How to segment contacts in Usergems based on buyer intent signals

Looking to spend less time chasing dead-end leads? If you’re using Usergems, you probably know it’s great for tracking job changes and surfacing warm contacts. But if you want to get serious about only reaching out to people who might actually buy, you need to segment your contacts based on buyer intent.

This guide is for sales and marketing folks who want to cut through the noise and actually use intent signals—not just collect them. We’ll walk through the steps, highlight what works (and what doesn’t), and make sure you leave with a workflow you’ll actually use.

Why segmenting by intent matters

Let’s be honest: not everyone who lands in your CRM is ready to talk. Some are just tire-kickers. Segmenting by buyer intent helps you:

  • Prioritize follow-up with contacts more likely to convert
  • Waste less time on the wrong people
  • Send the right message at the right time

If you’re not segmenting by intent, you’re basically cold-calling with extra steps.

Step 1: Understand what Usergems can (and can’t) do

First off, a quick reality check. Usergems is solid at tracking job changes, mapping contacts to accounts, and surfacing movement in your target companies. It’s not a full-blown intent data platform like Bombora or 6sense, but it does pick up a few key intent signals:

  • Job changes: When someone you know moves into a new role (especially decision-makers).
  • Previous relationship: If someone was your customer or champion before.
  • Engagement with your team: Opens, clicks, meeting attendance (if you’ve integrated with your CRM or sales tools).
  • Custom signals: If you’re piping in data from other tools, you might see web visits, demo requests, etc.

What Usergems can’t do:
Don’t expect deep web activity tracking, anonymous account-level intent, or psychographic profiles. If you need that, you’ll have to integrate with other tools—or keep your workflow simple.

Step 2: Decide which intent signals actually matter

Not all signals are created equal. Here’s what’s usually worth paying attention to in Usergems:

  • Recent job change into a relevant role (e.g., your product’s buyer persona)
  • Past customer or champion at a new company
  • Engaged with your team recently (email opens, meeting scheduled)
  • Requested a demo or downloaded content (if you’re syncing that in)

What to ignore:
- Contacts who changed jobs but landed outside your target industry or persona - “Engagement” that’s just a single email open (could be spam filters) - Stale signals (over 90 days old, unless you sell something with a long buying window)

Pro tip:
Don’t overcomplicate it. You’re trying to find the best bets, not build a perfect model.

Step 3: Set up and tag your contacts in Usergems

Here’s where a lot of people get stuck: Usergems gives you a firehose of contacts, but you need to slice them up. Let’s cut to the chase:

1. Sync your CRM

First, make sure Usergems is pulling data from your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) so you can see historical engagement and map contacts to accounts.

2. Use filters and tags

  • In the Usergems dashboard, head to your People or Contacts view.
  • Filter for recent job changes (last 30–90 days).
  • Add filters for previous customers, open opportunities, or high-priority industries.
  • Tag contacts based on what you see:
  • high-intent for people who tick multiple boxes (job change + engaged)
  • warm for people with a weaker signal (just a job change)
  • cold for everyone else

Pro tip:
If you’re doing this manually, keep your tags simple and consistent. Don’t create too many categories—you’ll never use them all.

3. Set up automated workflows (if possible)

Usergems lets you build automated rules. For example:

  • “If contact is a past customer AND changed jobs in the last 60 days, tag as high-intent.”
  • “If contact’s new title is in our buyer persona list, tag as warm.”

Automation saves you from sorting through lists every week. If your team isn’t technical, work with your admin or Usergems support to set this up.

Step 4: Build segments for outreach

Now you’ve got tags—great. But you need actionable segments. Here’s a simple way to do it:

  • High Intent Segment:
    Past customer or champion, recently changed jobs into a relevant role, and has engaged in the last 60 days.

  • Warm Segment:
    New job in target company/role, but no prior relationship or engagement yet.

  • Nurture Segment:
    Contacts who changed jobs a while ago or aren’t a perfect fit, but could be relevant down the road.

How to use these segments:

  • High Intent: Reach out ASAP with a personal message referencing your prior relationship.
  • Warm: Light touch—ask about their new role, offer value, don’t hard-pitch.
  • Nurture: Check in every few months, maybe with relevant industry news or insights.

What not to do:
Don’t blast the same generic email to every segment. Trust me, they’ll spot it a mile away.

Step 5: Sync segments with your sales/marketing tools

If you’re using Outreach, Salesloft, or another engagement tool, sync your Usergems segments to line up your messaging. Most teams push these tags or segments into their CRM, then use views or campaigns based on those lists.

  • For sales:
    Build call lists or sequences directly from the high-intent segment.
  • For marketing:
    Suppress cold or nurture contacts from aggressive campaigns. Focus your resources where they’ll matter.

Pro tip:
Check the sync regularly. Sometimes integrations break or fields get renamed. Don’t assume it’s all working behind the scenes.

Step 6: Measure what’s actually working (and adjust)

Here’s where most people get lazy. If you don’t track which segments convert, you’re flying blind.

  • Track outreach by segment: Are high-intent contacts converting faster or at a higher rate?
  • Watch for false positives: Are you tagging people as high-intent who never reply? Maybe your signals are too loose.
  • Iterate: Tighten up your intent criteria over time. If you’re getting too many “high-intent” contacts and not enough meetings, raise the bar.

Don’t fall for vanity metrics:
It’s easy to get excited about big lists or lots of “engaged” contacts. Revenue and real replies are what matter.

Step 7: Don’t overthink—keep it simple and keep moving

You don’t need fancy AI or a dozen intent signals to get value. Most of the time, the best leads are:

  • Past champions in new roles
  • Decision-makers with recent job changes
  • People who are actually talking to you

Start with the basics, get your first segments live, and refine as you go. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done.

The bottom line

Segmenting contacts in Usergems by buyer intent isn’t magic, but it does help you focus on the right people. Keep your signals simple, your segments actionable, and don’t get distracted by shiny new features. Iterate, automate what you can, and always ask: is this person really likely to buy soon? If not, move on.

You’ll get better results, waste less time, and be a lot less annoyed at the end of your week.