How to Use B2B Intent Data to Shorten Technology Buying Cycles

Technology buying cycles are getting longer and more complex

We all know that tech buying cycles are getting longer. B2B tech buyers are conducting more of their research online, with some wanting to do all their research themselves before deciding which vendors to reach out to.

On top of that, budgets are tighter due to inflation and global economic uncertainty, while there’s an increased focus on ROI and reducing time to value – the time it takes for any tech investment to start producing tangible results. All of this means that scrutiny of potential vendors is increasing and takes longer.  

Couple this with the fact that tech solutions are getting more complex, more data-rich, and often more costly, and you’ve got a recipe for long, slow deliberation.  

At the same time, the buying committee has also become larger, with more competing agendas to satisfy. According to our research, only 14% of C-Suite IT and Cybersecurity professionals we surveyed would describe themselves as the budget holder in the IT decision-making process. Instead, most now describe themselves as  decision-maker or even influencer. By contrast, we’re seeing the rise of multiple internal stakeholders, from Finance and Operations to Legal all getting involved.  

The consequence of all this added complexity is even slower decisions, more second-guessing, and more work B2B tech marketers have to do to keep potential buyers warm through the process.  

Leveraging B2B intent data in 2026

So what’s the big deal about B2B intent data in 2026? Well, it’s the perfect solution to the loss of third-party cookies while also being of huge potential help in supporting and shortening B2B tech buying cycles. In other words, there’s never been a stronger argument to start using it because the challenges it can help solve have become more and more urgent and difficult.

Think about it. It can help you reach the right audiences at the right time, ensuring that the most relevant people see your content. It helps you target and connect with potential customers who you can be reasonably certain will have a genuine interest in your products and services. All because you can track when potential clients are looking at the kinds of products you offer.

Let’s do a quick refresher. First party intent data includes:

• Data from your own CRM, the email addresses and job titles you get from lead forms
• Actions taken on your website – such as a visitor repeatedly landing on the same page, or downloading an ebook
• Customer surveys
• What ads they click
• Which of your social media accounts they follow, and how much they interact with them.
• If they sign up to your email list, you can track which links they click.

Third party data is data sourced externally from other websites which you can get by working with a reputable third-party data supplier who has aggregated anonymized data for you.

You can then combine this with a variety of other data sources, for example:

• Search intent data
• Navigational intent
• Firmographic data
• Technographic data, or a company’s technology infrastructure, such as the software and hardware it uses

Putting all of this together helps you write content focused on the keywords and phrases people are using in Google and Bing searches that are relevant to your products and services. Combining this will the ability to track which companies are searching for the technology you offer and whether they fit your Ideal Customer Profile will give you access to a powerful dataset you can leverage in multiple ways.

Benefits of aligning B2B intent data with wider lead generation

There are several ways that B2B intent data can boost your lead generation efforts. These can include:

• More refined targeting – focusing on those leads who have a genuine interest in the product, based on the intent signals they’re giving off
• You can use intent data and B2B intent data providers to build up your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), working out your potential leads’ pain points so that you’re more likely to hit them with well-targeted, well-timed, and relevant messaging.
• Use B2B buyer intent data to build a demand generation strategy. This way, you can figure out what content topics and formats your audience wants to see for demand generation and content marketing. For example, if many leads have been looking for information on a certain industry trend, you can factor that into your marketing strategy, by creating a white paper or posting about it on your company’s LinkedIn profile.
• Use intent data to build an outbound B2B lead generation strategy. When reaching out to prospects directly, actively contacting them with the aim of bringing them into your marketing funnel, you need to know your data is high quality, so you’re not wasting ad spend presenting ads to people who aren’t interested in your product. Or so you’re not getting your sales team to spam the wrong people with cold calls

Benefits of B2B intent data for lead nurturing

Leading nurturing is a vital but often overlooked part of the lead generation process. It’s the art and science of guiding your leads towards a purchase by using regular contact with them to build trust in your expertise and ability to help them solve their problems.

Naturally, B2B intent data can be incredibly valuable here if used well. Knowing what blogs, videos and social media posts a lead has viewed before subscribing to your e-newsletter is a sign of which topics they’re interested in, as well as how ready they are likely to be to buy. The more content from lower down the marketing funnel they click on, the warmer they are likely to be.

Similarly, the more self-guided product demos they watch, the more qualified they are. Be sure to develop a store of content to address different needs of leads at different stages in their buying journey, so you can score and qualify them more effectively and guide them more smoothly to a conversion.

Which intent data providers and platforms to choose in 2026

So, with all this considered, which third party intent data providers and platforms should you consider working with in 2026?

As with any data providers, there are several to choose from, though those with the best reputations for quality are:

• Bombora – one of the intent data provider pioneers which integrates with LinkedIn, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Marketo, amongst others
• Terminus – account-based marketing tool which helps companies to integrate B2B intent data into ABM campaigns
• LinkedIn – data-rich professional social media platform which has incredible reach but often needs specific training, experience, or integrate with other tools to work at its most efficient
• ZoomInfo – all-in-one marketing and CRM platform that leverages intent data to improve targeting and productivity
• DemandBase – B2B sales and marketing platform that leverages intent data to help scale sales and marketing campaigns
• 6Sense – markets itself as an AI-driven ABM platform based off intent data that can also craft marketing messages for clients that are targeted at key accounts
• Cognism – premium “sales intelligence” platform which provides intent data in easily digestible form for sales and marketing
• G2 – peer-to-peer technology review website which aggregates user reviews and is a great place to research tech platforms

Most companies use a combination of the above intent data providers and solutions to generate or evaluate intent data for their sales and marketing efforts. For example, here at Headley Media, we cross-reference our first-party intent data with Bombora’s third-party data for additional insight and validation.

Whichever provider or providers you choose, be sure to evaluate thoroughly that they are right for your needs, resources, and business priorities. Since some of these providers are extremely expensive, you need to ensure that you’ll get value for money and achieve ROI as rapidly as possible.

Using content syndication as part of your intent-based marketing strategy in 2026

This brings us to whether or not to use content syndication as part of your intent-based marketing strategy in 2026. Of course, this depends on which content syndication partner you choose. However, when working with a reputable provider, content syndication offers high quality first party data with full transparency over each lead’s origin, level of consent, and likely buying intent.

A good content syndication partner can work with you to refine your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Personas, and advise you on which content topics and formats will likely work best to attract your desired audience based on their pain points.

They’ll also be able to refine your lead generation goals and to optimize your campaign’s return-on-investment. The best ones are even able to offer fixed costs per lead and guarantee the number of leads you can generate.

The result is true first-party intent data, a real understanding of what your prospects are researching and how best to target them with content that resonates at precisely the right time.

If you’re interested in learning more about how content syndication can provide top quality intent data and bolster your account-based market efforts, why not get in touch?