What generic intent is
“Intent data” usually means a third-party score that claims a company is researching your category – based on anonymised web activity aggregated across the internet. It’s sold as a shortcut to knowing who’s in-market.
The problem isn’t that it’s useless. It’s that everyone buys the same score, so everyone calls the same accounts at the same time.
Where it falls short
- It’s not exclusive. The same “surge” list lands in a dozen competitors’ CRMs.
- It’s a black box. You rarely see why an account lit up, so you can’t write to it.
- It’s generic. One score can’t capture the specific moment that matters to your business.
Custom signals vs. a single score
Side by side
| Signalist | Generic intent data | |
|---|---|---|
| Signals | Custom to your business | One-size-fits-all score |
| Exclusivity | Your signals, your accounts | Sold to everyone |
| Freshness | Verified & checked | Often stale |
| Timing | Real moments – funding, hiring, visits | Aggregated “surge” |
| Next step | Drafts + human review | Just a list |
| Transparency | You see why it fired | Black box |
The verdict
Generic intent tells you a category is warm. Custom signals tell you why a specific account is worth a message right now – and give you something real to say.
If you already buy intent data, you don’t have to rip it out. But the reply comes from relevance, and relevance comes from signals that are yours. See it on your market.