What Is a Buying Signal? + 8 Examples of Buying Signals

Buying signal definition: A buying signal is a prospect’s action or behavior that indicates interest in a business’s product or service. Buying signals give marketing and sales teams an idea of a prospect’s level of interest in the business.

Is a prospect ready to purchase from your business? Buying signals help your sales and marketing teams understand your prospects’ intent to purchase. Understanding your customers’ buying signals lets you identify the prospects on which you must focus your efforts.

If you need to know the basics of buying signals, you’re in luck. This blog post discusses the following:

• What is a buying signal?
• 8 examples of buying signals

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What is a buying signal?

A buying signal is a prospect’s action or behavior indicating interest in engaging with a business. Buying signals are especially critical for business-to-business (B2B) companies, as they identify the most promising leads that their sales reps must prioritize.

Buying signals are present in different steps of the buyer’s journey and tell businesses what their customers need next. When a prospect visits your brick-and-mortar store to check out your product up close or to try it, it’s an indication — or a buying signal — that they’re interested in your product and are close to purchasing.

Website visits are also buying signals. The pages a prospect visited also tell you how interested they are in your product or service.

Did they fill out a form to request a quote or to try your product or service for free? Filling out forms and leaving their contact details are also buying signals.  Prospects may also show interest through different buying signals, and we have some examples of buying signals in the next section.

8 examples of buying signals

Buying signals vary across different businesses and depend on the sales methods that a company uses. Identifying and analyzing the different buying signals can help you improve your marketing and sales strategies to close more deals and increase your return on investment (ROI).

Here are eight buying signals that can take place online or offline between you and your prospects:

1. Expressing interest in a particular product
2. Filling out a form
3. Signing up for a free trial
4. Engaging with your social media pages
5. Asking about the price
6. Inquiring about the payment methods
7. Reading or watching case studies and testimonials
8. Reviewing the terms and conditions and contract details

Let’s go through each one:

1. Expressing interest in a particular product

This buying signal may happen online or in person. If a prospect keeps visiting the same product page, they may be interested in purchasing it.

They can also show the same interest when interacting with your sales representative. Do they ask about the same product? If they ask about the same product and the different offers on a particular product, they’re likely interested in purchasing it.

2. Filling out a form

Did a prospect fill out a form to download your gated content or sign up for your newsletter? Chances are they are your target audience, and they may purchase from you. Nurture these prospects when you have special offers about a product or service they’re interested in.

Here’s an example of a form that may entice a prospect interested in buying. Filling out forms like this is a buying signal, as the prospect is willing to give their contact details to a business to get a freebie.

3. Signing up for a free trial

Another indication that a prospect will likely purchase from you is when they sign up for a free trial or sign up to try your product. Lead management tools like MarketingCloudFX can track this buying signal to generate lead scores for your prospects.

Provide tutorials and tips on using your product to increase your prospect’s interest in your product. For example, let’s say you’re an automotive dealership, and a prospect booked a test-drive schedule with you.

You can send links to tutorial videos before the appointment. Educational videos that detail the vehicle’s newest features are also excellent materials to share with your prospect. They can try these features during the test drive or ask you further questions once they get close to the vehicle.

4. Engaging with your social media pages

When a prospect follows your brand on social media and engages with your published content, they are likely interested in purchasing from you, too. Social listening tools can help you capture your prospects’ sentiments and interactions with you on different social media platforms.

Your lead generation tools can also track your prospects’ buying signals on different social media platforms, so your sales reps can prioritize nurturing them.

5. Asking about the price

This buying signal can happen online and offline. When a prospect asks about a product’s price or available discounts, they are interested in purchasing and looking at ways to fit the solution into their budget.

Pro tip: While you may elicit some price objections, consider this buying signal an opportunity to convince prospects of the value their money is getting when they do business with you.

6. Inquiring about the payment methods

When a prospect asks about the different ways to make the payment, consider it a buying signal, and they’re almost ready to purchase. Make sure you provide the most convenient options for them.

Automatic subscription renewals and payment plans are ways to make payment convenient for your customers.

7. Reading or looking for case studies and testimonials

Is a prospect reading the case studies or watching the success stories on your website? Chances are, they’re researching how your product or service has helped other businesses and how it can potentially improve theirs.

Consider this customer behavior as a buying signal. Tools like MarketingCloudFX can help you identify buying signals that occur online.

Your prospects may also ask your sales reps during a meeting or call about case studies similar to their industry. For example, let’s say you’re in the business of software-as-a-service (SaaS) for real estate brokers. One of your prospects may ask how your solution has helped another broker firm of the same size as theirs scale their business.

8. Reviewing details about after-sales, terms and conditions, and contract details

Has a prospect asked about your warranty coverage or your return policies? When prospects ask about after-sales concerns, they are likely close to purchasing from you, so consider these questions as buying signals.

In this sales process step, help them trust your business by telling them how you can deliver excellent customer service. Ensure your sales reps immediately address any follow-up questions your prospects may have.

Meet MarketingCloudFX:

One platform tracking countless metrics and driving stellar results.

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Let WebFX help you with identifying buying signals and nurturing your prospects

Identifying buying signals helps your business understand your potential customers’ insights and intent to purchase. In addition, it also enables you to assign more accurate lead scores so your sales reps know which leads to prioritize.

If you need help with identifying buying signals, let WebFX help you. We’re a team of 500+ digital marketers who are pumped to help businesses like yours reach your goals and improve your bottom line. Don’t take our word for it, though. Let our 1,100+ customer testimonials tell you.

Our proprietary software, MarketingCloudFX, can also help you track your prospects’ actions on and off your website, so you can determine buying signals. It also allows you to immediately nurture the leads that are almost ready to purchase.

Contact us online or call us at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about our digital marketing services!