Buying signals are about as delightful to sales and marketing as a prospect waving their hand and shouting, “sell me something!” But what exactly is a buying signal? How do you tell it apart from the countless interactions you see every day?Getting familiar with different buying signals can help you jump on great opportunities and reduce time wasted on window shoppers.
What Are Buying Signals?
Buying signals are a form of intent signal that show the highest likelihood of making a purchase. Intent signals can be classified in many different ways, including weak and strong. Buying signals, which are often in the form of some kind of direct engagement, are the strongest kind.
Another way of classifying buying signals is to divide them according to marketing signals or sales signals. Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Buying signals in sales is behavior that a salesperson notices as they interact with a lead. This can range from a prospect saying “Do you take American Express” to asking for customer references.
- Marketing signals result from an intent-based marketing campaign where a prospect takes an action that suggests they are moving further down the funnel or are ready to make a positive decision. Marketing signals include requesting a demo and downloading a case study.
This is an important distinction. The way the signal was received will influence how to best nurture the prospect. For example, it’s easy for a salesperson to notice a buying signal during a conversation and act on it immediately. It’s a lot more awkward, and possibly a deal breaker, to call someone who has downloaded their first white paper if they’ve only just learned about your product.
What Is Not Considered a Buying Signal?
To understand what isn’t a buying signal, you have to first be clear on where the intent data comes from. As we’ve mentioned, intent signals are based on intent data that is purchased or gathered from intent data providers, which come in one of three types:
First-party: This is data that your organization collects. It might be through the website, CRM system, analytics tools supplied by Google and social media accounts, and records of in-person interaction (like follow-up reports from trade shows).
Second-party: This is information collected by product review and company profiling sites such as G2 and Crunchbase. For example, if someone from X Ltd. looked at a review of your organization, a second-party provider can give you data about their activities. Social media sites that provide intent data, like Instagram, can also count as second-party providers.
Third-party: These are companies that specialize in gathering huge amounts of information about companies in general. Examples include Clearbit and LeadGenius.
Basically, the further away data is from first-party level, the less likely it will be a buying signal. Using third-party data to look up a company that fits an ideal customer profile won’t tell you if they are actually interested in your solution – maybe they just bought one from a competitor.
But when somebody visits your website, there’s a much greater chance that they have sought out you specifically, indicating a better chance of buying intent. Still, that’s no guarantee. You’ll need to put such signals through an intent classification process to determine if they should be directed towards marketing or sales (that’s where intent-based targeting comes in handy).
Buying Signal Examples
Another way to categorize buying signals is distinguishing between verbal and non-verbal ones.
Verbal Buying Signals
Verbal buying signals that are noticed by a salesperson are relatively easy to recognize and act on.
Price and method of payment inquiries. If the conversation drifts towards pricing during a sales call, there’s a good chance that the prospect is thinking seriously about a purchase. At the very least, they are comparing you to the competition and looking at budget considerations.
Terms and conditions. Prospects with questions about the T&C are probably interested in warranty and refund conditions, which is also a basis for comparison to the competition.
Upcoming steps. This includes questions about contract turnaround times, installation requirements, onboarding schedules, etc. The goal here is to understand how soon they can start using the product – a good signal that they’re seriously considering a purchase.
Non-Verbal Buying Signals
This is behavior that’s most commonly recorded as a marketing signal. There are as many possibilities as there are touch points with anyone who encounters your brand online. Non-verbal signals are tougher to diagnose because there’s no live interaction between you and the prospect, so cross-referencing this information with a classification process can help maximize the number of “hot” leads.
Request for case studies. These provide actual proof of your product in action and often make a value proposition clearer. If the prospect’s market is small, there’s even a chance they may know the company in the study.
Request for product trial. This is generally done online. If the prospect immediately sets a date, that’s a good thing. However, if they postpone the trial, it could be a sign of deliberation or simply not knowing how to use the product.
Completing a form. This could be to receive emails, attend a webinar, get notified of new content, or obtain marketing/product collateral. In this case, prospects usually understand that the action will lead to outreach from a salesperson, but not always.
Social media engagement. People who discuss your brand or forward your content might be ready to commit – at the very least, they’re interested in what you offer. The marketing team can both monitor mentions of the brand and analyze data from the platform(s).
How to Respond to Buying Signals
Verbal buying signals are the least ambiguous. Most people know that, for instance, asking about price is a sort of leading question. The prospect intuitively knows how a salesperson will interpret that action, so they expect a sales pitch to follow. Of course, the conversion rate from a buying signal is seldom 100%. But a verbal signal is an opportunity to start a conversation that eventually gets to a proposition.
Non-verbal signals require a bit more finesse. After all, the prospect has not taken the step towards direct contact (and a stronger intent signal) so they still might be undecided. It’s a matter of experience – and data insights – to decide on the next step. This could be in the form of an email about new content that includes a CTA to arrange a discussion with a sales rep. The key is not to use too much pressure but still nudge the lead towards actual interaction with sales.
Key Takeaways
- Buying signals are intent signals with the greatest likelihood of resulting in a sale.
- When intent data comes from second and third parties, there is little chance that it can be classified as a buying signal.
- Intent signals can be described as verbal and non-verbal. Verbal signals are the strongest and can act as a lead into a sales call, while non-verbal signals need more careful examination to decide on the best approach.
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