Buyer Intent Detection: Find In-Market Buyers Before Your Competitors Do

Buyer intent detection identifies the behavioral signals that indicate a company or individual is actively moving toward a purchase decision. The teams that build systematic intent detection consistently win more deals — not because they are better closers, but because they are the first to reach buyers when the moment is right. Letterdrop automates buyer intent detection across four signal types and delivers contact-level opportunities to your reps before the buying window closes.

What Is Buyer Intent Detection?

Buyer intent is inferred from patterns of behavior that suggest a company is actively evaluating a solution category. Strong intent signals include a company evaluating your competitors, an individual publicly researching solutions to a problem your product addresses, a past champion joining a new company that needs your solution, and a closed/lost deal where the original objection no longer applies. Letterdrop monitors all four of these continuously across your ICP.

How Letterdrop Detects Buyer Intent

Letterdrop monitors public competitor evaluation activity (with roughly 70% accuracy at the contact level), scans hundreds of public conversations daily for social listening signals, tracks career moves at your champion and prospect contacts, and scans your CRM and call recordings for closed/lost revival opportunities. Each detected signal is matched against your ICP, enriched with contact data, and delivered with a suggested outreach draft.

Why Early Detection Is a Competitive Advantage

Letterdrop customers consistently find that the buyers Letterdrop surfaces are at the start of their evaluation, not the end. This is the most valuable position to be in: the buyer has not yet formed strong vendor preferences, has not been pitched by three competitors, and is open to being educated. Reps who arrive early shape the evaluation. Reps who arrive late compete on criteria someone else defined.

Contact-Level Detection, Not Account-Level Flags

Every intent signal Letterdrop detects is delivered as a named contact with their title, company, the specific signal that triggered the alert, and a suggested outreach message. Reps never receive a company name with a vague "high intent" score. They receive a warm lead they can act on immediately.

Buyer Intent Detection Across the Full Funnel

Letterdrop detects intent at every stage: early awareness (social listening hits from buyers just starting to explore a category), active evaluation (competitor monitoring signals from buyers currently comparing vendors), re-consideration (closed/lost revival signals from buyers whose original objection has changed), and relationship expansion (champion job changes that open new opportunities at new companies). Comprehensive intent coverage means no buying window goes undetected.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Letterdrop's buyer intent detection different from Bombora or G2? Traditional intent data is account-level and based on anonymous IP research. Letterdrop delivers contact-level signals — a named person showing intent, not just a company. This eliminates the research step and dramatically reduces time-to-outreach.

How quickly can I act on detected intent? Signals arrive in your CRM or Slack daily. With a suggested message already drafted, reps can act on a detected intent signal within minutes of receiving it.

What if my buyers are not active in public forums? Social listening is one of four signal sources. If your buyers are less active publicly, competitor monitoring, champion job changes, and closed/lost revival still provide strong intent signals across your ICP.

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