Can I search by intent signals and find high-intent prospects? | Enterprise – RocketReach

Intent Data in RocketReach

Everything you need to know about leveraging buyer intent signals and how intent data works in RocketReach can be learned in this article.

📑 Contents in this article - click to jump to section:

New! Enhancements in Dec. 2025
What is Intent data?
How do I use the Intent filter?
How will the search results be displayed?
How to set Intent Topics for my account?
Which Intent Topics should I use?

NEW! Enhancements in December 2025

We're proud to announce a new partnership with 5×5 for intent data, launching in December 2025. All customers who have access to intent will automatically receive access to this newly enhanced data.

Precise insights, now 35,000+ topics to choose from
More leads, now 10-times greater signal volume

👉 Log in now and review your selected topics! (click here) Account Owners and Team Admins can freely change the selected intent topics which are used across your team.

What is Intent Data?

Industry research consistently shows that targeted, personalized outreach is more efficient and produces more results. But how do you know who to target, when to reach out, and what to say to grab their interest? Intent data provides insights that help you answer those questions.

"Intent" data highlights companies that are actively researching a solution or topic, and thus may have intent to buy a related product.

For example, let's say you're an Executive Recruitment firm looking for new clients. By adding to your filtered search intent topics like "C-Suite Recruitment" or "Organizational Restructuring" you can identify companies that may engage with you if you contact them now with a pitch tailored to the relevant intent topic.

👩‍🏫 BONUS! Tips for utilizing Intent signals: How to Get More Replies (Collab with 30MPC)

⏱️ Time: 0:44

Intent data refers to a set of data points that signal when a business is looking to make a purchasing decision. It might let you know how seriously a business is looking to make a purchase, how far along in the decision process they are, and what their specific needs might be. This data comes from many sources, including websites visited, social networks, and events. Intent data plays a crucial role in helping your business identify and prioritize leads, tailor your marketing strategies, and ultimately improve your chances of converting prospects into customers by understanding their intentions and interests more accurately.

How is Intent measured?

In order to ascribe an "intent" to a company, our intent data partner aggregates many kinds of activities, including:

website visits
content downloads
researched articles
ad engagement
social media activity

The measured activity is compared against benchmarks to estimate whether it represents typical behavior or heightened interest and an increased propensity to make a purchase.

It's not a perfect metric, but improvements in NLP (Nature Language Processing) and data collection ensure that buyer intent signals continue to be a useful tool for sales and marketing teams.

Who can access Intent data?

Intent data is a premium feature and is available only to customers on select Custom and Ultimate plans who have enabled intent data in their service agreement. Customers who would like to purchase access to intent and users who are interested in learning more can connect with our sales team (sales@rocketreach.co).

How do I use the Intent filter?

When searching either People or Companies, "Intent" can be found as an advanced search filter to drill down to companies with the desired intent signal.

Intent Filter.gif

You can use multiple Intent Topics in the same search, if you wish. Adding more than one intent topic to the search will apply "OR" logic, meaning the search results will show persons/companies who match any of the checked topics.

However, searching topics one at a time may make it easier for you to create segments and personalize your outreach messaging based on the relevant intent topic.

Signal Score

Each company that is identified with an Intent Topic has an accompanying Intent Score. The score is based on a collection of activities (see above), and calibrated on a scale of 0-100 where 50 represents the baseline or average activity level. A higher score (such as 90) reflects higher activity, a stronger signal, and greater likelihood that they will soon act on their intent.

By default, RocketReach includes Intent Scores of 75 or higher. This means that if an Intent Score is below 75, we do not show it since it does not count as "high intent". As an option, you can drag the 'Signal Score' slider from the left to further increase the lower end of the allowed score range. This may be helpful if your chosen topic has a lot of volume, or if your strategy calls for aggressive prioritization of only the strongest intent scores.

Tips for Searching

Before applying the Intent filter, please be sure to build out a detailed search with other filters (such as Industry, Role & Department, and Location) to make your search relevant to the companies and people who you want to reach. Then you can add the Intent criteria as a way to focus first on high-intent – or "surging" – contacts that may be worth additional time and effort.

Hint: The "Intent" filter is available in the Employer section when searching for People; this reflects that the Intent signal is tied to the current employer, and not necessarily a specific individual.

⏱️ Time: 0:49

You can use intent data to search for people and companies. In PeopleSearch, the intent data filter is within the employer section, and any intent data signals you see refer to that person's current employer. In company search, the intent data filter can be found in its old section. To use the intent filter, just check the box of the intent topic you'd like to filter by. You could also refine the results by a certain strength of signal score, which is set at seventy five to one hundred by default. Signal score measures the intensity of interest in the selected topics. Once the search is complete, just mouse over a company's intent ad icon to view their intent signals.

How will the search results be displayed?

Results automatically sort by relevance based on all the applied filters and other factors such as popularity. The People or Companies which match the search criteria will be listed with the most relevant profiles listed first.

When the Intent filter is active, a badge will appear on the search results showing the relevant Intent Score. Hovering or tapping on the badge will open the intent score details for all of the intent topics currently set for your team.

How to set Intent Topics for my Account?

Before applying an Intent filter to search criteria, first a Team Admin will need to set the Intent Topics for your team in the Account Settings area.

Search the topics list, check the description, and click the checkbox on the left to select the topic for use. Be sure to click 'Save' at the top to save your selections!
- If you prefer, a spreadsheet format of all intent topics with descriptions is available here.
We've provided an estimated range for the total volume of companies that are surging on that intent topic; however, it's a historical estimate only, and many factors can influence actual weekly volumes.
The number of Intent Topics that can be set and used at a time is determined by your team's subscription.

⏱️ Time: 0:55

Intent data topics can only be selected by team owners or admins. To select topics, either click the button in the intent data filter or go to account settings and then navigate to the intent data menu sub item. Here, you can select from seven thousand eight hundred intent data topics on the left, while intent topics you've selected will appear on the right. Topics are organized by their categories, and you can filter via topic or category via the search bar at the top here. If you have trial access to intent data, you're limited to a single intent topic with three results. With the full version, you have access six intent data topics at any point and can change them up to three times each year. Please contact your RocketReach account manager for more details.

Which Intent Topics should I use?

If you're using RocketReach to find contact info for possible customers (i.e. prospects), try asking yourself these questions to identify possible intent topics:

Your Product/Service: What are the basic keywords for what you sell? Consider alternate terms too, especially terms used by prospects when they submit inquiries.
Pain Points: What specific problems do you solve? You may be used to describing your product/service in terms of its solutions, but early-stage prospects may be researching by the problems, too.
Competitors: Who are the big names in your space that current or prospective customers may be checking out?
Adjacent Tech: What tools or systems work well with your solutions? Are there specific systems or steps companies implement shortly before needing your services? (e.g., integrating with Salesforce, AWS migration).
Industry Context: Any specific regulations or industry-specific challenges? (e.g., HIPAA compliance software, FinTech regulations).

👉 Pro Tip: Depending on where they are in their journey, an early "low-intent" prospect, a mid-funnel prospect and a "high-intent" prospect may use different terminologies, specificity, and topics that reflect where they are in their research and buying process. The more you understand about a typical buyer's journey, the better you can fine-tune your use of intent topics.

You might find that you want to test out a few different topics, and that's ok! You can return to the Intent settings page and select different topics if needed.