Not all intent signals are equal. Here's a practical guide to the signals that reliably indicate a business is in-market — and the ones that are mostly noise.
The appeal of intent data is obvious: if you could know which businesses are actively researching your category right now, you could focus your outreach on exactly the right accounts at exactly the right time. The reality is more nuanced. Some intent signals reliably predict pipeline. Others are noise that sends teams chasing accounts that were never going to buy.
Signals worth paying attention to
Organisational triggers
The most reliable intent signals are changes in an organisation that create a new need: a funding round that funds a new initiative, a leadership hire in a relevant role, a headcount surge in a team that would use your product, an office expansion. These are high-confidence signals because they represent a real event, not an inferred behaviour.
Technology changes
A business adopting or dropping a specific technology can be a strong signal. Companies that just adopted a CRM they've never had before may now be ready to buy sales intelligence. Companies that just dropped a competitor's product are actively looking for alternatives.
Procurement activity
Published tenders, RFQs and procurement notices are about as explicit a buying signal as you can get. If a business has published a formal request for something in your category, they are in-market. The window is narrow, which makes early detection — via Tender Alerts — critical.
Signals to treat with caution
- Anonymous web traffic to topic pages — too broad to target reliably
- LinkedIn profile views from your company page — vanity metric
- Content download events from purchased list members — low signal
- Third-party intent aggregates from data you can't verify the source of
Combining signals with fit
A high-intent signal from a poor-fit account is still a poor prospect. The real power of intent data is when you combine it with ICP scoring — so you're prioritising accounts that show buying signals AND match your ideal customer profile. That intersection is where your best pipeline comes from.
“Intent without fit is distraction. Fit without intent is cold calling. The combination is a warm, qualified pipeline.”
Aonsight's Intent Identifier combines buying signals with ICP matching so your team always works accounts that are both in-market and a genuine fit.