Buyer intent.

Intent signals are the digital footprints your prospects leave behind when they’re thinking about buying. When used correctly, they can turn random outreach into perfectly timed sales conversations.

In this guide, we’ll break down how to use intent signals to:

• Spot your best-fit leads

• Time your outreach perfectly

• Write high-converting messages

• And 10X your close rate

What Are Intent Signals?

Intent signals (aka buying signals) are indicators that someone is actively considering a product or solution like yours. Think of them as clues that a deal might be close — you just need to be the first to show up.

Examples:

• Website visits

• Job openings

• Funding announcements

• Tool changes (e.g., switching CRMs)

• LinkedIn activity

• Search trends

Types of Intent Signals

1. First-Party: Based on your own site traffic and data (e.g., who visited your pricing page).

2. Second-Party: Data from partners (e.g., G2 reviews, co-marketing tools).

3. Third-Party: Aggregated from public sources (e.g., LinkedIn activity, funding rounds, Google search patterns).

5 Common Forms of Intent Signals

✅ Engagement Signals: Likes, shares, comments, downloads, site visits

✅ Research Signals: Google search trends, Reddit posts, LinkedIn job hunting, G2 research

✅ Hiring Signals: Job openings that align with your offer (e.g., hiring a sales ops = likely CRM buyer)

✅ Technographic Signals: New tech added or removed from their stack

✅ Firmographic Signals: Changes in size, funding, location, executive shifts, etc.

How to Use Intent Signals to Book More B2B Sales

1. Collect the Right Signals (Not Every Signal Matters)

Don’t overwhelm your team with noise. Focus on intent signals relevant to your offer and your ICP.

For example:

• If you sell sales software → job postings for SDRs = good signal

• If you offer dev services → new CTO hire = strong timing signal

Filter out fluff and focus on meaningful buying triggers.

2. Identify and Qualify Leads

Use signals to identify:

• Who’s showing buying behavior?

• Are they in your ICP?

• Are decision-makers visible or reachable?

Then qualify based on recency, strength, and authority (e.g., Did a VP just post about a problem you solve?).

3. Personalize Messages Using Contextual Triggers

Intent data lets you skip generic pitches.

Examples:

• “Saw you recently raised a round — congrats! We help companies in your stage scale outbound quickly.”

• “Noticed you’re hiring a full-stack team. We’ve helped similar companies ship faster with fractional dev squads.”

Make the message about them — not you.

4. Reach Out at the Right Time

Timing > talent.

Intent data tells you when to strike while the iron is hot. Combine this with your cold outreach engine (email, LinkedIn, calls) to hit the inbox before your competitors do.

Use tools like Clay or Scrapeamax to sync trigger events to outreach sequences in real time.

5. Follow Up Based on Behavior

Don’t drop off after 1 email.

Track:

• Incomplete booking form = follow-up with nudge

• Opened email 3+ times = re-engage with new angle

• Revisited website = trigger custom Loom video

Intent gives you the why and when — now follow up with precision.

11 Tools to Track Intent Signals (Recommended for Cold Emailers)

Final Thoughts: Should You Be Using Intent Data?

If you’re doing cold outreach in 2025 without intent data — you’re leaving revenue on the table.

When used right, intent signals:

• Help you prioritize the right leads

• Make your outreach land at the perfect moment

• Unlock personalization that actually converts

You don’t need more leads — you need better timing.

Partner with Leadamax to Automate This Entire Workflow

We don’t just talk about intent-driven outreach — we build cold outreach systems that integrate:

• Buyer intent tracking

• Trigger-based sequencing

• Multi-channel workflows

• Conversion-focused personalization

If you’re a B2B company doing $240k+/year and want done-for-you cold outreach, book a call with us.

👉 Get in touch with Leadamax

Want to master this yourself and build your own system?

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