General FAQs

At a high level, how does Buyer Discovery work?

Buyer Discovery collects the activity information of buyers visiting software categories on Gartner Digital Market's web sites including GetApp, Software Advice and Capterra.  

Reverse IP lookups are performed to determined the company from which the activities originated. An algorithm based on grouping of all activities from a company  produce company based intent signals within a software category and in relation to a particular software product. 

The software category and product specific company level intent signals are then distributed to software vendors subscribed to Buyer Discovery to assist with prioritization of account and lead campaigns, sales outreach and new account identification. 

Which Buyer Discovery intent signals are available in each integration?

Here is a breakdown of the Buyer Discovery intent signals currently available with each integration:

How do I export data from Buyer Discovery?

Users can export data from Buyer Discovery by going to the Export List tab, clicking on "Add", and Selecting "Custom". On the next page, after filtering company prospects with the left side panel, users can click Save, and then click the Download button to download the generated CSV.

What is Buyer Discovery's privacy policy?

The Capterra Privacy Policy is referenced in the Buyer Discovery subscription contraction. Capterra, wholly owned by Gartner Inc., is the provider of Buyer Discovery subscriptions.  

Is Buyer Discovery GDPR compliant? 

Buyer Discovery subscriptions are compliant with GDPR.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides safe guards for personal data and privacy rights for those who live in the European Union (EU) by setting guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information.

A Buyer Discovery subscription:

• Only provides company level information.
• Does not collect or provide personally identifiable information.
• Does not collect or provide consent for individuals to receive unsolicited commercial communications.
• Does not provide capabilities as part of the subscription to send commercial communications
• In the European Union requires explicit consent  from end users before any non-service related information is captured via cookies, pixels or other mechanisms.

CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) compliance

Buyer Discovery subscriptions are compliant with CCPA.  Buyer Discovery only collects and facilitates company level data and does not collect, sell or disseminate any personally identifiable information.  

The CCPA empowers California residents with the right to opt out of third-party data sales, the right to be informed of data collection and rights, the right to have collected data disclosed, the right to have collected data deleted, and the right to equal services and prices.

Subscribers of Buyer Discovery are responsible that their commercial communications and data transactions comply with regulations.

A Buyer Discovery subscription:

• Only provides company level information.
• Does not collect or provide personally identifiable information.
• Does not collect or provide consent for individuals to receive unsolicited commercial communications.
• Does not provide capabilities as part of the subscription to send commercial communications.

Is Buyer Discovery CASL compliant?

CASL is a Canadian anti-spam law that applies to messaging in connection with a “commercial activity.”  It requires that organizations obtain consent prior to sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs) within, from or to Canada.

Subscribers of Buyer Discovery are responsible that their commercial communications comply with CASL regulations.

A Buyer Discovery subscription:

• only provides company level information.
• does not collect or provide personally identifiable information.
• does not collect or provide consent for individuals to receive unsolicited commercial communications.
• does not provide capabilities as part of the subscription to send commercial communications.

Further references:

• Frequently Asked Questions about Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation

Is there a sample security questionnaire completed for Buyer Discovery?

Yes, here it is:

• Have you suffered a security breach? No
• Have you been the target of an online attack (such as DDoS, ransomware, targeted malware, attempted security breach, etc?) No
• Do you have a full-time security team? Yes
  • If so, into what department does the security team report? Under CISO of the company
  • If not, do you have employees who are specifically responsible for security? N/A
• Are you compliant with regulatory standards? If so, which? GDPR, CASL CCPA
• Do you conduct regular third-party security audits? Yes
  • What were the results of the latest audit? Clear
  • Will you release a copy of the latest audit to us? No
  • If no audit, will you allow the AppFolio Security Team to evaluate the security of your product? No
• In the event of a breach, who would be liable? N/A. We have incident management that communicates any breach internally. 
• In the event of a breach, are you contractually obligated to inform partners of an ongoing security incident? Yes

What is a competitive intent signal? 

As businesses research and compare competing solutions to fit their needs, Buyer Discovery surfaces competitive insights that can be used to personalize their purchase experiences. For example, you could personalize an email or sales pitch to a business: 

• Compares your software to a competitor with our comparison tools. 

• Views one of the competitors you identified in the Gartner Digital Markets portal. 

• Searches for your product and a competing product by name (eg. Salesforce vs. Hubspot comparison).
  
  

We call these competitive intent signals, and we help you identify the most relevant ones to action.

How does Buyer Discovery identify the most relevant competitive intent signals?

Buyer Discovery analyzes buying behaviors from tens of millions of software buyers annually to identify the patterns of those most likely to purchase in a specific category. We’ve identified certain activities like those above that suggest a business is comparing your solution to one or more relevant competitors in your category. We share up to three of those competitors with you in a given intent record. 

What is the competitive intent signal methodology?

Buyer Discovery’s previous methodology highlighted relevant competitor profile views and comparisons when a single visitor completed specific behavior patterns in a single session. While it often suggested a high intent to purchase, it was not inclusive of the emerging buying behaviors we see in a modern software purchasing committee. We know businesses: 

• Start their research early.

• Include many internal stakeholders in purchase decisions. 

• Revisit reviews and compare solutions at every stage of the purchase cycle.

Our new methodology considers these behaviors and highlights all the relevant competitor profile views and comparisons from the collective sessions of a business while their purchase intent is “surging”. In other words, you can now see the competitor(s) a single stakeholder or a collective group of stakeholders is considering much earlier in the purchase cycle.

How does the intent signals methodology impact the intent records we receive? 

Buyer Discovery now produces 4X more competitive intent signals and surfaces new signal combinations. You may now see intent records where: 

• A company compares your product and multiple competitors are provided.

• A company views a competitor’s profile but doesn’t complete a 1:1 product comparison.

• A company views your product profile and a competitor’s.

These new combinations may require you to adjust your action plan for specific records:

Now that we’re receiving more competitive intent signals, how will we know which competitors to action? How should we personalize our sales and marketing messaging when we have multiple competitive intent signals in a single record? 

We’ve prioritized competitive intent signals based on the relative strength of the behavior that was observed and the category overlap of the competing product. So, the name of the most relevant competitor you’re up against will appear in the field labeled competitor_1, and the others will follow in competitor_2 and competitor_3. We recommend you personalize your messages around the competitor listed in competitor_1, and make your sales team aware that the second and third competitors may also be under consideration.

As an example, let’s break down an intent record where a company views multiple competitors and selects one to compare:  

• Competitor_1 would contain the name of the product with which you were compared because this activity is a stronger indicator of intent than a profile view. 

• Competitor_2 would contain one of the competitors viewed in your category, especially if you identified them as a top competitor in the Gartner Digital Markets portal. 

• Competitor_3 would contain the other competitor that was viewed in your category.

How do I identify my top competitors in the Gartner Digital Market’s portal to ensure my top competitors are prioritized in my intent records? 

Login to the Gartner Digital Markets portal. On the main dashboard, you will see a box under Growth Opportunities to identify a minimum of three competitors in your space. We will prioritize these competitors in your intent data provided your products are listed in the same categories.

How do country grouping filters in the web app work?

In the Buyer Discovery web app, users can segment company prospects by country using the left side panel. Countries in the filter are grouped by geography and clicking a group will select or deselect all of the countries within that group. Users can also tailor their country selection by clicking individual countries.

How do the filter attribute counts work?

Each attribute in the segmentation filter has a number displayed next to it. This is the quantity of records which will be added to the total filtered company prospects if you decide to add that attribute into your selected filters.