Glossary
Buying signal
A buying signal is an action a company takes that means they're more likely to spend money now than they were last week.
In B2B sales, a buying signal is the thing that turns "they exist" into "they're ready to talk." Without one, you're sending the same email everyone else sends. With one, you're emailing them the week they decided to invest.
What counts as a signal in ecommerce
Each one is checkable from public data. None of them are "they raised a Series B last year." Old signals are signals everyone else already worked.
- A Shopify store upgrades to Shopify Plus. Revenue is growing fast enough to need it.
- A brand installs Klaviyo, Recharge, or a new SMS tool. They're investing in retention, which usually means budget is open.
- 400+ product variants go out of stock. Operations or 3PL conversation.
- The site replatforms to headless. A large project with vendors in the room.
- A new product line launches with 30+ SKUs in 30 days. Catalog expansion, ads and photography needed.
Why fresh matters
B2B contact data loses about 2% accuracy every month and 22–30% per year. Signals decay the same way. A Klaviyo install detected six months ago isn't a buying signal anymore. It's just a fact, and the brand has already picked a vendor. We refresh daily for that reason. The week the signal fires is the week the brand is shopping.
How to use one
Don't pitch the signal. Pitch what the signal implies. A brand that just upgraded to Shopify Plus isn't waiting to be told they upgraded. They're waiting for someone to say "this is what your retention numbers will do over the next 90 days if you set up Klaviyo flows in the next two weeks." The signal is the timing. The pitch is the upside.
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