Intent and fit answer different questions
Customer-fit criteria describe who matches your target profile. Intent signals help rank whose recent behavior suggests active interest. A record can move between intent bands as behavior changes.
How the signals contribute
A brief article visit and repeated research across product, pricing and security pages provide different context. Product configuration determines the relative contribution of each input.
| Input | What to examine |
|---|---|
| Topics | Relevant keywords, research themes and content interactions. |
| Sessions | Repeat visits, page categories, time on important pages and movement between pages. |
| Recency | How recently the behavior occurred and whether older activity should carry less weight. |
Set thresholds with the team
Agree scoring and routing rules before configuring automation. A possible rule combines a minimum score, activity within an agreed number of days and a relevant research event. Document the values chosen for your workflow.
- Document how signals age and when audiences refresh.
- Combine score with fit and enrichment confidence.
- Agree which band enters each campaign or sales queue.
Low intent: early exploration
The record shows broad interest without a strong indication of active vendor selection.
- General educational articles or introductory topic searches.
- Short visits with little subsequent activity.
- Useful for awareness, education and longer-term nurture.
Medium intent: active research
The record shows repeated investigation of a category or potential solution.
- Category comparisons, product material, whitepapers or webinars.
- Repeated relevant activity, potentially involving several people at one account.
- Useful for more specific nurture, case studies and consideration-stage retargeting.
High intent: more focused research.
The activity shows focused research into a topic. It does not establish that a person or company is ready to buy, and a score does not guarantee a purchase.
- Commercial searches relevant to the offer.
- Repeated visits to pricing, comparisons, security or demo pages.
- Several relevant roles from an account researching detailed material in a short period.
- Useful for timely, relevant sales follow-up and approved activation workflows.