Blog | Pivot

Why Buyer Intent is a Must-Have Tool for Marketers Today

Written by Jane Johnson | Oct 15, 2024 4:32:10 PM

Marketing is all about understanding your audience—what they want, when they want it, and how to get their attention. But in a crowded digital space, it can feel like you’re guessing at what your prospects are thinking. This is where buyer intent tools come in. They let you see beyond the surface to understand which prospects are actively researching solutions like yours and who’s showing signs of being ready to buy. If you’re not using buyer intent data yet, you’re missing out on an invaluable tool for modern marketing.

In this blog, we’ll explore why buyer intent is so powerful, take a look at different buyer intent tools on the market (like Bombora, Lusha, and ZoomInfo), and explain what makes HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tool stand out from the crowd. Plus, we’ll show you how to get started with HubSpot’s solution to take your marketing to the next level.

What is Buyer Intent, and Why Does It Matter?

Buyer intent data gives you a sneak peek into what your prospects are doing online. It tracks key activities—like visiting certain web pages, downloading whitepapers, or engaging with content—that signal a genuine interest in your product or industry. Instead of just knowing who your leads are, you also know when they’re likely ready to buy.

Here’s why it’s a game-changer:

  • Focus on Ready Buyers: Instead of wasting time on cold leads, buyer intent tells you who’s actively researching and ready to engage.
  • Personalized Marketing: With intent data, you can tailor your outreach based on a prospect’s interests, making your messaging more relevant.
  • Shorter Sales Cycles: By focusing on prospects showing intent, you’ll connect with the right people at the right time, speeding up the sales process.

Comparing Buyer Intent Tools: Bombora, Lusha, ZoomInfo, and HubSpot

There are plenty of buyer intent tools available today, and they all offer a different angle on tracking intent. Let’s compare some popular options:

  • Bombora: Bombora tracks intent by monitoring a wide network of websites, looking for topics that your target audience is consuming. It aggregates data across multiple sites, so you get a broad view of what prospects are interested in. It’s great for spotting intent across a range of industries but can be less specific to your own website.

  • Lusha: Lusha focuses on enriching contact and company data with insights from its extensive B2B database. It helps you uncover buyer intent by giving you access to key decision-makers’ information. It’s useful for building out a full profile of your prospects, but again, it pulls intent from a wide network of websites.

  • ZoomInfo: Like Bombora, ZoomInfo tracks intent signals from across the web, gathering data on what your prospects are researching. It helps enrich your CRM with contact and company info, but you’re relying on third-party data that may not always match up with how prospects are engaging with your own content.

  • HubSpot Buyer Intent: Unlike the others, HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tool focuses specifically on how prospects engage with your website. You define the key pages that represent buying signals, whether it’s product pages, pricing pages, or specific content that shows intent. HubSpot’s Buyer Intent gives you first-party data that’s unique to your site, allowing you to track what really matters to your business.

Why HubSpot’s Buyer Intent Tool Stands Out

While all buyer intent tools give you valuable insights, HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tool gives you more control by focusing exclusively on how leads interact with your website. Instead of relying on third-party data from a broad network, HubSpot tracks intent directly based on how prospects engage with the content that you define as most important.

  • First-Party Data: HubSpot’s tool focuses on first-party data—information about how prospects are interacting with your own site. This makes it more accurate for your specific needs.
  • Customizable Signals: You decide what actions signal intent. Whether it’s visiting a pricing page, downloading a case study, or watching a webinar, HubSpot lets you tailor the tool to fit your buying journey.
  • Seamless Integration: Because it’s built into HubSpot, your intent data is already integrated with your CRM, workflows, and marketing automation tools. This makes it easy to trigger personalized emails, move leads through your pipeline, and align sales and marketing around the same data.

Want to see how it works in action? Download our guide on HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tools to learn how you can start tracking the behaviors that matter most for your business.

How Buyer Intent Fits Into Your Marketing Strategy

Buyer intent isn’t just a shiny new tool—it’s a foundational part of a modern, data-driven marketing strategy. Here’s how you can use it to your advantage:

  • Account-Based Marketing (ABM): If you’re running ABM campaigns, buyer intent data helps you focus on high-value accounts that are already showing interest. With HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tool, you can see which companies are visiting your site and engaging with your key content.

  • Lead Scoring: Pairing buyer intent with lead scoring helps you prioritize your sales efforts even further. By scoring both fit and engagement, and adding buyer intent signals into the mix, you’ll ensure that your sales team is focused on the leads most likely to convert.

  • Personalization at Scale: Intent data lets you personalize your outreach without spending hours on research. You’ll know what prospects are interested in, so you can deliver tailored content and offers that match their needs.

Ready to Start Using Buyer Intent?

If you’re ready to start using buyer intent data to better understand your leads and move them through your sales funnel faster, HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tool is the perfect place to start. You can even get started for free, and when you're ready to enhance your buyer insights, HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence adds even more power to the platform with enriched data and advanced insights.

Download our complete guide to HubSpot’s Buyer Intent tools to learn how you can start tracking and using intent data to close more deals. Or, if you’d like to see the tool in action, schedule a call with us and we’ll walk you through it.