Topic surge in third-party intent
An account’s research on a topic spikes across publisher networks, measured by third-party intent data.
A surge shows a company reading about a topic more than usual, across many sites. It is an early, account-level sign that a project is forming.
- Strength
- Early
- Act within
- The weeks the surge lasts
- Best for
- Companies selling larger deals to defined account lists
How we detect it
Runs on Bombora, 6sense, Demandbase, and Clay.
- Pick topics tied to your problem and track surges for your target accounts.
- Check vendor intent lists against your own block list, since a large share can already be customers or exclusions.
What it triggers
An opening line, to show the angle. It never goes out as written.
Teams researching sales compensation tools usually want to know one thing first, how long the migration takes.
- Ad audience: Warm surging accounts with ads on the topic.
- Email: Reach out when a first-party signal joins it.
Where it goes wrong
- Cold emailing on a surge alone.
- Trusting a vendor’s high-intent list without checking it. At Expensify roughly 30% of one vendor’s list was already on the block list.
Stack it with
A second signal on the same account moves it up.
Searching for the problem you solve
People search for the keywords that describe your problem, matched to their job title and company before they ever reach a sales cycle.
Website visitor identified
A person or company from your ICP visits your website and is identified by a visitor identification tool.
Researching your category on review sites
An account researches your category, your competitors, or comparison pages on review sites like G2.
More ad engagement signals
Every ad engagement signalAd engagement from a target account
People at a target account see, click, or engage with your LinkedIn ads.
Watched most of your video ad
An ICP person watches most of a video ad or a promoted founder video.
Opened a lead form, did not submit
Someone opens your LinkedIn or Meta lead form and closes it without submitting.
FAQs about this signal
An account’s research on a topic spikes across publisher networks, measured by third-party intent data. A surge shows a company reading about a topic more than usual, across many sites. It is an early, account-level sign that a project is forming.
Pick topics tied to your problem and track surges for your target accounts. Check vendor intent lists against your own block list, since a large share can already be customers or exclusions. Understory Agency runs it on Bombora, 6sense, Demandbase, and Clay.
The window to act is the weeks the surge lasts. Understory Agency routes it to ad audience and email. Warm surging accounts with ads on the topic. Reach out when a first-party signal joins it.
It works best for companies selling larger deals to defined account lists. It is strongest alongside “Searching for the problem you solve”, “Website visitor identified”, and “Researching your category on review sites”.
Or let us run it for you
Understory Agency's GTM engineers build the detection in Clay, wire it to the play that fits, and sync every touch to your CRM. Tell us who you sell to, and we'll show you where we would start.