Changing the Digital Playbook: How to Use Intent Data & Strategic Gifting to Boost ROI

Changing the Digital Playbook: How to Use Intent Data & Strategic Gifting to Boost ROI

As every marketer and salesperson likely knows, the digital playbook has changed drastically in the past few years. Customer journeys have evolved from face-to-face interactions to online and hybrid experiences, while new digital trends have taken the industry by storm.

In fact, by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers will occur digitally, and more than one-fifth of total CMO budget is earmarked for digital initiatives to help fuel revenue growth, according to the 2022 CMO Leadership Vision report by Gartner.

The future of B2B marketing is here, whether we’re ready or not. So, how can we shift our strategies to align with these new trends and exceed our goals? That’s where the highly effective combination of intent data and strategic gifting comes in.

Keep reading to get key insights and examples to help you build a powerful ROI-boosting strategy.

The 5 Building Blocks of ABM

First, let’s start things off with a refresher on the building blocks of ABM (account-based marketing). The five stages of ABM are Target, Attract, Engage, Convert, and Expand. Intent data can help you build a stronger target account list, and more accurately classify each prospect based on where they are in the journey.

What Is Intent Data?

Intent data is a series of buyer signals delivered through a variety of actions a prospect has taken, like viewing pillar pages on your website, researching a competitor’s website, or using specific search terms.

This data alerts your team that a prospect account is interested and actively in the market for your product, and it can help you identify where that prospect is in the customer journey to help you better target them with strategic gifting and communications. Basically, it’s your new secret weapon for conversions and increased pipeline.

How to Use a Sending Platform to Strengthen Your ABM Approach

Now that you know the ABM building blocks and have a firm grasp on how intent data can help, you’re ready to learn how a sending platform can bring it all together. At every ABM stage, using intent data to understand exactly where a prospect is and what they like, you can send a personalized gift to move them along in the funnel.

For example, for target accounts you can send high-quality branded merchandise as a door-opener. When the prospect reaches the Attract stage and you’ve begun to build out your buying committee, personalization is key, so learn as much about them as possible for the best results. Keep buyers engaged in the next stage with a unique experience, then up the ante in the Convert stage with a premium send to close the deal. Once the deal is closed, it’s time to expand, so sending educational content that helps kick start discussions around up-sell or cross-sell opportunities is a smart play.

All About Timing: The 6sense 6QA Approach to ABM & Gifting

6sense has a very detailed approach to how they determine which prospects they send high-dollar targeted gifts to, so they can make the most out of their marketing dollars. They don’t send those high-dollar items until a prospect hits the 6QA sweet spot, between the Consideration stage and the Decision stage. At this point, sales will start reaching out heavily, and premium, personalized gifts will be sent to nudge the prospect to the Purchase stage.

6sense determines which prospects are in this stage using intent data like keyword searches, or if a large number of contacts from that account are engaged. By prioritizing the accounts that are most likely to convert, they don’t spend all of their budget in the wrong place.

For those who aren’t in the 6QA zone yet, they’ll send an educational piece like their CMO’s book on the 6sense methodology.

Download our eBook in collaboration with 6sense, Build Stronger Connections with Buyers Using Intent Data and Gifting, to learn how to target in-market ICPs, ABM plays for every level, and so much more.

“We like to spend our high dollar gifting on what we call 6QA accounts….Those are accounts that are showing enough intent to be considered someone that’s more likely to convert, someone that’s in market to purchase, someone that’s more likely to close.”
—Alura Hencely-Roe, Sr. Manager, ABX at 6sense

Customer Case Study: ABM Shoe Campaign with Amplience

Our mutual customer, Amplience, has seen huge success using the combined powers of intent data from 6sense and strategic gifting from Sendoso. With an upcoming trade show on the horizon, the Amplience team needed to find a way to make their booth stand out in a sea of other booths. Their main goals were to drive more attendance and to increase pre-booked meetings. So, they had to think outside of the box!

Using their event registration list, Amplience layered on intent data from 6sense to help them prioritize accounts and contacts based on keywords each person was searching and whether or not they fit their ICP.

Then, they took it one step further by sending that segmented group of people a memorable gift through Sendoso’s gifting platform. In this case, they decided to give everyone gift cards for shoes with a simple message acknowledging that they would be on their feet all day. They gently suggested that those people stop by their booths at the trade show, and when these people followed up with a thank you, the sales teams worked with them to successfully set up meetings.

And it worked! From the same trade show in the previous year, Amplience saw a 50% increase in pre-booked meetings, a 91% increase in opportunity value, and an increase in average deal size by 2x at the 2023 trade show using this campaign.

“We saw a 50% increase in pre-booked meetings and a 91% increase in opportunity value.”
—Nathan Singleton, ABM Manager at Amplience

Example: 6sense Competitive Takeout Campaign

And we have one more example of this knock-out combination approach to share from 6sense! The goal of this campaign was to drive awareness of 6sense within their top strategic accounts and schedule net new meetings. How did they do it?

Gifting was a key tactic of the campaign and the main reason for its success. After using intent data from their platform to identify their top 6QA strategic accounts who were researching a competitor or had a competitor currently installed, 6sense leveraged an extremely unique gifting idea to drive net new meetings in each segment. The gifting concept was a “design your own custom Nikes” experience, and it was a hit!

6sense ultimately engaged 55% of their target audience through booked meetings, shortening the sales cycle, and garnered more qualified leads. In addition, 65% of the target audience progressed along the 6sense buying stages after engaging with this gifting campaign.

“You can definitely leverage intent data to make sure you’re prioritizing those key accounts. And gifting is a key component in that and definitely something that lures people in to want to learn more.”
—Alura Hencely-Roe, Sr. Manager, ABX at 6sense

6sense & Sendoso: Better Together

At the end of the day, we all need to adapt to changing digital trends and customer journeys to stay relevant. Building a strong foundational ABM strategy that leads with intent data from 6sense and strategic gifting from Sendoso can help you get ahead of your competitors, use your budget more effectively, and ultimately maximize ROI on your campaigns.

Looking for more ABM insights? Book a demo today to learn more.