If your sales team is relying heavily on cold outreach to grow your pipeline, they’re up against some serious headwinds.
By some measures, cold email response rates can vary between 1-5%. As the AI-generated email onslaught continues to explode and inbox fatigue worsens, I expect response rates will drop.
So how to evolve?
Of course, sales resources are better spent on prospects that not only fit your ICP but are currently in market for your solutions. One tool that helps in this department is HubSpot’s Buyer Intent Research tool, which helps prioritize outreach by uncovering companies actively searching for your products or services.
In this post, we’ll break down how to use the Research feature in Buyer Intent to build smarter, more targeted prospecting lists.
What Is HubSpot’s Buyer Intent Tool?
Buyer Intent in HubSpot helps you identify and act on signals from companies that are showing interest in your offerings. The broader feature includes:
- Defining your total addressable market (TAM)
- Setting up intent criteria like website visits
- Syncing with your CRM to track and prioritize companies
The Research tab (our focus here) is where sales teams can build lists of target market companies researching your products or services.
Setting Up the Research Intent Tool
Before you can start using the Research feature, there are a few things to configure:
- Define Your Target Market
In your portal, you’ll want to start by setting your target segments. For example, you might define “U.S. accounting firms” or “Mid-size eCommerce companies.” This helps HubSpot know which companies matter most to you. Get as specific as possible and use industry, keywords, and other firmographic details to dial this in. - Add Intent Topics
Next, you’ll create your list of search topics. These are the terms that your potential buyers would be Googling. These might include product categories, problems you solve, or industry-specific language. HubSpot will show how many companies are searching for each term, giving you early insight into what’s worth tracking.
For example, if you’re a law firm, you might include topics like corporate law or personal injury lawyer depending on your practice areas.
Finding Companies That Are Searching for You
Once your topics are set, jump into the Research tab. Here you’ll find a list of companies that are actively researching your selected topics. You can filter and configure this list based on:
- Specific topics
- Research level (how much interest they’re showing)
- Whether they’re in your TAM
- Whether they’re already showing broader intent signals
- Whether they’re already in your CRM
Pro Tips for Sales Teams
To make this tool actionable for sales, here’s what we recommend:
- Create a Saved View
Save a filtered view that shows only in-market companies researching a high-value topic. For example, we have a saved view for “In-market prospects researching HubSpot solutions partners. This lets you return to the list without reconfiguring filters every time. - Set Up Email Digests
HubSpot can email you this view weekly or monthly. That way, you’re always up to date on new companies showing interest — without having to check manually. - Auto-Add to CRM
You can automatically enroll these companies into your CRM so they’re ready for follow-up. If any of the contacts are already in your system, you’ll see that too. - Enrich and Enroll
From here, you can quickly research the company, identify the right contacts and enroll them in personalized sequences or workflows.
The screenshot below shows the example saved view for accounting firms research corporate law firms:
Why HubSpot Research Intent is Worthwhile
The opportunity here is to shift sales from cold to warmer leads. When your reps can see which companies are actively looking for solutions like yours, they can tailor outreach to the moment and significantly increase connect rates.
Even if the hit rate is incrementally better, that translates into big wins over time.
If you’re using HubSpot and not taking advantage of Buyer Intent Research, it’s worth testing this out. Watch the full walkthrough above and give it a try in your own portal.
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