You’ve Got Intent Data. Here’s How to Use It.

Intent data promises B2B marketing teams smarter ways to connect with prospects: not just by who they are, but by what their online behaviors say about their readiness to buy.

Sort of a sneak peek into your buyers' needs before they ever fill out a form. 

But here’s the catch—having all that data means nothing if you don’t know how to use it. In this article, we move beyond theory with actionable steps to put it to work: activating your intent data, aligning it with business goals, and measuring its impact across your teams. 

Why you need an intent data activation strategy 

Too many marketing teams find themselves sitting on a goldmine of intent insights with no clear path to action. 

The data may be flowing in—showing you which accounts are surging and which topics are trending. But without a plan for how to use intent data, it stays disconnected from the workflows and systems where your teams actually drive pipeline and revenue. 

You need an activation strategy that turns insights into measurable outcomes. And it starts with knowing what types of intent data you're working with.

Understanding where your intent data comes from 

First things first—know where your data is coming from and what it represents. Intent data typically falls into two categories: 

First-party intent data 

First-party data comes directly from your owned channels, like your website, email campaigns, webinar registration and participation, product trials, and chatbot interactions. 

• Why it’s valuable: It’s the highest quality intent data because it’s submitted directly by your potential buyers.
• Its limitations: It’s restricted to people who are already engaging with you, meaning it can miss early-stage buyers who haven’t landed on your site yet. 

Third-party intent data 

Third-party data is gathered outside your owned ecosystem using partnerships or providers like 6sense, ZoomInfo, or Cognism. It captures buyers’ off-site behaviors, such as searches for specific topics, reading reviews, or comparing solutions on external platforms. 

• Why it’s valuable: It gives you visibility into potential buyers in the early stages of research, even if they’ve never heard of you. 
• Its limitations: It can be less precise and may require additional validation to ensure relevancy. 

Assessing signals, context, and fit 

Not all intent signals are created equal. Knowing how to evaluate the context and value of your data is key to making it actionable. 

Signal types and context 

Intent signals can take many forms, including the topics or keywords being researched, content types consumed, and engagement patterns from different contacts at the same account. 

For example, someone reading a case study or comparison guide shows higher intent than someone skimming a blog post. Similarly, multiple people engaging from a single company is a strong buying signal. 

The value of these signals depends on their source, frequency, and recency.

• A one-off search from weeks ago? Probably not worth acting on. 
• A pattern of product-related topic surges from multiple people at the same target account within a few days? High-priority. 

Data fit

To focus on the right intent data, ask the following questions:

• Are the signals linked to contacts/accounts that match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)? 
• Do we see consistent engagement or just one-off spikes? 
• Are these signals tied to topics or behaviors relevant to our product or value proposition? 

The most useful intent data is first-party, contact-level, and high frequency, helping you prioritize accounts and shorten sales cycles. 

Aligning intent data with strategic objectives 

Before you activate intent data, you need clear objectives. What exactly do you want to achieve using intent data, and what does success look like for your organization? 

Common use cases for intent data 

Create pipeline: Identify net-new accounts and contacts indicating early buying behavior. 

Accelerate deals: Spot engagement signals from in-flight accounts and contacts, and tailor follow-ups to push deals forward. 

Expand accounts: Detect activity within existing accounts to uncover upsell and cross-sell opportunities. 

Prevent churn: Monitor competitor research or inactivity from current customers to act before they churn.

Set KPIs to measure impact 

For intent data to drive meaningful outcomes, align each use case with measurable KPIs. 

• Marketing: Increased campaign engagement, higher MQL quality and velocity, increased ROAS, reduced cost per lead. 
• Sales: Faster time-to-first-touch, increased connect rates, improved conversion rates. 
• Revenue: Shorter sales cycles, larger deal sizes, increase in pipeline influenced by intent.

Build a roadmap to success 

A successful intent data activation strategy begins with intentional, cross-departmental steps. Use this roadmap as a guide:

1. Data audit: Assess what intent data you already have access to. 
2. Pilot use case: Select an impactful starting point, like more precise ad targeting for tier one accounts.
3. Workflow buildout: Integrate intent into your CRM and scoring models.
4. Team rollout: Train your marketing and sales teams on what intent means for your company, and how to use those insights effectively.
5. Measure and refine: Track impact, evaluate what’s working (and what's not), and iterate on your approach regularly. 
6. Choose the next best use case, rinse, and repeat: Start back at step one to expand your use of intent data into the next most impactful program.

Integrating intent data into core systems

No one intent signal alone is enough to take action on. It works best when consistently stacked with other data and signals, and tracked over time. The real value emerges when it’s fully embedded into the tools your teams already use. 

Enrich contact and account records 

Add context to your CRM or customer data platform (CDP) by layering intent signals like trending topics, buying stage, and cross-channel activity.

Segment based on intent 

Divide audiences by interest area, buying stage, and intent intensity so you can take the right next step.

• Interest area or topic: Gauge which messages will be most relevant to serve each segment, whether in content, ads, emails, etc.
• Buying stage signals: Understand where an account or contact is in their journey, from research to comparison to decision.
• Intent intensity: Decide how to engage accounts and contacts at each level; for example: low = nurture, medium = marketing outreach, high = sales handoff

Activating intent across teams

So you want to turn intent data into actionable programs that drive pipeline and revenue? You've got to get sales, marketing, and RevOps all using it to power their programs, together.

How marketing teams can use intent data 

• Prioritize audiences: Focus marketing budget on accounts and contacts showing active intent; use intent tiers to determine channel mix or personalization depth.
• Tailored content and messaging: Serve assets (guides, videos, case studies) based on each segment's research topics.
• Dynamic campaigns: Use intent triggers to launch nurture sequences or relevant ads.
• Refined ad targeting: Deploy ads that match buyer stage and interests; boost ROAS by reaching contacts showing intent earlier in their journey.
• Surface sales-ready accounts and contacts: Hand off buyers to reps at the height of their intent.

How sales teams can use intent data 

• Prioritize based on behavior and urgency: Reps should focus on accounts showing high-intensity signals or researching key topics tied to your solution.
• Personalize outreach with context: Use signals to power smarter outreach, like referencing a buyer’s research topic in your email or tailoring a call script to match their interests.
• Build follow-up frameworks: Create structured workflows for responding to high-intent signals within 24 hours.
• Monitor churn risks: For account managers or customer success, competitor research or sudden drop-offs in engagement can serve as early-warning signs.

How RevOps can use intent data 

• Own the data pipeline: Make sure intent data flows cleanly between systems, is updated in real time, and doesn’t get siloed or stale.
• Strengthen scoring models: Embed intent insights into lead/account scoring frameworks so the hottest opportunities float to the top.
• Standardize workflows: Build and maintain automations, alerting rules, and dashboards that help GTM teams act quickly and consistently on signals.

Metrics to measure and optimize intent usage 

Once you’ve activated your intent data, it's time to track performance and decide where to optimize.

Metrics to focus on include:

• Conversion rates: How often are you converting MQLs or SQLs tied to high-intent signals? 
• Deal velocity: Are deals tied to intent data moving faster through the pipeline? 
• Pipeline influence: How much pipeline can be directly attributed to intent activation?
• Win rates: Are deals tied to intent data more likely to close? 
• Lead score adjustments: How much does intent data influence overall lead scoring?
• Content performance: Which types of content are most effective at capturing and activating high-intent signals?
• Channel effectiveness: Which channels are driving the most engagement with high-intent prospects?

Once you have a clear understanding of these metrics, you can optimize for max impact. Build a feedback loop with weekly team syncs or self-serve dashboards to refine your strategy. 

Common intent data pitfalls and how to avoid them

Intent data gets outdated, fast

Intent data represents a snapshot in time. Which means it becomes old and outdated quickly, leading to missed opportunities or incorrect assumptions.

Invest in intent tools that provide real-time alerts and frequent updates, so your data is always fresh and actionable.

Relying only on account-level data

Many third-party intent platforms focus only on account-level data, making it nearly impossible to know for sure who within the company is showing intent. This forces marketing teams to blow their budgets targeting entire companies in hopes of maybe reaching decision-makers and buying committees.

Look for intent tools that provide both account-level and contact-level data, so you can pinpoint exactly who exhibits intent and take the right (much more efficient) action.

Treating all signals equally 

Not all intent signals hold the same weight. A webinar registration from your target buyer is far more valuable than someone outside the buying committee reading a top-of-funnel blog post.

Layer multiple signal types—such as topics, keywords, job titles, industry, and intent intensity—and act only when there’s solid alignment with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Chasing the wrong signals 

Focusing on trending topics or keywords that don’t completely align with your product can send your targeting in the totally wrong direction.

Choose your topics and competitor research signals like you would your SEO or GEO keywords: align them directly with your product offerings, features, and use cases so you end up targeting qualified buyers.

Acting too late (or even too soon) 

Timing is everything. Waiting too long to engage can mean missed opportunities, while acting prematurely might drive prospects away before they’re ready to commit.

Find an intent tool that helps you visualize where each account and contact is in the buying journey, and develop workflows tied to each stage. That way, you're always reaching out at the right time with the right message.

Missing a feedback loop 

If you're not tracking intent-based outcomes and pipeline, it's nearly impossible to measure what works, what doesn't, and refine your strategy.

Establish feedback loops between marketing, sales, and ops so you can all analyze what converts and adjust accordingly.

Moving from account-level intent data to contact-level intent 

Moving from account-level to contact-level intent data unlocks a deeper, truly actionable level of buyer behavior.

Imagine having access to the names, emails, job titles, and LinkedIn accounts of the actual people researching the problem you solve. That's contact-based marketing. And for B2B marketers taking an ABM approach, it's a force multiplier.

Contact-based marketing with Vector 

Vector is a contact-based marketing tool that delivers both account-level and contact-level intent data, lets you see exactly where each contact in your target accounts is in the funnel, and take action accordingly.

With Vector, you can: 

• Receive real-time alerts when ICP contacts visit your website. 
• Detect off-site intent so you can see who is conducting market research—even if they’ve never been to your website before.
• Reveal who clicks on your ads, even if they don’t convert.
• Optimize your ad spend by funneling high-intent contacts directly into your ad campaigns. 
• Integrate intent signals into your martech stack, so you can to score and leads and take action based on behavior.
• Empower RevOps with clean, structured, contact-level data intent data to improve forecasting, scoring, and funnel analysis. 
• Push sales-ready contacts directly to sales reps so they never miss another high-intent opportunity.

Unlock the power of your intent data 

It’s one thing to have access to intent data. It’s another to understand where it comes from, what it means, and how to use it effectively. 

Get it right, and it can strengthen your entire GTM engine. 

If you're ready to experiment with contact-level intent data, you can start playing around with our free de-anonymization right now (seriously, it takes five minutes to install the pixel). To see everything else Vector can do, grab some time with our team.