By capturing intent signals from places you didn't have access to in the past, your organization becomes more intelligent. When a consumer visits your website, visits a competitor's website, calls a call center, fills out a web form, and searches on multiple device types, that is the digital trail she is leaving behind that enables you to see her journey toward become a customer. When you have that full picture of their journeys, you are enabled to more strategically segment, prioritize, and nurture your consumers to conversion.

Online behaviors are a highly accurate predictor of a consumer's stage and purpose in the buying journey. Even though it's possible today to collect hundreds-even thousands-of data points about a consumer in search of a product or service, it is extraordinarily difficult to connect those points into a real picture of who the consumer is, where she's been, and what she's really looking for on your own.

But, when you do see these disparate events associated with the same consumer, linked over a period of time and in the order in which they happened, you gain the highest resolution view into that consumer's journey and discover new, more meaningful ways in which you can engage with your consumers. When you have this sharper vision and deeper insight into your customer's online buying journey, you will make sounder decisions about how to market to them.