What Is Technographic Data and How Do You Use It?

In an overwhelmingly competitive digital business landscape, modern businesses depend on their ability to collect, process, and analyze data. There are many types of B2B data, and technographics is one of them. 

It’s especially beneficial to IT companies and businesses selling the latest tech solutions. Technographic data or technographics give your business insight into competitors’ tech stack and provide information on the current market demand for your products. 

This information could be a competitive edge for a young business looking for a secured position in an overcrowded marketplace. Let’s discuss what technographics are, how to collect them, and how they can benefit your company.

What are technographics?

So, what is technographic data? 

It is a corporate term for business-to-business data that shows users which software tools and technologies their competitors and potential prospects use. 

Technographics give you a full scope of information on the type of data platform, SaaS solutions, software, and hardware your competitors and potential customers use. 

Sales teams use such insights to create more competitive, customer-centric digital marketing campaigns and drive better results. 

Technographics help businesses understand competitors’ technologies and how to improve their services to beat the competition, attract more customers, and expand their operations. 

Technographics also provide insights into competitors’ budgets, scalability, flexibility, and infrastructure.

How to gather technographics

The best way to collect technographic data on your prospects depends on your specific business needs. There are three common ways to gather technographics:

• Third-party vendors – businesses can buy technographics from various data providers. This option is the safest way to collect accurate, up-to-date technographic data.
• Web scraping – data and web scraping are excellent methods for collecting technographics. For example, you can use them to gather details from the source codes of competitors’ websites to ascertain the kind of software solutions they use.
• Surveying – distribute surveys by email or phone to ask prospects for feedback on tech solutions they use.

How technographics help businesses

Technographic data gives you various insights into complementary and competitor technology. However, it can do more than that:

• Technographics offer insights into the level of expertise of your competitors;
• You can tap into the budgets of your competitors to find out how much they’re planning to spend on innovative tech solutions;
• You can find out how tech-savvy your competitors are and whether they need additional training or not.

Gathering the latest tech insights on your competitors and their target audiences allows you to adjust your digital marketing approach according to the market demand. 

You can combine technographic data with compatible technology to develop solutions for targeting different demographics across markets and provide customers with real-life solutions to their problems.

Technographics help businesses by providing five essential advantages:

• Market segmentation – you can segment your target audience by prospects, specific needs, or the tech they use and base marketing campaigns on their preferences;
• Customer-centricity – reaching more prospects with your marketing messages is much easier when you know the specific software tools they prefer. Use their preferences to start a conversation and promote your products/services;
• Lead generation – capture quality leads from the conversations with prospects and prioritize the highest paying customers;
• Shorter customer journey – reach more prospects with your marketing messages at the most appropriate time;
• Competitive analysis – learn from your competitors’ business and marketing strategies and identify lucrative market opportunities before they do.

In the data-driven business landscape, technographic data help businesses identify the right audience, target prospects with personalized messages, and understand the type of technology they prefer. It lets your sales team understand the logic behind your customers’ purchasing decisions.

Conclusion

Technographics provide companies with valuable, accurate, and up-to-date insights into the technology stacks their competitors and target audiences are using. 

Businesses can purchase technographic data from third parties or use surveys and web scraping methods to collect the information. 

These technographic insights provide more effective solutions for sales, lead generation, list building, and conversion and make your digital marketing campaigns more effective.

The goal of gathering technographics, intent data, and chronographics is to create more effective, targeted marketing strategies for targeting prospects with personalized messages at the right moment. 

B2B data is vital to improving your business efforts and approaching wider target audiences with personalized products that can solve real-life problems and make your company stand out.

James Ewen

James is the head of marketing at Tamoco