Purchase Intent

When it comes to marketing, purchase intent is one of the most important metrics. However, it’s also one of the most complicated to quantify. First, here’s a basic definition about what purchase intent means, with the understanding that while it’s easy to define purchase intent, it’s very complicated to figure it out.

Purchase intent meaning: how likely a customer is to make a purchase, whether it be a service or a product, and wherever the customer is along their buyer’s journey.

Let’s take a simple look at purchase intent, through the real estate industry. Often, when an individual is looking at a real estate site, there will be purchase intent questions upfront. The site will ask “Are you thinking of buying within the next 3 months, 6 months, or a year?” This is a basic purchase intent format; these buying intention survey sample questions give the real estate agency more information about whether the buyer intends to act now.

Another purchase intent survey questions example would be how likely a customer is to purchase a specific product as opposed to a different brand. B2B companies might engage in an in-depth purchase intention questionnaire or forward a purchase intention questionnaire PDF.

But measuring consumer purchase intent can be complicated. Even with survey questions to measure purchase intention, customers may not always know whether they’re ready to commit. They may not be interested in committing to a specific product or service, but might instead just be going through other products and services. Purchase intent matters especially in B2B sales, as buyers conduct a significant amount of research.

However, though purchase intent can be complicated to calculate, it still is important. Purchase intent is another method of scoring leads and makes it easier for sales professionals to work on the individuals who are most likely to make a purchase. Without purchase intent, sales departments can find themselves wasting time with customers that aren’t really willing to commit, or with customers who are at the very beginning of their buyer’s journey and who are still uncertain.

Surveys are an excellent way to determine purchase intent. But that’s not the only way. Today, data-mining can help quite a lot, too. Through data mining, companies can determine where a buyer is on their purchase intent scale by their activity. As an example, customers may move from searching for products and services to searching for reviews of a specific product or service when they are about to make a purchase. A customer who is looking for promotions and coupons are very likely to make a purchase soon.

B2B Intent Data Providers

B2B intent data providers such as Bombora, G2, and Terminus can be used to isolate how seriously customers are looking for products and services, and exactly what their intent is. Buyer intent software can automatically determine where customers are along their buyer’s journey, using algorithmic purchase intent model algorithms. There are many types of buyer intent software, depending on how in-depth the analysis is, and how much information these solutions crunch.

As artificial intelligence and machine learning have become more popular, it has become easier to create a complex purchase intent model without intervention or analysis from sales teams. Sales professionals are able to concentrate on securing sales rather than having to figure out how to appropriately score their sales. B2B intent matters, because B2B sales tend to be higher in value, with a longer and more detailed customer journey.

Organizations looking at B2B intent data providers can determine which platform is best for them by looking at price, reputation, and features. Every organization likely has a budget for their intent sales software — though the ROI on intent sales software is significant as well. Reviews and third-party recommendations can help in determining which platforms are the most useful and worthwhile, and features can differ depending on how sophisticated and robust the platform is.

Terminus is an account-based platform that specializes in creating one-to-one marketing relationships for the purposes of B2B sales. Through Terminus, companies are able to target and re-target interested parties, track their relationship with the brand, and personalize their marketing experience. Not only is the software used to determine which individuals are most likely to convert, but it can also be used to personalize marketing to coax them into conversion. Other, similar platforms have other, similar features — with the ability to connect sales professionals with those who are most likely to convert while also aiding in securing the sale.

Buyer Intent Data

What exactly goes into buyer intent data? Purchase intent data is developed from a lot of metrics:

• Interactions with an organization’s website or social media.
• Interactions on publishing networks or third-party advertising sites.
• Interactions on social media such as LinkedIn.

For instance, buyer intent data could be so robust that it might factor in organizational changes with a business on LinkedIn, searches that have been conducted on Google (through advertising), and whether the company has indicated interest on the organization’s website. Further, weighted purchase intent is also possible: Intent data can be weighted depending on how serious each component is.

A purchase intent scale example would be as follows: An individual who has marked that they are interested in making a purchase in 1 week would be weighted more heavily than someone who says 1 month and in turn even more heavily than someone who says 1 year. But many aspects combine into a singular purchase intent score, which is sent to the sales team. For instance, someone who is interested in making a purchase in 1 month for $1 million in product is still going to be weighted more heavily than someone who will make a purchase in 1 week for $10,000 in product. And this will be weighted against average purchase intent to determine which is more valuable to the organization.

Purchase intent benchmarks can also be used for broader information about a brand and whether it’s moving forward. When compared with previous intent benchmarks, it can give more information about where customers are moving, and in what direction they’re moving toward.

Altogether, this creates more effective and actionable data for sales professionals and sales teams to work with. As organizations scale and develop, this becomes even more important — a single sales professional is far more effective when they know which targets to use.

How to Measure Purchase Intent

Intent data doesn’t matter unless a team knows how to engage in purchase intent analysis. If a team isn’t certain how to measure purchase intent, all the purchase intent metrics in the world won’t matter. From the purchase intent scale to the basic purchase intent formula, sales teams should understand how purchase intent is being measured so they can make better use of it. There’s no standard purchase intent KPI or purchase intent norms, nor is there a standard purchase intent percentage. Rather, purchase intent has to be tailored to the organization.

For the most part, organizations are going to be dealing with scores or ranges. For example, a purchase intent score of 80 or above might be a good sign that the account is seriously being considered. But if an organization’s average purchase intent score is 80, they may want to look at 100 or more. Likewise, for a company that has an average purchase intent score of 80, a purchase intent score of 40 or less means that a customer might not be seriously interested at all. A sales team wouldn’t want to waste time on this account yet if they have bigger fish.

Every business is different, so organizations need to change their scoring models appropriate to their business. Ideally, they should always be targeting the top 20 percent of the customer scores, with an emphasis on the top 10 percent. As organizations grow and change, they may also need to update their scoring models. All of this requires in-depth, detailed analysis; the more data available, the better.

And that doesn’t mean that organizations won’t focus on those with low purchase intent at all. Purchase intent changes in different areas on the buyer’s journey, and it’s critical that organizations have different processes and outreach campaigns for each. While sales departments may be focusing on those with high purchase intent, automated services, and account-based marketing solutions, can be used to target those with lower purchase intent.

Letter of Intent Template

Let’s take a look at a letter of intent template. A purchase intent letter (often saved as a letter of intent template Word or Google Doc), is a letter of intent to purchase a business or a letter of intent to make another significant purchase. A letter of intent to purchase business Word document differs from standard purchase to intent; you send a letter of intent to purchase PDF if you’re trying to purchase something.

Here’s a sample letter of intent to purchase property:

To whom it may concern:

This letter is written to inform you that, per discussions between our parties, we intend to purchase your property at [address] for [value]. This purchase is to include both land and improvements located at [address]. per surveys and inventory. We will be meeting to discuss the purchase of this property on [date] and the closing documents will be forwarded as of [date]. During our meeting, the following documents will be signed:

[documents]

Please let us know if there are further questions or concerns.

Yours sincerely,

[Purchaser]

The goal of a letter of intent is to make it clear of your intention to purchase property, business, or equipment. Once the seller is in receipt of the note, they can then let you know whether the projected timeline feels accurate and whether there may be any issues that arise regarding the documents needed.

That is for a property. But you might also want a letter of intent to purchase business template, letter of intent to purchase medical equipment, sample letter of intent to purchase diesel machinery, sample letter of intent to purchase machinery that runs on gas, or a general sample letter of intent to purchase product features. Either way, the letter of intent to purchase template Word is going to be similar.