The Hidden Risks of Intent Data

In the rapidly evolving landscape of data-driven marketing, intent data has emerged as a powerful tool for understanding consumer behaviour and optimising marketing strategies. However, the overvaluing of intent data can lead to misguided decisions and missed opportunities. While intent data provides valuable business insights, relying too heavily on it without considering other aspects of marketing analytics may skew perceptions and strategies. In this discussion, we will explore why it’s crucial to balance intent data with a holistic approach, ensuring that your marketing efforts are both effective and sustainable.

Defining Intent Data

Intent data refers to information collected about a person or company’s online behaviour that indicates their interest in a particular product, service, or topic. This data can be gathered from various sources, including website visits, content downloads, and search queries. First-party intent data is collected directly from your own digital properties, such as your website or email campaigns. It provides valuable insights into how users interact with your brand specifically.

Third-party intent data, on the other hand, is collected from external sources across the internet. This type of data offers a broader view of potential customers’ interests and behaviours beyond your own platforms. Intent data aims to predict future purchasing decisions by analysing current online activities. By understanding these signals, marketers can tailor their strategies to target prospects at the right time with relevant messaging.

Common Uses in Marketing

Intent data has revolutionised the way marketers approach their campaigns, offering insights that were previously difficult to obtain. Here are some of the most common applications of intent data in marketing:

• Lead Scoring: Marketers use intent data to prioritise leads based on their likelihood to convert. By analysing behavioural signals, teams can focus their efforts on prospects showing the highest intent to purchase.
• Content Personalisation: Intent signals help marketers deliver more relevant content to their audience. For example, if a prospect has been researching a specific product category, marketers can serve them tailored content related to that topic.
• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): In B2B scenarios, intent data is crucial for identifying which accounts are actively researching solutions similar to yours. This allows for more targeted and efficient ABM campaigns. By leveraging intent data, marketers can create more targeted, timely, and effective campaigns that resonate with their audience’s current interests and needs.

The Risks of Overvaluing Intent Data

While intent data offers valuable insights, relying too heavily on it can lead to potential pitfalls. Here’s why.

Limitations in Data Accuracy: Intent data, while powerful, is not infallible. There are several factors that can impact its accuracy and reliability:

• Data Quality Issues: The quality of intent data can vary significantly depending on the source and collection methods. Some third-party providers may use questionable data collection practices or have incomplete datasets.
• Misinterpretation of Signals: Not all online behaviour accurately reflects purchase intent. For example, a researcher gathering information for a report might exhibit similar online behaviour to a potential buyer, leading to false positives. Context is crucial when interpreting intent data. Without a comprehensive understanding of the user’s role, industry, and specific circumstances, marketers risk drawing incorrect conclusions from the data.
• Short Shelf Life: A prospect’s interests and priorities can change rapidly, making older data less reliable for predicting current behaviour or needs.

Misguided Marketing Decisions: Overreliance on intent data can lead to several problematic marketing decisions:

• Narrow Focus: Marketers might concentrate too heavily on in-market prospects, neglecting potential customers who are earlier in their buying journey.
• Premature Outreach: Acting on intent signals too quickly can lead to reaching out to prospects before they’re ready, potentially damaging relationships.
• Neglecting Brand Building: An excessive focus on short-term conversions based on intent data may come at the expense of long-term brand-building efforts.

The Flawed Nature of Current Intent Data Models

One of the major challenges with intent data lies in its non-exclusive nature. Even when the data itself is accurate, the sheer volume of vendors acting on the same signals creates an overwhelming and often counterproductive experience for potential buyers. Instead of fostering meaningful engagement, buyers frequently find themselves inundated with outreach from multiple companies, diluting the effectiveness of all efforts.

Platforms add to the challenge by charging businesses significant sums for intent data, ranging from £4,000 to £200,000 per month. This often creates a competitive rush among companies with the largest budgets to reach prospects first, resulting in a cluttered, inbox-driven frenzy rather than a deliberate and customer-focused engagement. Such aggressive tactics frequently alienate potential buyers, even when the product being offered is of high quality.

The Problem with IP-Based Targeting: Another issue is the reliance on IP-based intent data, which often provides insights only at the company level rather than identifying specific individuals. A single IP address can be associated with multiple businesses, leading to significant guesswork. Marketers are left “carpet-bombing” organisations with outreach, which not only wastes resources but risks alienating potential buyers.

It’s important to remember that intent data is just one piece of the puzzle. Relying on it exclusively can result in a myopic view of the market and missed opportunities with prospects who don’t fit neatly into predefined intent categories.

Enhancing Your Strategy Beyond Data

To create a truly effective marketing strategy, it’s essential to look beyond just intent data, incorporate qualitative insights and achieve a balanced approach to data-driven marketing.

Integrating Qualitative Insights: While quantitative data provides valuable metrics, qualitative insights offer depth and context that numbers alone can’t provide. Here’s how to integrate qualitative insights into your marketing strategy:

• Customer Interviews: Conduct in-depth interviews with both current customers and lost prospects. These conversations can reveal motivations, pain points, and decision-making processes that intent data might miss.
• Surveys and Feedback Forms: Use open-ended questions to gather detailed feedback about customer experiences, preferences, and needs. This information can help you understand the “why” behind the behaviours you observe in your intent data.
• Analyse customer support interactions and social media comments: These unfiltered customer voices often contain valuable insights about product features, brand perception, and areas for improvement.

By combining these qualitative insights with your intent data, you can create a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of your target audience.

Execution Matters More Than Data Alone: In practice, the companies that succeed in leveraging intent data are those with robust workflows and thoughtful strategies. It’s not just about having the data but knowing how to act on it effectively. Without a strong execution plan, even the most accurate intent signals can be drowned out in the noise.

Moving Towards Buyer-Centric Engagement

To unlock the full potential of intent data, marketers must shift their focus from aggressive outreach to meaningful engagement. This means prioritising:

• Timing and Personalisation: Contacting buyers when they are most receptive and tailoring messages to their specific needs.
• Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Goals: Recognising that while intent data can highlight immediate opportunities, most buyers are not yet in-market. Building relationships over time ensures future conversions.
• Contextual Understanding: Using qualitative insights alongside intent data to craft messages that resonate on a deeper level.

By combining intent data with a buyer-centric approach, marketers can create sustainable strategies that build trust and drive long-term success.