Technology media and intent purchasing firm TechTarget announced a set of enhancements to its Priority Engine service “that vastly improve ABM performance, increase sales productivity and maximize demand generation success for enterprise B2B technology organizations.” Amongst the enhancements are improvements to the user experience, a new Salesforce widget, persistent URLs, list assignments, user roles, and improved topic filtering.

Priority Engine combines executive intelligence with purchaser specific demand signals spanning 10,000 IT Topics across its technology research sites.  The service marries HG Data technology intent intelligence with DiscoverOrg contacts, Owler firmographics, and TechTarget intent data and prospects.  Priority Engine assists sales and marketing professionals by “expanding access to total buying teams at active accounts and showcasing rich purchase details such as installed technologies, vendor shortlists and specific, relevant topical interests.”

Priority Engine is GDPR compliant across its 18 million professional profiles who have opted into TechTarget partner marketing programs.  Furthermore, because TechTarget has opted-in user profiles, it is able to provide intent data at the individual level.  This contrasts with other intent networks which gather anonymous intent information at the company level.

User Experience enhancements include a left-side navigation menu and search bar.  The navigation bar provides account list management, export functionality, and export monitoring.  The search bar provides a type-ahead company list to expedite account searching.

Account profiles contain Owler headquarters information along with a business description, logo, sizing data, and social media links.  Also displayed in the business summary are an account interest gauge, Buying Team counts, Vendor Interests based upon downloaded vendor content, and Top Interests.  The account Interest gauge evaluates site readership (number of readers, type of content, scope of vendor interest) to determine whether the prospect is Evaluating Vendors, Ramping Up, or Not Active in the segment.

TechTarget also offers a set of intent signals based upon readership patterns: Widespread, Sustained, Late Stage, Stakeholder, and Cross-Vendor.  According to the firm, “the more blue dots that are lit up, the more focus sales should commit to the account.”

At the top of each Account Profile are the licensed segments.  Sales reps can click on any of the segments and the profile is filtered for the segment across TechTarget Buying Teams, DiscoverOrg Contacts, HG Data products, and the business summary.  TechTarget offers 300 technology market segments with over 200 available for North America.

Priority Engine users are now assigned to one of three roles: Administrators, List Builders, and Read-Only.  Administrators have full system functionality along with account management responsibilities.  Both Administrators and List Builders can build and assign account lists to other users.  Only Administrators can export records.  Priority Engine suggests that Administrators are usually marketers and that List Builders are typically Sales Managers.  View only users would be inside sales reps that would be working account lists but not building them.

Account List Building was redesigned with reorganized and expanded filters displayed on a single page.  Filters have been separated into common and advanced screens with common filters spanning firmographic, technographic, and intent variables.  Advanced filters include Last Touch, Purchase Signals, and HQ location.  Within any filter, users may select Includes Any (OR), Include All (AND), and Exclude (NOT) Boolean logic.

Users can also rank results by market segment.  Most Priority Engine subscribers have between one and five licensed segments.  Except for the largest technology firms that operate in many segments, the firm contends that focusing on key segments provides better results than including adjacent technology segments.

Previously defined lists are available for both suppression or sub-list targeting.

TechTarget Priority Engine List Building

Lists are ranked according to intent signal strength for a market segment.  Clicking on a different segment results in a different set of priorities.

The new Ranked Accounts list view includes the navigation bar along with company logos, the top areas of interest, and the company most influencing the account over the past 90 days (based upon TechTarget content viewing patterns).  Clicking on any account takes the user to the account profile.

The persistent URL provides a direct link between sales and marketing platforms to the Priority Engine Dashboard.  “The sales-to-marketing handoff can be one of the most challenging aspects of implementing modern marketing strategies, especially ABM. To properly inform and empower salespeople, you must be able to pass along valuable account-level insights with each lead — and few systems or workflows support this,” said Michael Cotoia, CEO, TechTarget. “Priority Engine addresses this challenge by providing a persistent and portable account link that can be embedded within any existing sales or marketing systems.”

Please continue to Part II which discusses the Priority Engine Salesforce connector, product repackaging, and market momentum.