize quality leads based on their engagement level and buying signals:

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  Low intent: A prospect engages with a LinkedIn post, so you set up a retargeting ad.

  
  
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  Medium intent: A prospect downloads your whitepaper, so you add them to a lead nurturing campaign. 

  
  
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  High intent: A prospect requests a demo so your sales team personally reaches out.

  
  

Step 3: Personalize Your Marketing and Sales Outreach

Whether you’re crafting a cold email to a potential client or using sales outreach tools, you should be using intent data to create personalized sales campaigns. 

Using the lead segmentation and categorization you’ve already set up, conduct personalized outreach for prospects, prioritizing high-intent leads. 

Here’s how to create hyper-personalized campaigns:

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  Analyze the prospect’s buying signals.

  
  
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  Decide the channel you want to use for outreach, whether that’s a targeted ad or personal email. 

  
  
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  Use intent data to tailor your message based on their actions. 

  
  

When creating targeted ads, there are several formats you can use. If the data tells you that the prospect spent time comparing your product to a competitors’, then you could create a PPC ad that links to a comparison page on your site, for instance. 

Step 4: Use Automation and AI for Smarter Engagement

AI is transforming the sales process, specifically when it comes to the amount of manual engagement required. A study by HubSpot found that 64% of sales leaders use AI to automate manual processes. 

Additionally, AI is changing how we collect and use data. That same study found that 52% of sales leaders use AI to save time on data analysis.

AI can and should be used to automate the sales process, but it can also help you conduct hyper-targeted outreach and increase engagement. 

As an example, here’s how you can use Artisan’s BDR, Ava, to automate your outbound workflow: 

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  Comprehensive lead research: Ava automatically collects technographic, firmographic, demographic, intent, and personal interest data about your prospects. 

  
  
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  Campaign setup: Ava sets up outreach campaigns to target your ideal customer profile across email and LinkedIn. 

  
  
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  Personalized outreach: Using all of the lead data she mined, Ava creates personalized messages to use for email and LinkedIn. 

  
  

Step 5: Test, Optimize, and Refine Your Strategy

As with any sales or marketing strategy, your intent-based strategy won’t be perfect right off the bat. 

You’ll need to test your strategy, then optimize and refine until you get the results you want. 

Here’s how to A/B test your ideas:

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  Choose a customer persona. 

  
  
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  Pick two intent signals to focus on. 

  
  
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  Track one intent signal for each half of the market segment. 

  
  
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  Track engagement and interactions. 

  
  
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  Measure and compare conversion rates for each segment. 

  
  

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Examples of Intent-Based Marketing in Action

To use intent-based marketing effectively, it helps to see real-life applications. Use these examples as inspiration for your marketing efforts. 

1. Engaging Warm Leads With LinkedIn Outreach

LinkedIn is a great source for lead generation and prospect engagement. 

Sales teams use LinkedIn engagement data such as profile views, post interactions, and link clicks to identify prospects who show buying intent. 

To illustrate, here’s an example of a targeted message sent through LinkedIn. Not only is the message personalized to the prospect’s business, but it also includes a downloadable asset.

A sales leader could analyze the interactions on this message—open rate, responses, content downloads—to gauge intent. 

2. Sending Personalized Email Campaigns to Demo Requesters

A demo request or request for pricing information are two of the strongest buying intent signals for B2B companies. 

To capitalize on these signals, sales must send personalized emails and tailored content to prospects after they’ve shown initial interest. 

For instance, this personalized email is a response to a demo request for Iterative. It’s a relatively straightforward confirmation, but it also builds trust by showcasing clients and case studies. 

3. Retargeting Cart Abandoners

Retargeting campaigns are a smart way to re-engage customers who showed purchasing intent. Marketers can use personalized email reminders, discounts, or retargeting ads to bring customers back after they abandoned their cart, requested samples, or stopped short of clicking the final buy button. 

For example, ecommerce company Rudy’s sends an email to customers with a free shipping code if they abandon their cart. 

This is not only an effective way to get the attention of a customer who dropped off during the purchase process, but discounts are proven to attract clicks and conversions. 

A study by Statista found that online deals that provide coupons receive 125% more clicks per day. They also had higher conversion rates and sales per click than those without discounts. 

4. Targeting High-Intent Searchers With PPC Ads

Creating targeted ads to meet search intent is an effective way to meet potential customers where they are. 

Businesses can conduct keyword research and use Google Ads to identify users actively searching for solutions. The more specific the search term, the higher the purchase intent is. 

For instance, a SaaS company bidding on keywords like "best CRM for small businesses" would likely use PPC to show highly relevant ads to decision-makers. To reach high-intent customers, the company could also target highly specific keywords such as “Monday.com vs. the competition.” 

AI Is Changing How Companies Use Intent Data

There’s a lot that goes into creating a highly targeted marketing strategy. The more buying signals you have, the higher your chance of connecting with the right customers at the right time and place.

But there’s also another factor at play. Sales and marketing teams are increasingly using AI to help automate their campaigns and outreach efforts. 

Tools like Artisan make it easier than ever to collect intent data and generate high-quality leads at scale. Not only does AI BDR Ava analyze hundreds of millions of B2B profiles, but she also creates automated multi-channel outreach to target your ICP. 

Automate your outbound with AI employees

Equip your team with the best-in-class outbound tools and our AI BDR Ava, who automates your entire outbound workflow.

Yes! I want to book a demo.