ABM is all about removing the noise and focusing on those accounts in your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile). Since only 5% of your ideal client base may be in-market at any given time, the secret to a successful ABM approach is pinpointing the right accounts and catching them while they're still making a purchase decision. As a sales leader, your goal is two-fold: find your ideal customers early in their buyer's journey and position your solution as a top contender in their final decision-making process.
Today, we'll share with you the various ways you can identify where an account is in its buyer's journey and how to use intent data to zero in on what a customer needs so you know exactly how to position your product or service. We'll also share how Propensity can help you read the tea leaves faster for improved pipeline velocity and 3X more win rates.
What does the buyer's journey look like?
The buyer's journey follows a customer's path towards making a purchasing decision. While the specific stages can vary, a common framework includes the following stages:
- Awareness: At this early stage, the buyer becomes aware of a need, challenge, or opportunity. They may recognize symptoms of a problem or begin researching a potential solution. During this phase, they will likely consume educational content to better understand their situation.
- Consideration: Here, the buyer has clearly defined their problem or opportunity and is actively researching possible solutions. They evaluate, compare, and consider how different solutions align with their needs and goals. Content consumed during this stage tends to be more specific and focused on solution comparisons and evaluations.
- Decision: At this final stage, options narrow, and a purchase is imminent. Buyers may evaluate specific vendors or products, seek demos, and consider pricing, terms, and support factors. Content and interactions during this phase often address any remaining concerns or objections and provide the information needed to finalize the decision.
To get the prospect to pay attention to your product, you need to begin developing a timely relationship with them. If you are too early, they won't yet require your services. Conversely, if you are too late, they likely have already made a buying decision or chosen a direction that will box you out. The trick is to hit "The Acquisition Goldilocks Zone," the time when buyers are actively seeking a solution like yours. By putting your brand in their line of sight, you pave the way to a sales call and, ideally, a contract.
However, to understand where prospective customers are in their buyer's journey, you'll need to leverage insights in the form of intent data.
Leveraging intent data to reveal buyer's journey secrets
Intent data provides insights into an account's online behavior and activities, helping to identify where they might be in their buying journey. These insights are easily accessible online. Monitoring for them can help you understand when the prospective client is open to outreach.
Keywords
Analyzing the keywords and search terms associated with an account's online activities can reveal the stage of the buyer's journey. Early-stage accounts might conduct broad searches for industry-related topics or solutions, while later-stage accounts might search for specific product names, features, or comparisons.
Content consumption and topic searches
Look at the types of content the account is consuming online. Are they downloading whitepapers, reading blog posts, or watching product demo videos? Early-stage accounts focus on educational content, while later-stage accounts engage with more product-specific content.
The frequency and recency of the account's online searches related to your offerings matter, too. An account that has been conducting frequent searches over a period of time may be further along in its buying journey compared to one that has only recently started.
Website visits
The account's visits to your website and specific pages are revealing. Are they spending time on product pages, pricing information, downloading content, or requesting demos? The type of content they're engaging with and the information they're seeking can indicate where they are in their buying journey.
Visits to other sites help you gain valuable insights as well. Track the account's engagement with third-party websites, industry forums, and review sites. Are they actively researching solutions or comparing vendors? This activity can provide insights into their stage in the buying process.
Social media
Intent signals (posts, comments, or interactions) on social media platforms help you understand where an account is in the buyer's journey. Social listening tools can help identify relevant conversations and engagement from the account.
By leveraging intent data effectively, you can gain valuable insights into the buying intent and behavior of accounts, allowing you to tailor your ABM strategies and engagement efforts accordingly.
Propensity: Helping you find the “Goldilocks Acquisition Zone” in a buyer's journey
Propensity makes it easier to monitor intent signals and measure interest across accounts. Instead of researching an account and following it across various points of contact, our ABM platform centralizes intent signals for you so that you can see, at a glance, buying trends across multiple touchpoints (including your website, third-party websites, and social media). This simplifies the research process.
Within seconds, you'll be able to gather insights into what signals an account has been trending on over the last 90 days so that you can understand if it is in-market and showing purchase decision tendencies. If it is, you know it's time to prioritize it regarding outreach. If not, you can put it on the back burner and focus on accounts more ripe for conversion.
With Propensity, you'll also see where an account is in its buyer's journey. Are they close to making a purchase or just starting their research? This clarity will help you focus your marketing efforts, score accounts effectively, and meet clients where they are in their decision-making process.
The best part is that even with the FREE version of Propensity, you can do this up to 100 times by accessing your Top 100 in-market accounts!
Conclusion
Following an account and seeking intent signals takes the guesswork out of where a customer may be in their buyer's journey. By understanding if they are in-market (or not), you can be more thoughtful about who you are marketing to - and how you market to them.
Propensity can give you a powerful shortcut by centralizing intent signals into one place. That way, you can follow dozens (even hundreds) of accounts at once and take advantage of every opportunity to put your brand directly in front of those customers who are ready to buy.