Digital Fingerprints: 13 Non-Obvious B2B Buyer Intent Signals You Might Be Missing
Explore 13 indicators of strong buyer intent that you can use for your GTM strategy
B2B buyers leave a trail of digital clues everywhere they go.
Some are easy to spot, like countless visits to your website or filling out a demo request.
But that’s just scratching the surface.
There are many other buyer signals that are just as strong (if not more so). They just take a bit more digging to find.
Here’s a closer look at 13 subtle B2B buyer intent signals that often go unnoticed. And if you start paying attention to these “digital fingerprints”, you might find potential buyers before your competitors do.
Obvious vs non-obvious buyer signals
Think of digital fingerprints as a lead’s online “body language”.
But instead of reading facial expressions and arm movements, you’re looking at clicks, scroll depth, and time spent on pages.
These actions shed light on how interested a buyer is.
Some common high-intent B2B purchase signals are:
- Visiting high-intent pages (e.g. case studies, demos, pricing)
- Downloading gated content (e.g. ebooks, guides)
- Submitting forms
- Requesting a demo
Most sales teams prioritize signs of intent like these over low-intent signals like reading a blog post or checking out (and quickly exiting) the home page.
But there are other indicators and less obvious clues you can use to identify and pursue promising leads.
They may just take a bit more time and effort to capitalize on. But if you do, your outreach may jump by 10% or more.
13 B2B buyer signals you might be missing
Not all buyer signals are easy to spot or act on. Some of the most valuable clues with the highest chances of conversion can easily slip under the radar.
Here are 13 high-intent signals you can turn into high-performance GTM plays before your competitors do.
Product champion job changing
Say you have a useful contact at a buyer’s company, like a chief technical officer (CTO) who’s an advocate for your cybersecurity product. They were so happy with your product’s performance that they wrote a five-star review and a blog post praising it.
Now this person is taking a new role with another company. What does that mean for you besides having to deal with a new CTO?
Why should you keep a close eye on the career trajectories of your trusted contacts?
Because you can now approach your product champion and sell to them anew and to their new company. The decision-maker is already a fan of your product, which gives you a head start on engaging the new company.
By keeping track of new jobs and roles for people who champion your product, you can:
- Onboard B2B customers without spending a penny on marketing
- Open with a warm reunion rather than a cold call
- Stay in touch with influential voices who understand your product
Isn’t that worth following your trusted contacts on LinkedIn and configuring your CRM tool to alert your team about leads who move to new companies?
Repeat visits to high-intent pages
Someone has checked your pricing page, ROI calculator, or case studies repeatedly but took no action.
That means the person might be seriously considering buying your product, but they need more nudging. Maybe they require more information about your product’s advantages, more social proof, or a more direct sales approach.
Tracking repeat visits to high-intent pages is smart because they indicate:
- Strong purchase intent, though not yet strong enough to buy immediately
- A middle-of-the-funnel prospect weighing their options
- A lead who’s ready for nurturing
If your CRM is configured to match webpage visitors to lead profiles, you can trust these intent signals to guide your nurturing.
Not everyone spending time on your website is a prospect. Some might well be college students writing their term paper on your industry!
With a repeat visitor that matches your buyer persona, your team can proceed to nurturing. It’s better to keep your first contact short and sweet, steering clear of anything that can come across as pushy, creepy, or salesy. Simply ask if they have any questions about your product and answer these.
Customer reviews
Do you read customer reviews of your competitors to gauge the rival brands’ popularity and the strengths and weaknesses of their product? If so, you can also use them to find new customers!
Imagine someone left a negative review about your competitor’s product, explaining exactly what they were unhappy with. That’s an opportunity for you to shine and approach that customer with your product.
Customer reviews work great as B2B purchase intent signals because:
- Whoever wrote those reviews is certainly your target audience, and they’ve bought a product similar to yours
- They need another product right now to replace the one that let them down
- They’ve said what they’re looking for in a product like yours, and you can use that to tailor your messaging
When reaching out to someone who’s been disappointed by a competitor’s product, explain how and why your product will work better for them. For example, if they complained about the clunky user interface, highlight that yours is smooth and intuitive.
It’s important to follow up on customer reviews quickly. If you approach a prospect two weeks after they’ve posted a review, chances are they’ve already committed to another product. To avoid that and benefit from this intent signal, use review aggregation tools to monitor customer feedback about your competitors.
New hires
A leadership change in a prospect company is the best moment to approach the company with an offer. New senior-level hires are expected to shake things up by improving processes and innovating. That means they have a strong appetite for new solutions, such as your product.
For example, a new chief information officer (CIO) may need to modernize the company’s legacy infrastructure. They’ll research options like cloud migration services and cybersecurity upgrades, which makes them a high-intent lead for that kind of product.
New hires in decision-making roles are worth tracking because:
- They’re under pressure to deliver quick wins to prove themselves
- They’re more willing to consider and switch to new vendors and products
- Their openness to change shortens the sales cycle
Don’t wait for new hires to come across your website as they explore new products. Approach them when they’re appointed and make it clear how your product can deliver quick improvements for their company.
Set up automatic alerts on LinkedIn and your CRM database to stay updated on key personnel moves within prospect companies.
Lookalikes
If you already have an ideal customer profile (ICP) set up, it’s time to take the next step: look at common traits that all (or most) of your actual customers share.
For instance, you may discover that 75% of your customers are mid-sized IT companies that are expanding into new markets. Ideally, you’ll identify their pain points and their decision-making patterns.
Next, explore LinkedIn for your customers’ lookalikes, i.e. other companies that match the same pattern.
Why does this work?
Because customer lookalikes probably face the same challenges as your existing customers, they can benefit from your product too. You can approach them proactively before their research brings them to your doorstep.
Not every lookalike company will have high buyer intent for your product. Some might already be locked in with competitors. But statistically, chances are higher if you target lookalikes rather than all companies matching your ICP.
Spikes in social media activity
A sudden spike in a company’s social media engagement, such as a lot more posts coming from them, can indicate many things.
They might be warming up their audience for a new release. They might’ve been caught in the crossfire of negative publicity in their industry and are now struggling to improve their reputation. Or, they might be researching the market for a product like yours.
Alas, they won’t necessarily make a post asking their followers to recommend something you just happen to be selling.
Social media buyer intent signals can be really subtle:
- Liking and commenting on your content
- Liking and commenting on your competitors’ content
- Asking other social media users questions about your product
Tracking social media activity can help you find prospects who just need a bit of warming up to become customers.
However, too few companies bother because of the sheer effort involved.
Not everyone actively commenting on your content is a lead worth pursuing. Many are just random, and filtering them manually can overwhelm a small team.
Luckily, you can use automated tools to make tracking social media activity easier. For example, you can use:
- Sentiment analysis (with tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush)
- Hashtag and industry keyword monitoring with alerts set up for a sudden increase in mentions
- Targeted tracking of mentions and comments from people or companies on your lead list
Using these clues, you can stay on top of your leads’ social media activity and approach them promptly when they display increased interest in your product.
Surge in community engagement
Not all B2B customers use social media for research. Many would rather join professional communities and industry forums, which is why brand community engagement is another B2B buyer intent signal.
Non-customers join brand communities to find out more about products before buying. For example, a person who hasn’t used Salesforce might join Salesforce communities to learn if the platform is a good match for their needs. They might ask other users about their experience.
If your brand community is big and active, checking all new sign-ups will be time-consuming. But it’s still worth the effort because you can:
- Identify prospects at the Consideration stage
- Nurture high-intent leads already interested in your product
- Learn about common customer questions and concerns related to your product, which can inform your product development and marketing strategies
You can use analytics tools to monitor engagement more efficiently and CRM integrations to link community activity with lead profiles.
Keyword mentions
Keyword mentions is a B2B buyer intent signal that you absolutely must track. Technically, it’s an aggregate of a number of other purchase intent signals, including social media activity and brand community engagement.
Imagine that an HR manager is exploring tools and platforms that will make their company’s recruitment and onboarding more effective.
They might ask their colleagues in LinkedIn groups about which tools they use. They might join industry forums and ask for advice. Or they might check your competitors’ blogs and leave comments asking questions about their products.
A potential lead might do all these things at once, and keyword monitoring will capture all of this activity.
Keeping track of keyword mentions can be a goldmine of information revealing:
- Topics your potential leads discuss
- Product benefits and features they’re most interested in
- Gaps in your competitors’ solutions that your product can fill
To make the most of the keyword mentions, use social listening tools (Brandwatch, Hootsuite, Sprout Social) to monitor social media, forums, and blogs all at once. Make a list of relevant keywords to track, such as “recruitment platform,” “recruitment tool,” “fast onboarding.” When you identify potential leads who use these keywords, approach them and tell them how your product meets their needs.
Following your company
Someone who matches your buyer persona just followed your company’s social media profile. Should you take any action?
Following your profile is a low-commitment action, but it still shows interest in your product. Although you can’t yet be certain, this lead might have high buyer intent. You can turn this into a lead nurturing opportunity and move them down the sales pipeline.
If you’re a small one-person business, or the lead has followed your personal profile instead of the company page, you can ask them directly about why they followed you and whether they’re interested in your product. However, if you’re part of a large company, you’ll have to be subtler.
Watch the lead’s engagement patterns for a while. Notice which of your content they “like” or comment on. Then, invite them to check more content that’s likely to interest them, such as case studies from their industry.
Use advanced AI personalization tools to monitor lead activity on your profile and prepare tailored offers more effectively.
Asking high-intent questions
When a lead asks questions about your product, that already signals their interest. However, some questions indicate a stronger buyer intent than others.
Here are some examples of high-intent questions:
- Have you deployed this system for companies in (the prospect’s industry)?
- How long does it take to deploy the system?
- How does your product integrate with (a software tool the lead’s company uses)?
- What kind of post-purchase support do you offer?
- Is there a money-back guarantee?
- Is it possible to pay in installments?
These questions are a clear sign that this person is considering buying your product.
If your team struggles to check all your feedback channels, such as social media comments, private messages, and website contact forms, they might miss high-intent questions. Fortunately, you can use automated tools to catch up with these questions. For example, you can configure your CRM and social listening tools to track high-intent language across all channels.
High interest in a specific use case
Some leads might ask questions about a specific use case rather than generic high-intent questions like those mentioned above.
This would indicate an even stronger purchase intent. they want to know if your product is a good fit to tackle their specific challenge.
For instance, a prospect may ask, “Can your collaboration platform support secure video conferencing for teams spread across multiple countries?”
If you convince them your product is great for that, you can make a sale in no time.
Questions related to specific use cases are worth tracking to:
- Pinpoint leads already in the Decision phase
- Discover which use cases capture the most interest from potential customers, so you can use that information to fine-tune your marketing
- Close highly promising deals with prospects seeking a solution to their problem
Automatically tracking specific use questions is challenging. They can’t be pinpointed by a set of keywords as easily as generic questions. That’s where advanced AI analytics tools come in handy. When properly trained, they can identify high-intent questions regardless of their wording.
Visitor flow that simulates a cold call process
This intent signal is sent by a visitor who opens, in any order, the following pages of your website:
- Video demo
- About us
- Product features and benefits
- Webcasts
- Contact
- Pricing
- Testimonials
This visitor pattern is hardly random.
It indicates someone with a strong interest in your product and company. In other words, it simulates a cold call process taking a lead to conversion, except this visitor is leading the process, rather than your sales team.
The visitors who follow these steps and whose profile matches your buyer persona are absolutely worth reaching out to. By taking this journey through your website, they’re effectively saying, “I’m considering buying from you.” That’s when your team needs to step in and approach them with a tempting offer.
Browsing the social media profiles of your leadership team
When prospects check out your leadership’ social media profiles, they’re most likely gauging if your company and theirs make a good fit.
Some questions that leads try to answer by exploring your CEO’s profile are:
- What is this person’s professional background?
- Are they a recognized expert in the field?
- Are they friendly and approachable?
- How do they like to conduct business?
- What are their values?
Ultimately, people buy from people. When choosing among several veequally trustworthy vendorsa prospect will likely dig into a vendor’s leadership and go with the pemost appealing person
A good personal match between your CEO and a potential customer is impossible to predict. However, even if a lead likes what they see on the CEO’s profile, that won’t necessarily convert into action. They might still need a final nudge to make up their mind, and you should be there to nudge them.
You can use LinkedIn analytics tools to track visits to your leadership team’s profiles. Configure your CRM to match those visits with leads.
