If you're running B2B sales or marketing and want to catch hot prospects the moment they show up, this one's for you. Setting up real-time alerts can make the difference between closing a deal and watching it slip away. But let's be real—most alert systems just add noise, not value. We're going to cut through that and set up alerts in Hf that actually help you catch high-intent leads (and skip the spam).
Who should care?
If you: - Sell to businesses (not consumers) - Rely on catching prospects when they’re most interested - Want fewer, better alerts—not a constant stream of irrelevance
…this guide’s for you.
Step 1: Get Clear About “High Intent” (Don’t Skip This)
Before you jump into settings, stop and define what “high intent” really means for you. Otherwise, you’ll end up with alerts for every tire-kicker who visits your pricing page.
What counts as high intent?
- Someone from a target account visits your site more than once in a week
- They spend 5+ minutes on key pages (pricing, demo, case studies)
- They fill out a form, start a trial, or request a demo
- They come from a known company domain (not just Gmail or Yahoo)
- They interact with your chatbot or download resources
Pro tip: Pick one or two signals to start—don’t get greedy. Too many triggers = alert fatigue.
Step 2: Clean Up Your Hf Account and CRM Integration
Alerts are only as good as your data. If your Hf account isn’t connected to your CRM or has a messy database, fix that first.
- Connect your CRM: Make sure Hf is synced with Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever you use. This makes it easier to match website visitors to real accounts.
- Check domain mapping: Ensure company domains in Hf align with your CRM. Otherwise, you’ll get duplicate or misattributed alerts.
- Ditch junk traffic: Filter out internal IPs, bots, and random traffic (like job seekers or agencies) in your settings.
If you skip this, your alerts won’t be accurate—period.
Step 3: Set Up Your High-Intent Triggers
Now you’re ready to build the actual alert rules. Here’s how to do it without overcomplicating things.
a. Pick the Right Event Triggers
Some ideas: - Visits to high-value pages: e.g., “Alert me when someone from a target account visits /pricing or /demo.” - Form submissions: e.g., “Alert me when someone fills out the contact form and uses a company email.” - Repeated activity: e.g., “Alert me if the same company visits three times in two days.” - Account-based triggers: e.g., “Alert me if someone from a Fortune 500 company lands on any page.”
Don’t set alerts for every pageview or you’ll mute them within a week.
b. Avoid False Positives
- Exclude competitors and partners: Add their domains to your block list.
- Ignore generic/free email addresses: Alerts for gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc. are rarely worth your time.
- Set minimum visit duration: Only trigger if someone spends more than 30 seconds or views multiple pages.
c. Test with a Small Batch
Turn on alerts for just a handful of high-value accounts or segments. See what comes through for a week. Tweak as needed.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with “alert me on every new visitor” or “alert on every page” rules. You’ll drown in noise and miss the good stuff.
Step 4: Decide Where Alerts Should Go
Think about your real workflow. Alerts buried in an inbox? Useless. Here are your options:
- Email: Good for small teams, but easy to miss if you get a lot.
- Slack or Teams: Best for fast-moving sales teams—set up a dedicated channel.
- Push notifications: Only if you really want to be pinged on your phone (be honest—do you?).
Pro tip: Don’t send alerts to everyone. Route them to the rep who owns the account, or to a single point person who triages.
Step 5: Write Smart, Actionable Alert Messages
A good alert should tell you three things: 1. Who (Company, contact if known) 2. What they did (Page visited, form filled, etc.) 3. Why it matters (e.g., “target account,” “visited pricing page twice”)
Example:
ACME Corp (acme.com) visited your Pricing page twice in 24 hours. Owned by: Jane Doe.
Avoid generic messages like “New visitor on site.” Those train you to ignore alerts.
Step 6: Set Up a Simple Follow-Up Process
Even the best alert is useless if you don’t act on it. Here’s what works:
- Assign ownership: Make it clear who follows up on each alert.
- Respond fast: High-intent leads go cold quickly. Aim for same-day outreach if possible.
- Track outcomes: Note if alerts actually lead to meetings or deals. If not, revisit your triggers.
Don’t over-engineer it—just make sure the loop between alert and follow-up is tight.
Step 7: Regularly Audit and Tweak Your Alerts
Every few weeks, ask: - Are you getting too many alerts? (If yes, tighten your criteria.) - Are you missing hot leads? (If yes, loosen your rules or try new triggers.) - Are reps acting on the alerts? (If not, figure out why—wrong timing, wrong info, bad channel?)
This isn’t “set it and forget it.” Your business and prospects change. Your alerts should too.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
Works: - Focusing on a handful of high-value triggers (not everything) - Routing alerts to where your team actually works (Slack, not a forgotten inbox) - Clear, actionable messages
Doesn’t Work: - Alerting on every visit or every form fill - Ignoring the follow-up process - Setting up alerts and never tweaking them
Ignore: - Overcomplicated scoring systems right out of the gate - Alerts for generic or unqualified leads - Fancy dashboards that don’t actually drive action
Realistic Expectations
No alert system is perfect. You’ll miss some leads and get a few duds. The goal is to catch more opportunities without burning out your team. Quality beats quantity every time.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Start small, focus on the signals that matter, and don’t be afraid to tune your alerts as you go. You’re not aiming for perfection—just for a consistent edge in catching high-intent B2B prospects before your competitors do.
Set up those first alerts, see what comes in, and adjust. It’s more about momentum than mastery. Good luck!