If you’re in B2B sales or marketing, you’ve probably heard that “intent data” is supposed to change your life. Reality check: most teams collect a ton of data, then drown in it. This guide is for anyone who wants to actually use Demandbase intent data to stop wasting time on the wrong accounts and start reaching out where it matters.
Let’s keep things simple — here’s how to cut through the noise, spot real buying signals, and actually get more replies.
1. Get Clear on What Demandbase Intent Data Actually Means
First, let’s clear up a common misconception: intent data isn’t a crystal ball. It’s not going to hand you a list of sales-ready leads. What Demandbase does is aggregate signals — like which companies are researching certain topics, visiting certain pages, or comparing vendors — and tries to show you who might be in the market.
What Demandbase intent data is good for: - Highlighting companies that are showing more interest in your solutions or your competitors - Uncovering accounts you might not have noticed - Giving you context for more timely, relevant outreach
What it doesn’t do: - Tell you who at the company is interested (usually it’s at the account level) - Replace basic sales research or relationship-building - Guarantee that an account is actually ready to buy
Bottom line: Treat intent data as a starting point, not the finish line.
2. Set Up Your Intent Topics (Don’t Just Use the Defaults)
Demandbase lets you pick “intent topics” — the keywords or themes that matter to your business. Here’s where a lot of teams go wrong: they use the generic ones Demandbase suggests, or dump in every keyword they can think of.
How to do it right: - Pick 5-15 topics that actually match your solution, your competitors, and the pains you solve. - Avoid overly broad terms (“software”) or things nobody searches for (“synergistic workflow optimization” — yikes). - Include your brand, core competitors, and specific use cases your buyers care about.
Pro tip: Review your closed-won deals and see what topics come up in their conversations or content consumption. Start there.
3. Build a Tiered Account List (Don’t Boil the Ocean)
Intent data is useless if you’re tracking every company on earth. You need a focused account list. Here’s how:
- Start with your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Who are your best-fit customers by industry, size, geography, tech stack?
- Layer on intent: Out of those, which ones are showing high intent on your topics?
- Tier accounts: Break them into “hot” (high intent, great fit), “warm” (some intent, decent fit), and “cold” (everyone else).
Why tiering matters: Not every intent spike is equal. You don’t want to treat a Fortune 500 company and a tiny startup the same just because both Googled “cloud security.”
4. Actually Look at the Data (Don’t Just Rely on Alerts)
The temptation is to set up intent alerts and wait for them to ping you. That’s lazy — and you’ll miss a lot. Here’s what to actually do:
- Log into Demandbase weekly: Look for accounts with big recent jumps in intent — especially on high-value topics.
- Check for patterns: Are several people from the same company looking at similar topics? Are they switching from generic to specific searches?
- Ignore noise: One spike on a random topic doesn’t mean much. Sustained, multi-topic engagement is what you want.
Quick red flag: If your “top intent” list is the same every week, your topics are probably too broad or broken.
5. Prioritize Outreach Based on Real Buying Signals
Now comes the part that actually moves the needle: picking who to call or email first. Here’s how to stack your deck:
- High fit + high intent = top priority. These are the accounts you want to get hyper-personal with.
- Medium fit or intent = nurture. Maybe use lighter-touch outreach or drip campaigns.
- Low fit or low intent = don’t bother. Save your energy.
What counts as a real buying signal? - Multiple intent topics spiking at once - Visits to pricing or competitor comparison pages - Repeat engagement over days or weeks
What not to chase: One-off spikes, visits to generic blog posts, or companies outside your ICP.
6. Personalize Your Outreach (But Don’t Get Creepy)
Intent data tells you what accounts care about, not exactly who at the company is looking. Still, you can use the intel to make your outreach relevant without sounding like a stalker.
How to use intent data in your messaging: - Reference the topic (e.g., “I saw your team researching X — happy to share what we’ve learned helping others with that.”) - Tailor your value prop to the pain they’re researching - Suggest resources or case studies that fit their intent
What not to do: “Hey, I saw you visited our pricing page at 2:17 pm yesterday…” That’s just weird.
7. Get Sales and Marketing on the Same Page
Intent data is most useful when everyone’s using it the same way. If marketing is pushing every intent spike to SDRs, you’ll get spam. If sales ignores the data, you’re wasting your subscription.
How to sync up: - Agree on what counts as a “hand-raiser” (for example, 3+ spikes on key topics in a week) - Set clear rules for how accounts move between nurture and direct outreach - Meet monthly to review what’s working — and ditch what isn’t
Pro tip: Less is more. It’s better to have a short list of high-quality, high-intent accounts than a monster spreadsheet nobody acts on.
8. Measure What Matters (Not Just Activity)
It’s easy to get distracted by vanity metrics like “number of intent alerts triggered.” Instead, focus on:
- Response rates: Are you getting more replies from high-intent accounts?
- Meeting rates: Are more of your priority accounts taking sales calls?
- Pipeline and revenue: Are these accounts actually progressing and closing?
If not: Time to adjust your topics, account list, or outreach approach.
9. Don’t Treat Intent Data as Gospel
Quick reality check: Intent data is just one tool. Sometimes it’s wrong. Sometimes, the best deals come from accounts that never trip an “intent” wire. That’s fine. Use it to work smarter, not to turn off your brain.
What to ignore: - Chasing every spike like it’s gold - Letting “the system” tell you who to talk to, no questions asked - Firing off generic emails to every “hot” account
10. Iterate, Don’t Overthink
Your first attempt at using Demandbase intent data probably won’t be perfect. That’s normal. What matters is that you keep tuning your topics, account lists, and outreach based on what actually works — not what looks good in a dashboard.
Keep it simple: - Review topics and account lists quarterly - Talk to your reps about which signals helped them - Kill what isn’t working, and double down on what is
The Bottom Line
Intent data can help you prioritize outreach, but only if you use it with common sense. Stay focused on your best-fit accounts, use intent as a nudge (not a command), and keep testing until you find what works for your team. Don’t let the tech overcomplicate things — the goal is more conversations with the right people, not more dashboards.
Now, go clean up that bloated account list and start working smarter.