What Is Buyer Intent?
Signals that a prospect is actively in a buying cycle for a product or service.
Buyer intent refers to the collection of signals that indicate a prospect or account is actively moving toward a purchase decision. While intent data is the raw information, buyer intent is the interpreted conclusion: this account is in-market and ready for engagement.
Buyer intent signals fall into several categories. Research signals include consuming content about your category, reading product comparisons, and visiting review sites. Engagement signals include repeated website visits, pricing page views, and demo requests. Organizational signals include new funding rounds, leadership changes, and technology purchases that precede buying your type of solution.
For demand gen professionals, identifying buyer intent early is the difference between proactive and reactive pipeline building. If you can identify accounts showing intent before they fill out a form, you can reach them before your competitors do. This is the core value proposition of platforms like 6sense and Bombora.
The challenge is separating genuine buying intent from general research. A company reading one article about CRM is not necessarily buying a CRM. But a company where five people have read CRM comparison articles, visited three vendor websites, and searched for 'CRM migration' in the past two weeks is almost certainly in-market.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is buyer intent different from intent data?
Intent data is the raw signal (someone consumed content about a topic). Buyer intent is the conclusion drawn from multiple signals: this account is actively in a buying cycle. Intent data is an input; buyer intent is the output.
What are the strongest buyer intent signals?
Pricing page visits, demo requests, competitor comparison searches, and multi-stakeholder engagement from the same account are the strongest signals. The more specific and action-oriented the signal, the higher the intent.