Most content about intent data is written for American enterprise companies with six- to seven-figure marketing budgets. Not this article. Here you'll read what intent data does and doesn't deliver for Dutch SMBs — honestly, without a sales pitch.

What is intent data?

Intent data is information indicating that a company is actively interested in a specific topic, product or solution. The idea: if you know a company is exploring your category, you can approach them before they end up at the competitor.

There are two types:

First-party intent data

Behavior you measure yourself: website visits, email opens, content downloads, demo requests. This is data you already have (or can easily collect) via your own website and tools.

Third-party intent data

Behavior that external parties measure: which topics a company researches on the broader web, which reviews they read, which comparison pages they visit. Providers like Bombora, 6sense and G2 sell this data.

The reliability difference is large. First-party data is concrete — someone visits your pricing page, that's a hard signal. Third-party data is a proxy — a company reads an article about 'CRM implementation' somewhere, and that gets translated into an intent score.

What DOESN'T work for Dutch SMBs

Here it gets uncomfortable. The three biggest names in intent data are simply not relevant for most Dutch SMBs.

Bombora

Market leader in third-party intent data. Monitors content consumption on 5,000+ B2B websites and translates that into 'Company Surge' scores per topic.

Starts at $30,000/year, average contract ~$58,000/year. Annual contract required. The network is primarily American — overlap with Dutch B2B websites is minimal.

6sense

Combines intent data with predictive analytics and account-based marketing. Powerful platform — for enterprise.

Median customer pays $55,000/year. Enterprise up to $250,000-$400,000/year excluding implementation costs ($10,000-$50,000). Requires a dedicated RevOps person.

G2 intent data

Buyer intent data based on who views your product page, reviews and comparisons on G2.com.

Dutch B2B buyers barely use G2. The platform is dominant in North America. Signal volumes from the Netherlands are too low for usable data.

What DOES work for Dutch SMBs

The good news: there are alternatives that better fit the Dutch market, and they cost a fraction of the above options.

Leadinfo: website visits as first-party intent

Leadinfo identifies which companies visit your website — and that's the most direct form of intent data there is. Dutch, GDPR-compliant, cookieless, 35-40% identification of B2B traffic in the Benelux. From €69/month, no annual contract.

You see which company, which pages, how often, and how long. Filter on your ICP and you have a daily list of warm leads.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator: buyer intent built in

Sales Navigator Advanced contains buyer intent signals: which contacts at your saved accounts visit your company page, like your content, or accept InMails. With 180+ signals it builds an intent score per account. From $139.99/month (annual).

Since virtually every Dutch B2B company is active on LinkedIn, the data sample here IS large enough.

Clay triggers: event-based intent

Clay monitors concrete events that signal intent: new hires, funding rounds, technology switches, press releases. This isn't a statistical intent score but an observable fact. Clay Explorer costs $314/month.

You don't need to interpret a score. There's no 'medium intent' label — you see that company X hired a VP Sales last week. Concrete, verifiable, and immediately actionable.

Own first-party data via HubSpot

HubSpot (free CRM) tracks who opens your emails, which pages they visit (with tracking code), and how they move through your funnel. This is first-party intent data you already have but probably don't use enough.

Combine HubSpot data with Leadinfo and you have a complete picture: which companies visit your site (Leadinfo) and what do known contacts do (HubSpot). Cost: €69/month + €0.

The honest truth

The intent data industry is built on the promise that you can know who's ready to buy. For American enterprise companies with huge target markets and six-figure budgets, that model works. For Dutch SMBs, the reality is different.

First-party data + event-based triggers > expensive third-party intent data.

Your own website visit data (Leadinfo) tells you more than a Bombora Company Surge score ever will for the Dutch market. LinkedIn engagement from your target audience is a stronger signal than a G2 comparison page your prospect never visited.

The companies performing best with signal-based outbound in the Netherlands don't use Bombora or 6sense. They combine Leadinfo + Clay + LinkedIn Sales Nav + their own HubSpot data. Total cost: €400-600/month. That's 10x cheaper than Bombora's entry price — and more relevant for the Dutch market.

Start with what you have

Before you invest in any intent data tool, do this:

Check your HubSpot (or other CRM): who opens your emails, who visits your site, who's in your pipeline but has gone quiet?
Install Leadinfo (30-day free trial): see how many companies visit your website that fit your ICP
Use LinkedIn Sales Nav to see who's engaged with your content
Only then consider Clay for automated signal detection

Most SMBs discover they're already sitting on a mountain of intent data they're not using. Start there.

And when you notice that foundation works — that website visit data actually leads to meetings, that email engagement correlates with deals — only then is it time to invest in Clay for scale and automation. Not sooner.

Want to learn more about signal-based outbound?

Read the complete guide on signal-based outbound, or see which tools you need.

The complete guide Compare tools

Intent data for Dutch SMBs: what actually works?