Marketing and sales teams are ever on the lookout for signals from prospects that indicate a readiness to make a purchase or be guided into making one. Intent data (a collection of behavioural information about an individual’s online activity that indicates a likelihood to engage further with your brand or even make a purchase) reflects what exactly the prospect is looking for and where they are on the buyer journey.
All this data provides a unique opportunity for businesses to understand and leverage customer insights, as it is extremely useful for making decisions about where to focus marketing/sales efforts. To boost conversions, it is imperative to implement strategies that engage prospects who are in buying mode for a particular product or service.
How do you know when a consumer might be ready to make a purchase? Through the data they create and share. This data can make marketers better equipped to make useful predictions.
In this post, we’ll walk you through 3 ways to boost conversions with marketing intent signals.
But first, it might be useful to state that there are different types of intent data as seen below:
First-party data – (also referred to as Internal intent data) is the data directly captured by a company from site visitors and known contacts. It includes every interaction with their marketing automation platform (Email, social channels, website etc.)
The Facebook pixel code installed on a website for example is one way to gather first-party intent data as it helps teams understand the actions people take on a website.
Predictive-scoring providers are often able to create scoring models that utilise a company’s internal data to identify which prospects are ready to make some kind of purchase.
Predictive behavioral models delve deep into marketing automation systems to model and take advantage of every snapshot of a prospect’s behavior. These models can then help predict which prospects are entering “buying mode” and as such help Marketers determine the right way and moment to invest time and effort. .
Third-party data – is collected from all over the internet through providers and is usually mined using three approaches: reverse IP lookup, user registration and cookies. The data collected by these providers could show things like the content users download or articles they read.
Both types can be applied in many different ways by marketing and sales teams to guide their efforts. With intent based marketing for example, companies can determine how engaged an audience is and when to make specific moves.
Now, let’s look at some ways in which marketers can leverage intent data to drive conversions.
Targeted Advertising
Targeted advertising delivers promotional messaging to prospects in line with their demographics, previous buying history or preferences without which (as research has shown that) “over 50% of prospective customers turn out to be a mismatch for businesses.
However, with the use of intent data, Marketers can send personalised messaging to the right audience based on the data collected about them, making the cost of advertising significantly lower. Showing relevant offers to the right audience can drive higher conversion rates and boost ROI.
Personalised Messaging
Marketers can leverage intent data to identify any gaps in the messaging they have sent out based on how prospects respond to it and then create personalised messaging that matches what potential customers are already looking for.
Serving personalised content can incentivise prospects to take specific desired actions which takes them one step further through the buyer’s journey. For example, marketers can personalise which products a customer is interested in and accordingly send them coupons to influence/increase the likelihood of them purchasing that specific product.
This is usually an automated process that uses software to reach consumers at the appropriate stage in their buyer’s journey.
Improved Marketing Performance
By using intent data, marketers can build a solid, data-driven marketing strategy that focuses on emerging trends and current buyer personas. Intent data is a perfect blend of external and internal data that gives you a clear picture of who your prospects are and the traits that are unique to them.
Marketing teams can keep tabs on the data and use it to craft campaigns that are likely to yield a high return on investment. “Intent marketing has proven to be an essential strategy for marketing teams to effectively engage their customers. Using big data strategies to find signals of intent is a great way to get the most benefits from intent marketing for any brand.
Used correctly, intent data can be one of the most potent tools in a marketer's arsenal for driving user behaviour and boosting conversion rates. Brands cannot afford to ignore user intent data as leveraging it can yield higher brand preference and a lasting competitive advantage.
Pondering a person’s intent purchase is not a new concept, however, with the evolution of technology and as we see customers sharing more data, marketers have become better equipped to deliver more engaging campaigns thus being able to increase conversions.
In Conclusion
Leveraging intent data is very useful for boosting conversions but marketing teams must employ a holistic strategy and remain consistent with implementing their marketing goals in order to reach as many consumers as possible within their pre-defined target audience.
