Corporate News
— An Innovative Solution for Visualizing "High-Potential Companies" to Support B2B Sales and Marketing —
uSonar Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Chairman: Nami Fukutomi; President: Katsuhito Nagatake; hereinafter "uSonar") has officially released "Interest Signal" (*1), which allows users to identify corporate purchasing intent in real-time using custom keywords and generate target company lists, and "Interest Sign" (*2), Japan's first AI-augmented intent data generation service that utilizes AI to create highly accurate target lists.
This service is a next-generation solution that integrates Japan's largest corporate database, "LBC" (*3), with corporate behavioral data to dramatically improve the efficiency and performance of sales and marketing activities.
These services are also implemented in uSonar's management strategy platform, "PLANSonar" (*4).
Background of Development
In B2B marketing, the following challenges hinder the efficiency of sales and marketing activities:
- Lack of Visibility into Potential Customer Behavior: Limited means to capture behavioral data during the early stages of the purchasing process, commonly known as the "Dark Funnel."
- Insufficient Prediction of Churn Risk: Inability to detect early signs of existing customer churn, leading to missed opportunities to prevent migration to competitors.
- Lack of Real-Time Lead Detection: Absence of methods to identify target accounts at the optimal time.
Furthermore, in the current landscape where high-precision, cookie-less targeting is required, the importance of technology that visualizes corporate needs while ensuring personal data protection is increasing.
To address these challenges, uSonar has evolved the corporate list (intent data) generation service using fixed IP addresses, which was announced in 2019*5, to develop "Interest Signals" and "Interest Sign".
By implementing these services into the management strategy platform "PLANSonar", we support the optimization of sales activities and the improvement of performance.
Generally, intent data has faced the following challenges:
(1) Bias toward fixed IP addresses
Data using fixed IP addresses tends to be skewed toward large enterprises, covering only about 200,000 companies.
→ "Interest Sign" has overcome this challenge by utilizing data from approximately 1 million companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
(2) Difficulty in identifying access sources
It is difficult to determine whether the access originates from a headquarters, a branch office, or a factory.
→ We plan to address this challenge with "IDoid," which is currently under development.
Service Overview
1. Interest Signal
An intent data generation service that creates lists of companies interested in specified keywords.
- Keyword-Based List Generation: Analyzes web behavioral data based on specified keywords to visualize potential customers.
- Integration with LBC: Integrates corporate attribute data (industry, revenue scale, location, etc.) to generate highly accurate lists.
- Real-Time Response: Identify the optimal timing for business negotiations based on the latest behavioral data.
2. Interest Sign (Japan's First)
A high-precision target list generation service that expands data obtained from interest signals by leveraging regional IP and AI.
- Refining by Region and Corporate Attributes Using AI: Leveraging AI, we estimate companies with relevant interests by combining web behavioral history with corporate attributes.
- Adoption of Patent-Pending Technology: We provide high-precision corporate insights through a revolutionary, Japan-first method that does not rely on fixed corporate IP addresses or Cookie data.
3. IDoid
The new service currently under development, IDoid, is a solution that further enhances interest signals and Interest Sign to identify specific access origins, such as headquarters, branches, factories, and departments. Details will be announced upon the official release.
How to Utilize the Management Strategy Platform PLANSonar
Interest Signals and Interest Sign are integrated into the management strategy platform PLANSonar, which can be used in conjunction with Live Access*6 to identify companies browsing your website, delivering the following benefits:
- Clarification of Targets
Dynamically list target companies with high purchasing intent detected by Interest Signals and Interest Sign on PLANSonar. By immediately sharing high-priority companies with sales representatives, we streamline sales activities.
- Approaching Potential Customers
Leverage 'Interest Signal' and 'Interest Sign' data to visualize target company behavior and needs in real time. PLANSonar provides this data via a dashboard in a format that facilitates easy management of outreach status for potential customers.
- Lead Registration, Attribute Assignment, and Analysis
Enrich lead information acquired through trade shows or document requests with needs detected by 'Interest Signal' and 'Interest Sign', and analyze them alongside attribute data. This allows you to determine the optimal timing for priority outreach.
- Nurturing Promising Prospects
Utilize various corporate attribute data, including 'Interest Signal' and 'Interest Sign', within PLANSonar to achieve seamless data integration with Marketing Automation (MA) tools and CRM systems. We provide an environment that enables efficient and smooth identification of promising prospects, campaign design, and lead nurturing activities.
- Efficient Sales Activities
By linking corporate needs identified through 'Interest Signal' and 'Interest Sign' with business card information, sales representatives can develop concrete outreach strategies. This enables streamlined sales activities and increases the probability of converting leads into business negotiations.
- Early Detection of Churn Risk
By leveraging 'Interest Signal' and 'Interest Sign', you can identify potential churn risks—such as interest in competitor products or services—that are often overlooked by CS activities or internal Web site visit history alone. This enables the identification of hidden needs and supports proactive risk management.
*1: "Interest Signal" is an intent data service that collects and analyzes data from approximately 8,000 websites, including advertising delivery results and 3rd Party data from partner companies, to identify companies interested in specific keywords.
*2: "Interest Sign" is Japan's first intent data service that expands upon "Interest Signal"—which identifies companies interested in specific keywords—by using AI to incorporate regional and corporate attribute data. (Japan's First: Based on our internal research of domestic intent data services as of December 15, 2024.)
*3: "LBC" is uSonar's corporate data service that assigns an 11-digit management code to business locations across Japan. It centrally manages a wealth of corporate attribute information, including industry, revenue, profit, number of employees, and fixed IP addresses. By matching client data with "LBC," companies can perform precise targeting while excluding existing clients. (Japan's Largest: Based on our internal research of the number of headquarters and business location data held for Japanese companies as of December 15, 2024.)
https://usonar.co.jp/service/usonar/index.php#serviceLbc
*4: "PLANSonar" is an innovative platform that allows for the centralized management of corporate management strategy from planning to execution. In today's business environment where rapid decision-making is essential, PLANSonar serves as a next-generation strategic tool, providing powerful support to strategy and marketing professionals.
https://usonar.co.jp/en/content/plansonar/
*5: Please check the following URL for information regarding the corporate list generation (intent data) service announced in 2019.
https://usonar.co.jp/en/news/20190222_4801.html
*6: "Live Access" identifies companies visiting your website based on their IP addresses and displays this information in PLANSonar or adds it to Google Analytics. Because it can identify details such as industry and number of employees in addition to company names, it can be used to verify the effectiveness of landing pages and advertisements, or to utilize visiting companies as a sales lead list.
