B2B marketers say they are using intent data—signals gleaned from users' content consumption or other interactions with digital properties—to identify new accounts to target, align sales and marketing teams, and prioritize accounts for prospecting, according to recent research from Ascend2, Bombora, and RollWorks.

The report was based on data from a survey of 126 marketers who work for B2B firms.

Some 56% of respondents cite identifying new accounts to target as one of their primary goals for using intent data, 51% cite aligning sales and marketing, and 38% cite prioritizing accounts for prospecting.

B2B marketers say the most actionable ways to use intent data are for delivering targeted advertising (52% say so), personalization (49%), account-based initiatives (37%), and crafting messaging/content (33%).

B2B marketers say the most important attributes of an intent data solution or vendor are the quality of the data (67% cite), the source(s) of the data (44%), and the ease of implementation (42%).

B2B marketers say the top challenges they face with using intent data are data quality (56% cite), making the data actionable (50%), data security (36%), and aligning marketing and sales (35%).

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 126 marketers who work for B2B firms.