Intent Data
Intent data is behavioural signal — searches, content consumption, form interactions — that indicates a user is actively researching a product or service.
Intent data is information about which companies or individuals are actively researching a topic, product or category, sourced from third-party publisher networks, search behaviour, content consumption signals and bid-stream data. It identifies who is "in-market" right now rather than who matches a static firmographic profile.
How intent data is collected
Three main vendors supply UK B2B intent: Bombora (publisher consortium, surge data), G2 (review-site engagement) and 6sense / Demandbase (account-level signal aggregation). Signals are aggregated and de-anonymised to company level using IP and corporate identity matching; individual-level intent (other than a user's own first-party signals) is not GDPR-compliant in the UK.
Why intent data matters in UK financial services
Intent data is most useful for two paid-media use cases:
- ABM - prioritising named accounts whose committee members are surging on relevant topics this month.
- LinkedIn Matched Audiences - layering intent surge signals onto firmographic targeting to reduce wasted reach.
For mass-market UK advice (mortgage, protection, equity release), intent data is overkill - first-party search and social engagement signals are cheaper and more actionable.
Limitations and pitfalls
Surge-based intent is a leading indicator with a noisy signal-to-noise ratio. Intent data is most useful when used to qualify accounts already in the consideration set, not to source new accounts cold. Treat intent vendors' attribution claims sceptically - they cannot see what your sales team did separately.
Related terms
- ABM
- Matched Audiences
- Topic Cluster
- Surge Score