MarTech’s October 8 article argues that more buyer signals do not automatically tell marketers what buyers need next. That point is backed by a wider market shift: McKinsey’s 2026 B2B Pulse says buyers use an average of ten channels across the journey, Gartner reports that 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience, and Salesforce finds that marketers still struggle to unify data for relevant conversations.
The operating lesson is uncomfortable but useful. A pricing-page visit, webinar attendance or third return to the website is not intent by itself. It is activity. The team still has to understand whether the buyer needs education, comparison, proof, reassurance, internal consensus or a person who can answer a specific risk question.
The Funnel Is Not the Buyer’s Map
Funnels remain useful for forecasting and handoffs. They become dangerous when a stage label replaces context. “Consideration” can mean a buyer is building a business case, comparing vendors, checking budget, validating AI-generated advice or trying to avoid sales until internal questions are clearer.
That is why more tracking often creates more noise. Marketing sees events. Sales sees conversations. Customer success sees objections. The buyer experiences one company. If those systems do not carry context forward, the next touch may be technically personalized and strategically useless.
A Context Diagnostic
Use four questions before triggering another campaign step. First: what job is the buyer likely trying to complete now? Education, comparison, proof, reassurance, consensus or purchase logistics are different jobs. Second: what evidence would make the next step easier? A calculator, case proof, implementation detail, security document or expert call may each fit a different moment.
Third: which team owns the missing context? If marketing owns the content but sales owns the objection, the system will keep sending the wrong material. Fourth: what should the next action not do? Sometimes the right move is to stop the nurture flow, suppress a generic email, route to a specialist or let the buyer self-serve with better proof.
How to Apply It
Pick one high-value journey: demo request, renewal, ecommerce repeat purchase or partner inquiry. Map the last five signals before conversion or loss. For each signal, write the possible buyer jobs it could represent. Then define the evidence that would help each job and the rule that prevents the wrong follow-up.
This creates a better martech brief than “collect more data.” It tells the team what context must survive across channels, which fields matter, which automations need suppression logic and where human expertise should enter.
The growth advantage is not the stack with the most signals. It is the organization that can translate signals into a helpful next action before the buyer loses trust.
Source References
- MarTech: More buyer signals won’t tell you what buyers need next
- McKinsey: B2B buyers reset the bar
- Gartner: 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience
- Salesforce: State of Marketing
