What is intent?

What is Intent?

Intent is the signal that someone (a person or company) is actively researching, considering, or planning to buy a product or service like yours.

It’s captured through behavioral data such as:

  • Content Consumption: Reading blogs, whitepapers, or case studies about a topic

  • Website Visits: Multiple sessions on your site or competitors’ sites

  • Ad Clicks & Engagement: Interacting with display ads, social posts, videos

Delivr uses behavioral data like this to track intent for our taxonomy of over 24,000 subjects. All updated daily.

Using Intent in Advertising

Intent lets you focus your ad dollars where buyers are already showing interest:

  1. Precision Targeting

    • Serve ads only to accounts actively researching your solution category.

    • Example: If a company’s employees are searching for “SOX compliance automation,” you can target them with ads promoting your compliance module.

  2. Dynamic Ad Messaging

    • Tailor creative based on the specific topic they’re researching.

    • Example: Show “Privileged Access Management” ads only to companies surging on PAM-related keywords.

  3. Budget Efficiency

    • Suppress ads for low-intent accounts to reduce wasted spend.

    • Reallocate spend to accounts showing the highest intent signals.

Using Intent in Marketing Programs

Intent powers account prioritization and sales alignment:

  • Account Prioritization: Focus SDR outreach and ABM programs on accounts with the highest intent scores.

  • Content Strategy: Build campaigns around topics that show the most surge activity in your target market.

  • Event Targeting: Invite high-intent accounts to webinars or roundtables — they’re more likely to convert.

Using Intent in Nurture Campaigns

Intent helps you tailor nurture flows and move prospects faster through the funnel:

  • Trigger-Based Nurture: When an account’s intent score spikes, trigger a tailored sequence (e.g., send a case study, follow with a product demo invite).

  • Personalized Content: Match nurture emails to the intent topic.
    Example: If someone is reading about “Zero Trust Architecture,” send them a “Zero Trust Implementation Guide.”

  • Lead Scoring: Combine intent signals with engagement data to prioritize follow-up for sales.

Why Intent Matters

  • Timing: Reaches buyers while they’re actively looking — not months later.

  • Relevance: Delivers the right message at the right time.

  • Efficiency: Reduces wasted spend on cold, unready accounts and increases pipeline velocity.