As B2B markets become increasingly competitive, organizations spend immense resources searching for better ways to boost visibility and stand out from competitors. Reaching your target audience is already a major challenge, and holding their attention is an even bigger hurdle. The key to connections lies in personalization. Buyers are 80% more likely to make a purchase from an organization that offers a tailored experience, and in order to curate truly impactful interactions, B2B companies must utilize data. Enter — technographics.

Technographic data fundamentally combines technology and demographic data, providing a wealth of information about the digital tools and platforms being utilized by your target customers. When combined with firmographic and intent data, companies like yours can leverage that intelligence to create more impactful marketing and sales strategies.

What Is Technographic Data?

Technographic data, also known as technographics, offers insights into the technology stack and digital behavior of individuals or organizations. This data encompasses the types of hardware, software, and IT infrastructure use, as well as technology adoption patterns and preferences. This comprehensive view can help you paint a detailed picture of a potential client’s technical expertise, challenges, and needs. With this data at your fingertips, you can more deeply understand the needs of your ideal buyers and offer solutions that address their pain points and even highlight ways to integrate with their existing systems.

Collecting Technographic Data

If you want to start using technographic data, step one is gathering intelligence. There are two primary paths you can take: sourcing your own data or partnering with a company that specializes in data collection.

To collect technographic data, you’ll want to begin by auditing information you already have access to, typically via CRM entries and website analytics. These internal sources can be goldmines of insight, revealing the technologies that customers reference during early-stage sales interactions or even the tools they use to navigate your digital properties. You could also consider deploying a survey to your existing customers to learn more about their tech stack. Internal data sources allow you to investigate leads that did not convert and ones that did to provide a clearer picture of what types of technographic data indicate a more promising lead.

Once you’ve exhausted your internal data sources, it’s time to scour the internet. Public data sources, including company websites, social media profiles, and job postings, can also offer nuggets of information including what software is used on a daily basis, typical hardware requirements, and more. While valuable, data scraping can be time-consuming and often requires advanced aggregation techniques to transform raw information into actionable intelligence. On the other hand, a third-party technographic data provider who does this work for you can offer access to a much broader database to tease out insights you never knew to look for.

Partners, like Predictiv, specialize in providing detailed, up-to-date technographic data profiles on your ideal buyers, enabling you to bypass the time-consuming task of collecting data yourself. Here at Predictiv, we deploy sophisticated NLP programs to capture information, then validate with a team of data experts to ensure the technographic profiles we offer are as complete and accurate as possible.

Examples of Technographic Data

When you examine an organization’s technographic profile, you’re looking at so much more than just the software they use. Technographic data encompasses hardware components, overall IT infrastructure, cybersecurity measures, and so much more. Are they using the latest cloud storage solutions or relying on in-house data centers? Do they favor particular brands of networking equipment or servers? The answers to these questions can be instrumental in crafting sales pitches and marketing campaigns that resonate with the technological realities of potential customers.

Common technographic data points include:

  • Software applications in use (e.g., CRM, marketing automation, project management)
  • Hardware and operating systems
  • Cloud platforms and services
  • Industry-specific tools and technologies
  • Website technologies and frameworks
  • Mobile app development platforms
  • Data analytics and business intelligence tools
  • Cybersecurity solutions
  • Collaboration and communication tools
  • E-commerce platforms
  • Content management systems (CMS)
  • Customer support and help desk software
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
  • Human resources management systems (HRMS)
  • Version information for software and systems
  • Purchase dates of technologies
  • Usage frequency and patterns
  • Integration details between different tools
  • Technology spend and budget allocation
  • Adoption of emerging technologies (AI, IoT, blockchain)
  • Social media platforms used for business
  • Web hosting providers
  • Domain registrars
  • Email service providers
  • Payment processing systems
  • Video conferencing tools
  • Virtual private network (VPN) usage
  • Data storage and backup solutions

Benefits of Using Technographic Data

Technographic data provides valuable insights into the technology stack and digital behavior of individuals and organizations, offering numerous benefits across various business functions.

Market Segmentation and Targeting

Technographic data helps businesses segment their market more effectively by identifying target companies based on their technology stack. This allows for more precise targeting in marketing campaigns and sales efforts, enhancing customer engagement and conversion rates.

Lead Generation and Scoring

By understanding the technology preferences and usage patterns of potential customers, businesses can generate high-quality B2B leads and score them based on their likelihood to convert. This data enables sales teams to prioritize leads that are more likely to invest in new technological solutions.

Customer Success and Retention

Understanding a customer’s technology ecosystem allows for more personalized onboarding, training, and support. This knowledge can help anticipate potential integration challenges and proactively address them, improving customer satisfaction and reducing churn.

Competitive Analysis

Technographic data provides valuable insights into the technologies used by competitors. This information can help businesses understand the competitive landscape, identify gaps, and develop strategies to differentiate themselves.

Investment Intelligence

Investors use technographic data to evaluate the technological capabilities of companies, identifying those that are well-positioned for growth due to their use of cutting-edge technologies.

Enhance Your B2B Outreach Efforts with Technographic Data

With technographic data, organizations can unify sales and marketing efforts to reach revenue goals. The insights gleaned from technographic data can help marketing and sales teams identify high-potential leads and craft targeted marketing strategies that strike the right chord at the right time. With technographic data, you will be more equipped to create personalized campaigns that resonate with your target audience, leading to more effective lead generation and fostering mutually beneficial relationships.

How to Use Technographic Data for Targeted Marketing

For marketing teams aiming to refine their strategies and attain higher engagement rates, technographic data is an invaluable resource. By using this data, marketers can:

  • Craft personalized marketing campaigns that cater to specific technological needs and preferences
  • Tailor marketing messages to address a prospect’s particular technology stack or gaps therein
  • Refine account-based marketing segmentation with technographic data, allowing for the prioritization of accounts that align closely with the ideal customer profile
  • Ensure marketing efforts are directed toward the most promising targets

Leveraging Technographics for Sales Success

By integrating technographic data with intent and firmographic data, sales reps can better understand their target markets, allowing them to focus on prospects showing signs of purchase readiness.

When you source accurate technographics, your sales team can:

  • Identify target accounts based on a company’s technology stack
  • Craft pitches that resonate with each key account’s digital transformation needs
  • Save valuable time and resources by focusing on those prospects most likely to benefit from their offerings
  • Ensure each interaction is productive and poised for success

Choosing a Technographic Data Provider

Choosing the right technographic data provider is crucial for leveraging technology insights to enhance your marketing and sales strategies. The first step is to identify your business requirements by understanding your specific goals and objectives for using technographic data. This involves conducting market research to understand industry trends, defining clear business goals, and evaluating your current resources to identify gaps. Once you have a clear understanding of your needs, you can begin researching potential providers.

When you’re considering sourcing B2B data, the most important factors to keep in mind are accuracy, compliance, security, and breadth. You’ll want to ensure you have access to the data points you need and that data must be properly and lawfully collected. A vendor should be able to provide you a thorough overview of how they source and verify their data, and a guided walkthrough of their platform should give you a sense of if they offer the insights you need.

Predictiv Data Specializes in Technographics, Intent Data, & So Much More

If you’re in the market for a reliable B2B data provider, we’d love to be considered. Here at Predictiv, we always use compliant data collection methods as we continue to expand our database. Within the Predictiv platform, you’ll have access to thousands of technographics plus our unique intent data scoring system. With Predictiv insights, you can:

  • Uncover powerful buying insights that allow you to understand your ICPs better
  • Segment lists with ease
  • Browse hundreds of thousands of global leads
  • And more

Get started for free in the platform, or consult with our team to see how our managed demand programs can fast track your success.