Understanding buyer intent has always been one of the toughest challenges for marketers – especially in the B2B market. It’s not from a lack of data: most clicks, visits, and downloads are tracked in meticulous detail. But new research has found that the typical B2B buyer journey now stretches an average of 211 days, creating a swathe of fragmented data scattered across multiple platforms, consuming valuable time and resources to decode.
The real challenge lies in separating the valuable signals from the noise. Marketers need to understand which behaviours actually point to purchase intent and which are just background activity. Those hidden signals can be the difference between a warm lead and wasted budget.
This is where AI is fundamentally changing the game. By analysing vast volumes of behavioural data, AI can turn meaningless interactions into clear, actionable indicators of real buying intent. That clarity allows marketers to target more effectively, engaging with leads earlier to push buyers through the pipeline.
Uncovering the signals that marketers miss
In an ideal world, buyers would visit a pricing page and sign a contract. But this is rarely the case, especially in B2B. Instead, buyers spend months consuming content, attending webinars, evaluating competitors, and quietly comparing solutions – often anonymously. A recent report found that a typical B2B buying journey spans 76 touches, 3.7 channels, and 6.8 stakeholders. Yet this engagement often ends up buried in siloed tools, buried in dashboards, or ignored altogether.
When these signals go unseen, targeting and outreach suffers. Campaigns become broad and inefficient, and sales teams waste time on accounts that aren’t actually in-market. This ultimately stalls pipeline growth, wasting time and money. In a climate where marketing budgets are under constant pressure, understanding signals is critical. It lets teams concentrate ad spend and outreach on accounts that are genuinely ready to buy, rather than shouting into the void.
Driving leads through the pipeline
Today, much of the B2B buying journey happens long before a prospect ever contacts sales. AI can make sense of every touchpoint, across every channel, from every user within an account. By mapping these micro-behaviours to historical patterns, AI can identify which actions actually move the needle.
With these insights, marketers can take a far more strategic approach to engagement. High-intent accounts can be automatically segmented and pushed into bottom-of-funnel campaigns, driving stronger conversion rates. Meanwhile, lower-intent signals can trigger personalised nurture sequences through email or retargeting, keeping prospects warm without heavy manual intervention. At the same time, sales teams gain the clarity they need to prioritise outreach where it’s most likely to make an impact. The result is a more precise, proactive approach that transforms raw data into real revenue.
Engaging with the right platforms
Once marketers understand buyer signals, the next step is activation. Intent signals give marketers the ability to adapt messaging, personalise experiences and reach buyers at the moments when they’re most open to influence. Engaging prospects earlier in the buying journey can shape their perception of a brand long before they’re ready to make a purchase.
Platforms outside your owned realm, including professional and social networks, play a pivotal role in this process. According to new research, LinkedIn influences nearly a third of all closed-won deals over time. It’s proof that maintaining a steady, relevant presence across external channels builds familiarity and trust well before a deal closes. The same research highlights how early-stage engagement drives measurable efficiency.
The platform also plays a disproportionate role in shaping early buyer activity – influencing around 29% of MQLs, 36% of SQLs and 35% of new business deals. The broader takeaway for marketers isn’t to prioritise a single network – it’s to invest where buyers are active and receptive, ensuring that ad spend supports meaningful interactions across every stage.
For marketers, this means intent signals can be turned into high-impact engagement while prospects are still actively learning, evaluating their options and coming to a decision. Over a 211-day buying cycle, connecting early signals to a channel like LinkedIn creates more meaningful interactions, strengthens brand visibility and accelerates leads through the pipeline.
AI’s role in understanding buyer intent
AI is quickly becoming a powerful tool to understand buyers and optimise campaigns to make budgets stretch further, providing marketers with a clear view of buyer readiness. Intent is no longer something guessed at – it’s something to be measured, analysed and acted on.
As buying cycles grow longer and more complex, and budgets face tighter scrutiny, the ability to engage earlier, when influence matters most, will become a real competitive differentiator. Channels like LinkedIn, where buyers are actively researching and evaluating solutions, give marketers a powerful way to turn early signals into meaningful engagement.
Ultimately, it’s not about having the most data, but about knowing how to use it. The teams that succeed will be those who can turn intent into action, reaching the right people, with the right message, at exactly the right time.
