We’ve all heard the terms “dark social” or “dark funnel” by now. Terms like this exist because so much of the buyer’s journey happens in places we can’t see. Most people aren’t waving a flag, shouting they’re in-market.
But intent data is meant to unveil those people right?
The problem is, most intent data vendors are only providing intent signals from one source. This means you’re only getting one, small piece of the puzzle, and a few outliers could not only throw your messaging and timing for a loop, but cause you to miss the accounts that are actually in buying mode.
Introducing LeadSift 360
We’ve always had a multi-source perspective on intent, but we just took it to another level. LeadSift 360 layers more than five data sources, so you get the vastest data, scored like the stock market, so you have noise-free lead generation, directly in your sales and marketing teams’ hands.
LeadSift 360 mines the public web, including job postings, social networks, leadership changes, public forums, technographics, and any other signal on the public web, and layers it with research-based intent. This type of intent is sourced based on prospects researching and reading content on publisher websites that may signal they’re in-market.
Having more data sources means you get a 360-degree view of the buyer’s journey. The intent data essentially validates itself by being cross-referenced with multiple sources, and scored accordingly.
In practice, that means you can be confident in your timing and messaging, beat your competitors to the punch, and scale revenue.
No more black box intent data
A lot of the skepticism around intent comes (rightfully) from not knowing how it’s defined, what counts as a signal, and scoring that is only ever arbitrary secret sauce.
So let’s break down how we’re doing things differently.
First things first, the intent data.
Attached to every lead you get, we tell you the event that triggered the event signal. Whether that’s someone engaging with your competitor, a custom keyword, or hiring for a relevant role, you deserve to have that intel to power your messaging.
Next, scoring.
We revamped our scoring to mimic the stock market. This way, large accounts aren’t automatically, artificially inflated, and small accounts aren’t left behind if they’re truly in-market. Directly in the LeadSift platform, you can actually see why we’ve scored an account the way we have. [Note: in the platform, scores are labeled cold, warm, hot, but in the data deliveries, numbers are there for granular prioritization.]
Other research-based intent providers often send out a lot of noise. This is because the nature of that data is broad and high volume. But this can be a good thing when paired with a more narrow source. By layering research-based intent and public web signals, with trend-based scoring, you can filter out the noise and end up with clear, relevant, actionable intent leads at your fingertips.
So, if you want to get started with noise-free intent data and scale revenue faster, you can try it free for 7 days.
How Siemplify Generates 60% of Revenue with LeadSift
As intent data becomes a staple in B2B marketer’s stacks, actionability becomes more and more challenging. It’s reported that 67% of marketers struggle to activate their intent data (The B2B Marketer’s State of Intent Data). And what good is data without a plan to use it? How do you build a multi-channel intent data strategy?
We sat down with the team at Siemplify to cover how they integrate intent data throughout their sales and marketing processes, for a multi-channel approach. They’ve built intent throughout the funnel so the data is prioritized and activated continuously, and they have the results to back it.
Rather than looking at it as a challenge, some marketers are using intent data as the glue to connect multi-channel marketing strategies and let them feed their sales efforts.
Multi-channel strategies are all about understanding where your prospects are, and meeting them there.
Let’s dive into how Siemplify does multi-channel powered by intent, how they optimize, and the numbers proving it works (hint: 60% of revenue identified early by intent).
Where intent fits in Siemplify’s stack
For marketing, Siemplify uses Marketo for almost all of their marketing operations including email nurturing, automation, and connecting their content syndication programs. For ads platforms, Google AdWords is the go-to.
On the sales side, Siemplify generates reports through Salesforce CRM to get a visual on the top accounts, top leads, and any intent-driven leads that may not have made the cut but are still worth contacting since they’re been engaging. All of their outreach is done through Outreach.io.
Bizible for tracking.
LeadSift is their only intent data source. Since the data is provided at the contact level, they use it across sales and marketing in a number of ways such as lead generation, scoring indication, ABM lists, and more (we’ll get to that).
“LeadSift has been incredibly easy to work with. They’ve been truly like a partner in that anytime we have questions, need help, or even suggestions on how to optimize intent streams they have been very flexible and eager to help and that has gone a very long way.”
– Christopher Mitchell, Demand Generation Manager, Siemplify
How to set up intent streams
Siemplify started with foundational keywords related to their solution then evaluated results weekly. They would check which leads didn’t fit their ICP and optimized for this by making changes or removing keywords that didn’t bring in relevant leads.
They’ve built two intent streams. One is keyword-focused and the other is competitor-focused. The intent campaign focuses on the keywords that will most likely signal positive buying intent, like ‘SOAR Vendors’. This is the ‘main’ campaign and the one that helps identify in-market buyers.
The leads that LeadSift sends over are scored according to the type of trigger that caused them to be sent in the first place, leads that have engaged with keywords directly (engaged with industry news) are given a higher score, than similar leads in the account that aren’t showing intent at all.
Siemplify applies a relatively small score based on each intent signal, roughly about the same as a web page view. But they aggregate them at the account level and apply some relatively simple score modifiers to try and differentiate between organizations that are considering SOAR vs 1 person that is very interested.
Here’s an example:
They use a roll-up within Salesforce to pull all of the LeadSift scores from all contacts to the account level, and then add a multiplier based on the number of individual people who are showing intent. So 10 people with 1 or 2 intent signals each will score higher than 1 person with 10-20 intent signals.
How Siemplify does multi-channel
“We’re able to layer intent data on top of everything else we’re doing top of funnel”
– Christopher Mitchell, Demand Generation Manager, Siemplify
Starting with ABM campaigns, Siemplify gives content syndication vendors a list pulled directly from LeadSift intent data to target accounts that are actively showing intent to buy. This allows them to better allocate budget and gain a better ROI from content syndication programs since they are focusing efforts on more relevant accounts.
When it comes to leveraging intent with ads, Siemplify has set up automation so that leads that signal positive intent are automatically synchronized over to Google AdWords with the intention of getting Siemplify’s offer in front of the prospect with some top of funnel messaging. Where they can find a match on their ad platforms they adjust the bids for AdWords slightly higher to help get better placement.
LeadSift is built into Siemplify’s scoring. Leads get extra points if their account is showing intent. From a marketing perspective, they also provide this data to the SDR team so that if an account shows intent but isn’t on their target account list (TAL) or a lead is showing intent but hasn’t reached the MQL threshold, they still know those are relevant leads and accounts to prioritize, prospect into and follow up on.
Siemplify dives into the granularity and visibility of knowing specifically which keyword or competitor each lead is engaging with for purposes. They are able to put together strong value propositions based on specific keywords leads are actively engaging with so they can be sure their messaging hits the nail on the head every time.
“LeadSift helps us identify better opportunities for strategic marketing and in most cases are informing us of a buyer’s intent before anyone else”
– Mike Hardwicke Brown, VP Demand Gen, Siemplify
The next step will be implementing intent data into their marketing nurture program so leads showing intent towards certain custom keywords are put into an expedited track or sent specific emails based on topic engagements.
The Results
“We started using LeadSift 3 years ago when we were a younger company, trying to figure out how to strategically use intent data,” says Mike Hardwicke Brown, VP of Demand Gen at Siemplify, “LeadSift came forward as a potential partner and delivered on that promise. They have implemented multiple feature requests and in several cases done some pretty significant product development to help us solve our problems. It’s what most vendors promise and few deliver.”
LeadSift lives across Siemplify’s sales and marketing funnel, tying the two departments together with intent-driven leads and the power to nurture them through the pipeline with relevance and value.
Today, with LeadSift identifying intent signals in over 60% of Siemplify’s opportunities before they are created, LeadSift aids in driving over 60% of their pipeline and revenue.
Want a custom report of leads showing intent towards your solution right now?
Abacus is a full-service agency specializing in pre-growth stage companies. They are currently the #1 Facebook Ad Agency and top-rated Google, Tiktok, Pinterest, and video partner – working with forward-thinking brands seeking faster results and highly efficient working models.
The Problem
Before getting started with LeadSift almost two years ago, Abacus’s sales and marketing processes were traditional and manual. Sales and marketing functions were kept totally separate from each other. They were spending 20+ hours a week manually researching, gathering, and sanitizing data, and then looking for contact details before they could begin their outreach efforts.
Without a better process in place, time and energy was wasted just searching for the right people. Additionally, with sales and marketing operating separately, there wasn’t any continuity of data throughout the funnel.
Their growth was predictable, but they were struggling to accelerate business with their existing resources.
The Solution
Abacus needed a better way to source prospects that fit their target buyer personas and tied sales and marketing together. Saving time, and speed to lead, were top priority for being able to scale and generate qualified pipeline.
Right away, LeadSift cut their manual research and prospecting time in half.
They use LeadSift to increase qualified pipeline opportunities and shorten their sales cycle from 42 to 17 days. At full scale, they now have LeadSift operating seamlessly across sales and marketing with continuity.
“Contact data speeds up qualified list building, intent data narrows our focus, and lead scoring means that our sales reps are focused on businesses that are the best fit.”
— Lance Muranaga, VP Revenue, Abacus Agency
Right now Abacus has LeadSift intent streams built to fit their process perfectly. Leads are pushed into their CRM and are prioritized based on seniority with more senior prospects being sent directly to their SDR team for one-to-one outreach. This allows the team to prioritize and personalize based on intent, and know for certain that they are focusing their efforts on prospects who want to hear from them. LeadSift lets Abacus know when leadership changes have been made, or a person has a new title, so they can move them up the list.
Leads below director-level are sent to marketing to be nurtured until they show signs they are ready to be engaged with on a one-to-one basis. Abacus takes advantage of custom audiences so they can best use their ads budget with intent-based custom audiences. The leads are leveraged this way until they qualify themselves to be reached by the sales team.
Abacus has increased their monthly lead flow by 35-40% depending on the account value, and they’ve increased revenue by 30% year-over-year with lower overhead.
“LeadSift’s technology is faster and more accurate than the direct competitors in intent data platforms and really shines in value as they keep innovating the product without affecting the top-level customer support that sales and marketing teams need to make the best use of the technology.”
– LANCE MURANAGA, VP REVENUE, ABACUS AGENCY
Abacus now has sales and marketing departments that flow together and complement each other. The time spent to receive qualified leads and connect with them has been cut in half, freeing more resources to focus on high quality messaging and personalization. Now more than ever they can offer their clients top-notch solutions and are able to hit the ground running.
Preferred by the most innovative and data-driven businesses, LeadSift is the most actionable provider of intent combining comprehensive data with meaningful insights. We sift through unstructured public data so companies can easily identify, understand and engage in-market audiences with creatively relevant, personalized outreach. As a result, companies can move their pipeline faster than ever before.
Intent data is of limited value on its own and shouldn’t be used to select accounts. It should be combined with fit data and not used for account selection. Think of it as a prioritization and personalization tool that gives you insights into the most relevant leads and what they’re looking for. Select your accounts based on business benefit and ICP based on tech graphing information of thermographic information and then use intent to prioritize them. Without that, you’re just using simple intent and it’s not nearly as powerful and it’s not ABM. Intent data enables your ABM program to stand out by being thoughtful about the accounts with the most potential. You can use your intent data to supplement propensity modeling and tribal knowledge from your own accounts and to identify who is in the market right now.
Why use intent for ABM?
There are two key benefits to using intent to power your ABM:
Account Prioritization – i.e. reducing the scale of the program – traditionally with ABM programs, you might have 10,000 accounts with 1,000 different messages and 1,000 different creatives put together by the graphic designer resulting in weeks and weeks of work. When you looked at all the outcomes, it was pretty much no different than the control, so the ABM didn’t have that much of an impact. Adding intent data to an ABM enables you to identify and prioritize much smaller sets of accounts manageable for the size of your marketing and sales teams and to develop sales and marketing alignment and understanding around what’s going on at that specific account.
Account Activation – Using ABM with intent data enables you to create personalized and very specific marketing messages. Having a platform to capture intent data insights enables the whole team to understand the insights, marketing to act on it, and for them to support sales.
Intent data can also be used in:
Content marketing: identifying prospective buyer’s concerns and creating or sharing content with them that speaks to that.
Funnels: identifying which accounts are actually progressing through the funnels and informing what type of messaging to use for them.
Selection right
Nurture tracks
Arming BDRs with the right content: so they can use it when they reach out to these prioritized accounts.
Content syndication: once you know what account you’re prioritizing you could make sure that the publishers you are going through are actually generating leads from those accounts. That way you know that it is more likely that they’re going to convert so you’re not wasting your media budget, or follow-up efforts, on accounts that aren’t actually identified by their content consumption.
Post-sales: using intent data to identify which accounts that you currently have are most likely to churn. If your customers are researching competitor brands, that is indicative that they may be looking to leave so you could actually rectify those issues before it’s too late.
Expanding on an account: you can see if they have recently been researching product offerings that you may offer but they may not be aware that they can source from you, then your team can focus resources to expand those accounts
The Treasure Data Customer Data Platform (CDP) empowers enterprises by delivering rich insights that drive outstanding customer experiences. Built on a strong data management foundation, its CDP enables brands to securely unify customer data across silos at scale so they can better identify, engage, and acquire customers. The highly configurable platform boasts a comprehensive connector network that evolves with your existing technology stack to future-proof all customer data initiatives.
The Problem
Treasure Data has a number of tools in place to give its marketing and sales teams access to account-level data, but it wanted deeper insights into the contacts within those accounts. Despite a comprehensive marketing approach that leverages key channels, content, virtual events, and webinars, Treasure Data’s marketers felt they may be missing out on in-market leads that aren’t aware of the Treasure Data brand.
Without deeper insights into the specific account contacts actively looking for a solution, there was untapped growth potential. They wanted access to contact-level intent data so their sales team could be equipped with more actionable, meaningful data for prospecting that not only included the contact information but details into their intent signals and engagements.
“Prior to LeadSift, we didn’t have access to contact-level intent-based data. Our sales teams leveraged our lead rating system and other tools that all relied on first-party or account-level data,”
Karen Mason, Director of Marketing Operations at Treasure Data
The Solution
Using LeadSift, Treasure Data marketers activate contact-level intent data to not only identify which contact at a company is in-market, but also to gain all the information necessary to personalize, target, and prioritize accounts based on buying intent signals. They use the LeadSift user interface to configure their campaigns, which helps them get clear and complete data that is up to date with Treasure Data’s latest offerings and developments.
The Treasure Data team activates its LeadSift data by building custom ad audiences for retargeting through ad platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google. The goal is to have the leads re-engage and become MQLs.
LeadSift data allows Treasure Data to know when someone is actively in-market, as well as what exactly they’re engaging with. This data is used in tandem with behavioral and demographic data for prioritizing leads and accounts as part of the sales process. This way the Treasure Data sales team knows they’re reaching out to the warmest prospects first.
The Results
“Many companies provide account-based intent data but only LeadSift provides person-level data,” says Mason.
Thirty-five percent of Treasure Data’s LeadSift leads convert to MQLs. This is higher than other lead sources the marketing and sales teams use. With contact-level data, the teams are able to focus their marketing efforts and budget on people—specifically decision-makers—already actively searching for a CDP, and they don’t need to worry about missing in-market leads.
“LeadSift provides exceptional value and they are always adding features to deliver even more value. Their customer service is exceptional,”
Karen Mason, Director of Marketing Operations, Treasure Data
Start getting deeper, contact-level insights into your most relevant accounts.
