2024 data analysis shows what percentage of a B2B TAM is in-market. This guide compares intent data benchmarks by industry and vendor methodology.

On average, only about 10% of a B2B Total Addressable Market (TAM) is actively in-market for a solution in any given quarter, according to 2024 analysis from 6sense. [7] This percentage varies by industry and company size. Intent data providers like Bombora identify these in-market accounts by tracking online research behavior, such as spikes in content consumption on specific topics across thousands of B2B websites. [21, 23]

TL;DR

Only about 10% of a B2B TAM is actively in-market during any quarter, according to 6sense research. [7]
Bombora's Company Surge® data identifies in-market accounts by tracking content consumption across a co-op of over 5,000 B2B websites. [21, 23]
The Forrester Wave™ for B2B Intent Data Providers in Q1 2025 named Intentsify, 6sense, Bombora, Informa TechTarget, and Demandbase as leaders. [6]
The MQL-to-SQL conversion stage is the largest drop-off point in B2B funnels, with only a 15% average conversion rate. [20]
Leading intent data platforms like 6sense and Demandbase blend Bombora's third-party data with their own first-party and predictive signals. [3]

What Percentage of a B2B TAM Is Actively In-Market?

Analysis from multiple sources indicates that only a small fraction of a company's total addressable market (TAM) is actively seeking a new solution at any given time. Research from 6sense, based on extensive platform data, suggests this figure is approximately 10% in any given quarter. This benchmark fundamentally challenges traditional, broad-based marketing approaches, as it implies that roughly 90% of marketing and sales outreach is directed at accounts that are not in a buying cycle. This inefficiency drives up customer acquisition costs and dilutes the impact of marketing campaigns. The 10% in-market rate is not a static figure; it fluctuates based on industry, economic conditions, and the specific solution being offered. Understanding this core principle is the first step toward adopting a more efficient go-to-market strategy that prioritizes the accounts demonstrating active purchase intent, thereby maximizing the return on marketing investment and aligning sales efforts with genuine opportunities.

The percentage of in-market buyers within a TAM often has an inverse relationship with the price and complexity of the solution. For high-value, enterprise-level products with long and intricate sales cycles, the portion of the market actively looking to buy may be significantly lower than the 10% average. This is because such purchases involve larger buying committees, more extensive internal evaluations, and greater budgetary scrutiny, which naturally extends the time between purchase cycles for any single account. Consequently, the 90% of the market that is not actively buying becomes an even more critical audience for long-term nurturing and brand awareness campaigns. Go-to-market teams must adjust their strategies accordingly, using tactics that keep their solution top-of-mind so that when an account does enter a buying cycle, the groundwork for a positive evaluation has already been laid. This highlights the dual importance of both capturing immediate demand and cultivating future opportunities within the vast out-of-market segment.

To capitalize on the small window of active buying, a vast majority of B2B organizations have integrated intent data into their go-to-market functions. According to a 2023 study by Foundry, 91% of marketers now use intent data to prioritize accounts, tailor content, and build target lists. [8] These teams leverage sophisticated platforms to identify the 10% of accounts that are demonstrating buying behaviors. For example, solutions like Bombora's Company Surge® analyze billions of monthly content consumption events across a cooperative of over 5,000 B2B websites to detect when a company is researching specific topics with greater intensity than its historical baseline. [6, 12] This methodology, which compares recent activity over a 3-week period to a 12-week baseline, allows vendors like 6sense to integrate these surge scores and alert sales and marketing teams to accounts that are moving into an active research phase. [7] This data-driven approach allows teams to focus resources on accounts with the highest propensity to buy, personalizing outreach with insights gleaned from the very topics they are researching.

Industry Benchmarks: In-Market Percentages Fluctuate by Vertical

Website conversion rates serve as a direct proxy for in-market activity, and they fluctuate dramatically across different B2B verticals, signaling wide variations in buyer behavior and sales cycle velocity. According to 2024 benchmark data, the average B2B website conversion rate hovers between 2% and 5%, but this figure conceals significant industry-specific differences. [2] For example, professional services firms see an average conversion rate between 3% and 6%, while the B2B e-commerce sector averages a lower 1.5% to 3%. [2] An analysis from Lusha based on 2024 data highlights even starker contrasts, with legal services achieving a high of 7.4% while B2B SaaS sits at just 1.1%. [26, 10] This variance is often tied to the complexity and cost of the purchase; higher-consideration products in sectors like industrial manufacturing (0.7% to 2.0% visitor-to-lead conversion) naturally have longer, more intricate buying journeys with more stakeholders, depressing immediate conversion events compared to industries with more transactional sales. [9] These benchmarks underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach to defining an 'in-market' prospect is ineffective; the intensity and type of buying signals are fundamentally different from one industry to the next.

The B2B SaaS sector provides a compelling case study in market dynamics, characterized by one of the lowest average website conversion rates at 1.1%, which suggests a smaller active buyer pool at any given moment. [26] This low immediate conversion rate, benchmarked by First Page Sage at 1.9% for visitor-to-lead in their 2024 SaaS Benchmarks report, reflects a market where buyers conduct extensive self-directed research before engaging. [16] To counteract this, SaaS companies invest heavily in marketing to capture the attention of this narrow in-market segment. According to a 2025 analysis from SimpleTiger based on a survey of over 1,500 private B2B SaaS firms, the median marketing spend is around 8% of Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), with high-growth, venture-backed companies often spending 10-20% or more. [12] This contrasts with professional services firms, which typically spend a more modest portion of their revenue on marketing. This higher marketing velocity in SaaS is a direct response to the challenge of engaging a small, discerning, and constantly researching fraction of the total addressable market, necessitating a sustained and resource-intensive effort to remain visible when buying decisions finally occur. [12]

Identifying the fraction of a market that is actively buying requires sophisticated tracking, which is where intent data platforms like Bombora play a crucial role. Using its patented Company Surge® system, Bombora provides a mechanism to see which companies are in-market by analyzing research behavior across a cooperative of over 5,000 B2B websites. [3] The system works by establishing a 12-week baseline of normal research activity for a company and then flagging a 'surge' when content consumption on specific topics increases by 20% or more above that baseline. [17] This methodology allows for granular, industry-specific analysis. As of their latest taxonomy release, Bombora tracks over 21,600 granular B2B topics, enabling marketers to monitor for buying signals related to highly specific products and services like 'cloud access security brokers' for cybersecurity or 'account-based marketing platforms' for martech. [19, 3] By tracking these content consumption spikes, platforms like Bombora and 6sense allow B2B marketers to move beyond firmographic targeting and focus resources on the small percentage of their TAM that is demonstrating active buying behavior at any given time. [37]

Industry Vertical	Avg. Website Conversion Rate (2024)	Avg. Marketing Spend (% of Revenue)	Avg. Sales Cycle Length	Primary Intent Signal
B2B SaaS	1.1% - 1.9%	8% - 20% of ARR	60-120 days (Mid-Market)	Topic surges, demo requests, trial sign-ups
Financial Services	3% - 5.01%	7.7% (Cross-industry avg.)	4-6 months	Compliance research, platform comparisons
Manufacturing	1.5% - 3%	7.7% (Cross-industry avg.)	130-379 days	RFP downloads, supply chain topic research
Healthcare	2% - 4%	7.7% (Cross-industry avg.)	6-12 months	Regulatory research, new equipment searches
Professional Services	3% - 6%	5% - 8%	3-5 months	Case study views, service page engagement

How Bombora Company Surge® Identifies In-Market Accounts

Bombora's Company Surge® methodology is fundamentally built upon its extensive and exclusive B2B Data Cooperative, a network of over 5,500 publisher websites that grants access to a massive volume of research activity. [11] This cooperative model allows Bombora to capture and analyze approximately 17.6 billion content consumption events each month across a global network of business users. [10] The data collected is consent-driven and privacy-compliant, pooling brand-anonymous visitor information from a wide array of sources including premium media organizations, niche B2B brands, vendors, and analyst websites. [6, 13, 16] This structure provides a holistic view of the B2B web, tracking millions of unique domains and their research patterns against tens of thousands of specific topics. [6] A significant portion of this data, 86% according to Bombora, is exclusive to their network, meaning competing intent data providers do not have access to these specific signals. [6, 11] This proprietary data sourcing, collected via direct relationships and a JavaScript tag on member sites, allows the platform to build a stable, historical baseline of content consumption for millions of companies, which is the essential first step in identifying abnormal research spikes. [11]

A Company Surge® score is generated when an organization's research activity on a specific business topic significantly exceeds its normal, historical behavior. The platform establishes a 12-week historical baseline of content consumption for each company on each of the thousands of topics within its taxonomy. [1, 5, 12] This baseline represents the typical level of research or "noise" for that organization. A surge is detected when the aggregated content consumption over a recent three-week period shows a statistically significant increase compared to this 12-week baseline. [1, 5] The algorithm considers multiple factors beyond just volume, including the number of unique users from the company researching the topic, the frequency and depth of their engagement (such as dwell time and scroll velocity), and the relevancy of the content itself. [2, 15] This process, updated weekly, allows the Bombora Company Surge® Q2 2026 system to differentiate between passive, ongoing research and a genuine, active buying signal, ensuring that a spike in activity represents a meaningful change in a company's focus and potential needs. [3, 12]

A Bombora Company Surge® score of 60 or higher is the critical threshold that indicates an account is actively 'in-market' and worthy of targeted sales and marketing outreach. [2, 3, 4] The score, which ranges from 0 to 100, reflects the intensity of the research surge compared to the company's historical baseline; a score below 40 indicates a decrease in interest, while scores from 40 to 59 represent normal, baseline activity. [2, 8] Achieving a score of 60 or more signifies a statistically significant increase in content consumption, suggesting that multiple individuals within the organization are actively engaged in solving a problem or evaluating a purchase. [2, 7] For instance, the Salesforce State of Sales 5th Edition (2024) might note that such high-intent signals are crucial for prioritizing outreach. Bombora further recommends using a topic threshold, such as requiring a surge on at least three related topics, to strengthen the signal and confirm that the research is comprehensive and not just a fleeting interest. [7] This scoring mechanism, detailed in resources like the Bombora Company Surge User Guide, allows go-to-market teams to focus their resources on accounts demonstrating quantifiable buying intent. [2]

A key characteristic and widely noted limitation of Bombora Company Surge® data is that it operates at the account level, not the contact level. The system identifies that 'Company ABC' is showing a surge in interest for 'Cloud Security' but does not specify which individuals within that company are conducting the research. [2, 17] This means that while marketing and sales teams receive a powerful signal about which companies to prioritize, they are left to conduct further investigation to identify the specific members of the buying committee. [17] As one analysis from 2026 points out, without direct signals on the individuals, teams must manually hunt down the right buyers, which can be a significant challenge. [17] The data provides the 'where' but not the 'who,' making it a starting point for account-based marketing (ABM) strategies rather than a complete solution. This distinction is crucial for setting expectations; the platform excels at identifying the ~15% of a total addressable market that is in-market at any given time, but it requires integration with other tools or sales processes, as highlighted in the Influ2 analysis of Bombora, to connect these account-level insights to specific people. [17, 18]

Comparing Intent Data Methodologies: Bombora vs. 6sense vs. ZoomInfo

Bombora’s methodology centers on its proprietary B2B Data Cooperative, a vast network of over 5,500 B2B publisher websites, research firms, and event providers that contribute anonymous content consumption data. This co-op model allows Bombora to track billions of monthly interactions across millions of companies, establishing a baseline of typical research behavior for each organization. The core of its offering, the Bombora Company Surge® report, identifies when a company shows a statistically significant increase in research around specific B2B topics compared to its historical baseline. A surge score of 60 or higher indicates an account is actively in-market. This approach provides broad, top-of-funnel insight into which accounts are beginning their buying journey, making it a foundational layer for many account-based marketing (ABM) programs. However, because the data is aggregated from a third-party data cooperative, the signals are at the account level, meaning sales teams know which company is interested but not the specific individuals doing the research.

Platforms like 6sense and Demandbase enhance third-party intent data by layering it with additional signals and predictive intelligence. 6sense, for example, licenses Bombora's Company Surge® data as one of many inputs into its broader Revenue AI™ platform. It combines these third-party signals with a customer's own first-party data, such as website visits and CRM activity, along with its own proprietary data from tracking web and search activity. An advanced AI model then analyzes this blended data to predict which accounts are in a buying cycle and even what stage of the journey they are in. Similarly, Demandbase integrates data from partners like Bombora alongside its own direct access to bidstream data and first-party signals to provide a holistic view of account activity. This multi-source approach, as detailed in a 2026 analysis by Influ2, allows these platforms to move beyond simple topic surges and provide a prioritized list of accounts with deeper context, though it requires significant investment and operational resources to manage effectively.

ZoomInfo differentiates itself by combining its own proprietary intent data network with a massive, well-known B2B contact database. Its intent engine gathers signals from four main sources: tracking content consumption, analyzing bidstream advertising data, identifying website visitors via its WebSights product, and integrating with third-party review sites. ZoomInfo's platform, including its SalesOS, processes over 1.5 billion data points daily to deliver intent signals that can be updated in near real-time. This integration of account-level intent with direct contact information is designed to shorten the path from signal to outreach. However, some analyses and user reviews raise concerns about the data's accuracy and freshness, with one 2025 report noting that 52% of sales professionals report frequent false positives and 29% cite issues with IP address misattribution. While the promise of bundled intent and contact data is powerful, the reliance on sources like bidstream data can introduce noise compared to the consent-based model of a data co-op.

Software review platforms like G2 and TrustRadius provide a distinct and valuable form of intent data focused on late-stage buying behavior. G2 Buyer Intent, for instance, generates signals from high-value actions taken by over 90 million annual users on its site, such as viewing a product's pricing page, making direct competitor comparisons, or reading reviews for a specific category. These actions indicate that a buyer has moved past general research and is actively evaluating vendors, making the signals highly actionable for sales teams. TrustRadius operates similarly, capturing what it calls "downstream intent data" from buyers comparing products or reading in-depth reviews, which it reports can lead to a 4x acceleration in deal cycles for its customers. Unlike broad, topic-based intent that signals early interest, this second-party data from review sites offers a clear window into the final stages of the decision-making process, helping teams prioritize outreach to accounts that are closest to making a purchase.

Vendor	Primary Data Source	Methodology	Key Strength	Ideal Use Case
Bombora	Third-Party Data Cooperative	Aggregates content consumption from a network of 5,000+ B2B publisher sites and flags accounts with surging interest in specific topics ('Company Surge®').	Broad topic coverage and scale; considered the 'gold standard' for third-party account-level intent.	Top-of-funnel account prioritization and building target lists for ABM campaigns.
6sense	Hybrid (First- and Third-Party)	Combines licensed Bombora data with proprietary signals and first-party customer data, using AI to predict buying stages.	Predictive analytics that score accounts and identify journey stages, not just topics.	Enterprise teams wanting an all-in-one platform for orchestration, prediction, and advertising.
ZoomInfo	Proprietary Network & Contact DB	Gathers signals from bidstream data, content consumption, and its own web tracking, bundled with its contact database.	Seamlessly integrates account-level intent signals with a large, searchable contact database for immediate outreach.	Sales teams that need to quickly move from an intent signal to contacting specific individuals at an account.
Demandbase	Hybrid (First- and Third-Party)	Uses its own bidstream data access, first-party signals, and integrations with partners like Bombora and G2.	Global data coverage supporting 133 languages and deep keyword-level analysis with NLP to reduce false positives.	Organizations needing a comprehensive GTM platform with strong analytics and multi-language support.
G2	Second-Party (Own Site Activity)	Captures high-intent actions on its software review site, such as competitor comparisons, pricing page views, and category research.	Provides signals indicating late-stage, purchase-proximate buying behavior from active evaluators.	Sales and marketing teams looking to identify and engage accounts in the final decision-making phase.
TrustRadius	Second-Party (Own Site Activity)	Collects "downstream" intent signals from buyers using its site to compare products and read verified reviews.	High-fidelity signals tied to deep research behavior that can accelerate deal cycles.	Targeting in-market buyers with validated interest to improve conversion rates and pipeline velocity.

Activating Intent Data: From In-Market Signal to Sales Pipeline

A significant revenue leak in the B2B funnel occurs between marketing and sales, with an industry average MQL-to-SQL conversion rate of just 13%, according to a 2026 analysis by GrowthSpree. [3] This low conversion means that for every 100 leads marketing generates, sales teams accept only 13 as being ready for direct follow-up. [2] The primary cause of this drop-off is a misalignment between marketing's lead generation activities and sales' need for pipeline-ready opportunities. Marketing teams are often incentivized to produce a high volume of MQLs, which may include contacts who have only shown passive interest, such as downloading a whitepaper. Sales, however, requires leads demonstrating clear purchase intent. This disconnect is why the MQL-to-SQL stage represents a critical bottleneck. [14] An analysis by Implisit, which studied hundreds of B2B company pipelines, confirmed this 13% average conversion rate and found it takes an average of 84 days for a lead to become a sales opportunity, highlighting a slow and inefficient handoff process that intent data is designed to fix. [2] By identifying accounts actively researching solutions, intent data allows teams to focus resources on buyers who are genuinely in-market, rather than wasting effort on the 87% of leads who are not yet ready to engage. [3]

High-performing revenue teams close the gap between marketing and sales by operationalizing intent data directly within their core technology stack. Integrating platforms like Bombora Company Surge® or 6sense Revenue AI™ with a CRM such as Salesforce and marketing automation platforms like Marketo or HubSpot is a critical step. [15, 30] This integration transforms passive data points into actionable sales triggers, moving teams from reactive follow-up to proactive engagement. [11] For example, when an account on a target list shows a spike in research activity around specific keywords, an automated workflow can be triggered. This could involve enrolling the account in a specialized advertising campaign, sending personalized email sequences, and creating a high-priority task for a sales representative directly within their CRM dashboard. [26, 33] According to a Q1 2023 Global B2B Intent Data Survey from Forrester, over 85% of companies using intent data report achieving business benefits, with the most common being increased response rates and more successful sales prospecting. [6] By embedding timely buying signals into the systems sales reps already use, organizations ensure that outreach is focused on accounts demonstrating active interest, which significantly increases the likelihood of securing a meeting and creating a qualified sales opportunity. [16]

Activating intent data is a foundational element of successful Account-Based Marketing (ABM), directly contributing to faster and more efficient revenue growth. The primary use cases for intent data in an ABM strategy involve prioritizing accounts, personalizing content and messaging, and building highly targeted account lists for campaigns. [9, 18] Instead of targeting a broad list of companies based on firmographics alone, intent signals allow marketers to focus on the subset of accounts that are actively researching relevant solutions. According to research from ITSMA, mature ABM programs deliver a 171% higher average contract value and result in 30, 50% faster pipeline velocity for top-tier accounts. [17] This acceleration occurs because sales and marketing teams can coordinate multi-channel outreach to engage buying committees at the precise moment they are evaluating solutions. [35] Organizations that effectively leverage intent data for their ABM programs report significant improvements in sales cycle length and conversion rates, with some studies showing organizations that adopt an account-based approach see opportunities close at a 53% rate versus just 19% for traditional demand generation. [20]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good in-market percentage for a B2B company?

A good in-market percentage for a B2B company is typically between 8% and 12% of its total addressable market (TAM) in any given quarter. This figure serves as a solid benchmark, though it can fluctuate based on industry, with sectors like legal services sometimes seeing higher rates. [34, 39] For instance, some analyses suggest that on average, only about 15% of buyers are actively in-market at any one time, making the ability to identify this cohort critical for efficient marketing spend. [31] Ultimately, even a small improvement in converting this group can significantly increase sales pipeline. [34]

How accurate is Bombora Surge data?

Bombora Surge data has a reported precision rate of around 81%, according to at least one independent test. [1] This means that while the data is a strong indicator of buying intent, approximately one in five accounts flagged as "surging" may not have genuine purchase intent. [1] The accuracy stems from its cooperative data model, which tracks content consumption across more than 5,000 B2B websites to identify when a company's research on specific topics increases significantly. [25, 32] While not perfect, this methodology makes it a leading source for identifying account-level buying signals before a prospect visits your website. [32]

What is the difference between intent data from Bombora and G2?

The primary difference between Bombora and G2 intent data lies in its source and scope. Bombora provides third-party intent data by tracking topic-level research across a broad cooperative of over 5,000 B2B publisher sites, identifying general interest in a category. [14, 25] In contrast, G2 provides second-party intent data derived from user activity directly on its software marketplace, signaling more explicit, late-stage buying intent like product comparisons and review lookups. [8, 14] Because of this, G2's signals are often considered higher-fidelity for software purchases, while Bombora offers a wider view of early-stage, top-of-funnel research across all industries. [8, 13]

How much does Bombora cost?

Bombora's pricing is quote-based and not publicly listed, with annual contracts typically starting around $30,000 per year for a basic Company Surge® plan. [3, 4] Most mid-market companies can expect to pay between $50,000 and $100,000 annually, depending on the volume of data, number of tracked topics, and integration needs. [4, 6] It is important to note that this cost is for the account-level data feed only; acting on the data requires separate tools for contact enrichment and sales outreach, which can add another $15,000 to $50,000 or more to the total annual stack cost. [5]

How do you calculate the percentage of TAM that is in-market?

To calculate the percentage of your Total Addressable Market (TAM) that is in-market, you divide the number of accounts identified as actively buying by the total number of accounts in your TAM, and then multiply by 100. The primary challenge is accurately identifying the 'in-market' accounts, which is typically done using intent data providers. [25] The basic formula is: (Number of In-Market Accounts / Total Accounts in TAM) x 100. [28] For example, if your TAM consists of 10,000 companies and intent data shows 1,000 are actively researching relevant solutions, then 10% of your TAM is currently in-market.

Which companies are leaders in B2B intent data according to Forrester?

In its Q1 2025 Wave report for B2B Intent Data Providers, Forrester identified five companies as Leaders: Intentsify, 6sense, Bombora, Informa TechTarget, and Demandbase. [15] Intentsify was noted for having the highest score in the 'Current Offering' category, while 6sense was highlighted for its innovative platform and strong analytics. [15, 22, 29] The report underscores a market shift toward advanced AI-driven analysis and the growing importance of persona-level insights, moving beyond simple account-level signals. [30] Anteriad was also recognized as a 'Strong Performer' in the 2023 and 2025 reports. [15, 38]

Last updated: June 2026

B2B Intent Data Benchmarks 2024: In-Market TAM %