9 Best Intent Data Providers for B2B Sales Teams in 2024

Looking to incorporate intent data into your sales process but not sure where to start?

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the number of choices available, you’re not alone. Intent data software is a crowded market, and the product itself is quickly becoming a commodity.

As such, intent data providers resort to increasingly bold claims about what it is that sets them apart from the competition.

To get to the bottom of the matter, we tracked down and compared the best intent data providers so you don’t have to. This article presents nine of the top top intent data providers, compares their key features, and offers an analysis of what really sets them apart.

Plus, we’ll explain how to actually use intent data in your outreach so you’re getting the most out of these juicy prospect insights.

In no particular order, here are the best intent data software providers for B2B sales teams in 2024.

6Sense

6Sense is a buyer intent data and predictive analytics platform. It gathers information on prospective buyers so sales teams can prioritize whom to reach out to.

The platform specializes in uncovering anonymous buyer behaviour. This activity, which takes place in the “dark funnel” and isn’t tracked by traditional analytics, can be especially valuable intel for sales teams to contact people who are most likely to be in buying mode.

Key Features

• Predictive AI modeling: 6Sense uses AI to analyze reams of data to predict buyer behaviour, saving reps from guessing which accounts to prioritize.
• Account-level engagement insights: Detailed insights into engagement at the account level helps to focus efforts on more promising leads.
• Keyword and topic intent: Unlike other intent data providers, 6Sense tracks intent at the keyword level so you know topics and keywords your prospects are researching

What sets 6Sense apart

6Sense’s self-proclaimed key differentiator is its ability to target accounts in the “dark funnel”.

According to their website, this enables sales and marketing teams to contact buyers that are in stealth mode—researching a solution while intentionally not engaging salespeople—and thus make first contact.

We also found the granularity of keyword-level intent tracking to be unique to 6Sense. Most intent data providers only offer tracking at the topic level.

Clearbit

Clearbit tells you who’s been on your website. It does this by scraping traffic data, creating records of visitors, and enriching these records to reveal who the traffic belongs to.

The well-designed interface will show you at a glance the companies who’ve been checking you out, which pages they visited, and how many times they came back.

This is useful information for salespeople, as it allows them to prioritize high-intent accounts.

Key Features

• Real-time data enrichment: Automatic updates to prospect data means you’re always working off the latest intel and most current information.
• Your web traffic, revealed: There’s nowhere to hide when the Clearbit pixel is on duty. Anonymous web visitors are “revealed” with more alacrity than a Scooby Doo villain.
• Automatic lead scoring: Leads are automatically scored, segmented, and routed to ensure the right person is reaching out at the right time.

What sets Clearbit apart

Clearbit’s value proposition is that they uncover companies behind anonymous website traffic as they visit your website. This real-time data accuracy distinguishes Clearbit from other similar solutions.

Newly acquired by HubSpot, the next chapter for Clearbit stands to be an interesting one as it’s incorporated into HubSpot’s already extensive set of products to aid Sales and Marketing teams.

G2

G2 is a peer-to-peer review site that focuses on B2B software and services.

You probably don’t immediately think of G2 as an intent data provider. But the information gathered from potential buyers perusing your category and company profile can be highly valuable for sellers.

If someone’s on G2, they’re actively comparing different solutions.

Key Features

• User-generated reviews: Company profiles feature reviews from real users that are often presented in a more authentic manner than a testimonial or case study published by the company.
  
• Comparative analysis: Category rankings, feature & pricing comparisons, omnipresent badges, and the proprietary G2 Grid makes it easy to compare different solutions side by side.
  
• Insightful market reports: G2 provides analytical reports on software categories, market trends, and buyer behaviors, derived from aggregated review data.

What sets G2 apart

G2’s key differentiator is the emphasis on authentic user-generated content. The deference to community-driven over vendor-supplied information offers a much needed source of transparency for buyers tasked with purchasing extremely expensive software.

As an intent provider, G2 is uniquely positioned to provide sales teams with data that shows buyers are actively comparing solutions and therefore high-value targets.

Bombora

Bombora’s intent data platform promises to find the businesses who are ready to buy before your competitors do.

It does this through its proprietary tool, Company Surge, which identifies and tracks who’s searching for what and scores signals to help sales teams prioritize target accounts.

They also claim to have invented B2B intent data. So that’s something, I guess.

Key Features

• Company Surge data: This is the flagship feature that tracks increased content consumption on specific topics at the company level, suggesting buying intent.
• Integrations galore: Bombora offers seamless integration with tons of Marketing and Sales platforms so it slides right into your existing tech stack.
• Breadth of topics tracked: They track an enormous range of topics, as evidenced by the giant spreadsheet listing all 15,000 of them that took my poor MacBook Air forever to download.

What sets Bombora apart

The focus on company-level intent data over individual-level insights are useful for marketing and sales teams to understand the collective interest and priorities of a company rather than the whims of a single person.

According to Bombora, they also have the “industry's most comprehensive and privacy-compliant intent data” and a strong commitment to ethical data practices.

TrustRadius

TrustRadius is a platform that offers technology and software reviews. It's designed to help business leaders make informed product decisions through user-generated reviews and feedback.

Similar to other review platforms, its utility as an intent source stems from the ability to identify in-market buyers who are actively researching products or services.

Key Features

• Verified user reviews: Each review and reviewer is vetted and verified for authenticity, so you can be sure each review is coming from a real person with real experience with the product or service.
• No ads: They’re committed to providing reviews that paint the full picture: the good, the bad, and the ugly. No ads means there’s no bias.
• Downstream intent data: 2nd-party intent signals give you access to prospects that are actively researching you and your competitors, and they integrate into your CRM or ABM platform.

What sets TrustRadius apart

From a product level TrustRadius’ commitment to quality over quantity sets them apart. Rather than play the volume game and stack up as many reviews as possible, it only allows for verified, in-depth reviews.

At an intent level, this depth of quality in the product attracts more qualified, in-market buyers. In short, if your prospects are on TrustRadius, they’re getting close to a purchase decision.

Cognism

Cognism is a B2B data and lead generation provider. The data they provide is the phone number and business email address of the people you want to do business with.

They also combine their vast contact database—which they claim has 98% accuracy for mobile phone numbers—with intent data through a partnership with Bombora.

Key Features

• Verified data: Cognism manually verifies decision-makers’ phone numbers, claiming a 98% accuracy rate.
• No caps, no cap: As a paying customer you get unrestricted access to individual and company data with no credit or geographic limitations. They also offer international coverage.
• Bombora intent data partnership: Instead of reinvent the wheel and build intent functionality themselves, they instead partnered with the (alleged) original wheel inventors, Bombora.

What sets Cognism apart

A combination of a large, verified database of contacts and smart intent partnerships set Cognism apart.

Once you’ve identified companies showing intent, you can tap Cognism’s extensive contact database to build a list of contacts to reach out to, using the context from the intent to be more relevant.

A strong focus on good data practices also takes the compliance burden off your shoulders.

Demandbase

Demandbase is a leading go-to-market platform. It specializes in using various products and technologies to find and engage buyers who are most likely to be in the market.

Their intent data is one such product. It comprises one part of the comprehensive Demandbase One platform.

Key Features

• AI-powered analysis: Demandbase uses AI and NLP to sift through staggering amounts of data to surface relevant signals. You can track unlimited keyword sets and historical intent thanks to this processing power.
• Global Coverage: They support 130+ languages and track intent signals from almost all markets worldwide.
• Diverse data sources: On top of their proprietary tech and intent data, they’ve partnered with other intent providers (Bombora, G2, and TrustRadius) for more diverse data coverage.

What sets Demandbase apart

Demandbase’s differentiation claim is that they get their intent data “directly from the source”—giving it more breadth and relevance than competitors’.

Their advanced AI and natural language processing processes one trillion signals a month, giving customers insight into almost every market and every topic in the world.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a B2B data provider. Like other large multi-use case platforms, they offer an intent data feature that complements their flagship products, SalesOS.

The intent signals are derived by proprietary tech that analyzes web traffic and tracks keywords related to B2B topics, then reveals who’s interested in these topics at the company level.

Key Features

• Real-time signals: Intent signals are delivered in real time. You’re notified which companies are researching specific topics as they research them.
• Intent + contact data: ZoomInfo’s contact data is regarded as some of the most reliable available. When paired with intent signals it is a formidable combination.
• Extensive integrations: Out-of-the-box integrations means you can plug ZoomInfo straight into your existing tech stack.

What sets ZoomInfo apart

The strength of ZoomInfo’s intent offering rides on the ability to pair accurate intent data signals with their robust contact data—which they claim to be the most accurate and extensive on the market.

The signals are also delivered in real time (which they claim is also unique to them) so you can reach out to buyers the minute they show interest.

Lusha

Lusha is sales intelligence software that finds B2B emails and phone numbers.

They also offer intent data, which identifies potential buyers by tracking trends in their behavioural signals. It then assigns them a score based on their likelihood to buy.

Key Features

• Interest score: A score out of 100, plus the direction in which the score is trending, provides a simple and objective way to prioritize which accounts to reach out to.
• Prospect alerts: Get notified when big changes happen, like when a prospect changes jobs.
• Extensive & compliant data: Lusha boasts 100M business profiles and 60M email addresses, and their data practices are compliant with all the top regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)

What sets Lusha apart

Lusha really pushes its simplicity and usability as their key differentiator from alternatives. This is emphasized by their self-serve business model.

However, if you want access to their most robust features—like the intent data—you’ll need to speak with their sales team to get set up.

Their intent offering distinguishes itself by leveraging company-level intent scores based on trending topics of interest, hypothetically leading to faster and more relevant outreach.

What is B2B intent data and how does it work?

Intent data, or intent data signals, are digital breadcrumbs that people leave behind when they do stuff on the internet.

Search queries, websites and web pages visited, content engagement, ebook downloads, and clicks on ads are all examples of intent data. In the context of B2B sales and marketing, these signals are used to interpret a potential customer’s level of interest in a product or service.

There are two main types of intent data: First party data and third party data:

• First party intent data is information gathered from channels you “own” like your website, social media accounts, and email platforms.
• Third party intent data is information provided by someone else and collected from external sources from across the web.

Intent data providers collect, analyze, aggregate, and sell this data. More accurately, they sell the insights this data represents.

By accessing this intent data, businesses can make more accurate and informed predictions and decisions about where and on whom to focus their marketing efforts on.

This intel allows B2B Sales teams to better prioritize and tailor their outreach, narrowing down an ocean of potential customers to those who are most likely to buy.

How to compare intent data providers

The market is awash with intent data providers. It can be hard to decide which is right for your business.

Here are some key factors to consider when comparing intent data providers.

Data quality & breadth

There’s no delicate way to say this—inaccurate data is completely useless.

Data accuracy and recency should be non-negotiables. The success of your campaign depends on this and it should be a primary consideration when comparing intent data providers.

The variety of data is an equally important consideration.

For instance, some intent data providers will allow you to track intent at the keyword level, while others will track broader topics bit not individual keywords. The granularity of the information you require is important to keep in mind.

Integrations & ease of use

If you buy an expensive intent data tool, will your team use it?

The accessibility of the software should be a top consideration. Is it easy to use or does it require a steep learning curve? Does it fit nicely into your current tech stack or does it not integrate at all?  

These are the questions you need to answer to make sure your expensive purchase will be put to use.

Provider’s track record

Does the tool do what it says it does?

Examine the provider's track record, customer testimonials, and case studies. Some companies will offer to connect you with current customers who’ll answer questions about the benefits of the product.

If not, G2, TrustRadius, and other review sites are useful resources when determining the reliability of a vendor’s claims.

How to actually use intent data

One very important thing to know about intent data is it’s almost always attributed at the company level.

That means when you see someone from an ICP company searching for keywords related to your business and visiting your website, you have no idea whether it’s the intern or the CEO.

Not only is it not feasible to track intent at the individual level, it’s also illegal.

Technical limitations and privacy laws—alongside a growing awareness and push towards more privacy online—prevent accurately attributing online behavior to specific individuals. To remain compliant with data protection regulations, providers must aggregate and anonymize data to preserve individual privacy.

Most intent data providers position their offering as a direct link between you and ready-to-buy customers. But there are several steps between receiving a signal and establishing contact with a prospective buyer.

First of which is identifying who exactly to reach out to.

Intent signals are just that—signals. They are clues that tell you when the window of opportunity is open. You still need to do the legwork to get your offer in front of the right person at the right time.

Which is exactly what OneShot.ai is built to do.

Action intent with OneShot.ai

OneShot.ai takes the grunt work out of actioning intent.

Our advanced machine learning systems help you locate signals that identify ready-to-buy prospects and reach out to them automatically with a hyper personalized message.

Intent signals are clues that someone is looking for a solution to a problem.

By incorporating this context into your outreach, your cold email transforms from an annoying hindrance to a lightbulb moment.

If you’re ready to get more intentional with your prospecting, take OneShot.ai for a spin and contact us for a personalized 1-1 demo.