Buyer intent

Intent signals are the digital footprints your prospects leave behind when they are 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 means 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)

Do not 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 means good signal

• If you offer dev services, new CTO hire means strong timing signal

Filter out fluff and focus on meaningful buying triggers

2. Identify and Qualify Leads

Use signals to identify:

• Whos showing buying behavior?

• Are they in your ICP?

• Are decision makers visible or reachable?

Then qualify based on recency, strengt 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 have 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

Do not drop off after 1 email.

Track:

• Incomplete booking form means follow up with nudge

• Opened email 3+ times means re engage with new angle

• Revisited website means 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 are doing cold outreach in 2025 without intent data, you are 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 do not need more leads, you need better timing

Partner with Leadamax to Automate This Entire Workflow

We do not 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 are a B2B company doing $240k+/year and want done for you cold outreach, book a call with us

BOOK A FREE OUTBOUND AUDIT

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