> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getseam.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Signals

> Track external events and triggers that indicate the right time to engage accounts

Signals are indicators of account activity or change that suggest a company may be receptive to outreach. They represent external triggers—like new hires, funding rounds, or job postings—that create engagement opportunities, even if the account hasn't interacted with your brand yet.

## What Are Signals?

Signals are one of four scoring dimensions Seam uses to prioritize accounts:

| Dimension   | What It Measures                            |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| **Fit**     | Does the account match your ICP?            |
| **Intent**  | Are they interacting with your brand?       |
| **Signals** | Are there external opportunities happening? |
| **Reach**   | Can you engage with them?                   |

While intent shows *what* accounts are doing with your brand, signals show *when* to engage based on external events and changes at the company.

<Info>
  **Key Distinction:** Intent = engagement with your content. Signals = external events creating opportunities.
</Info>

## Types of Signals

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Buying Signals">
    **Organizational changes that create opportunities:**

    * **New Hires** - Hiring in specific roles relevant to your solution
    * **Job Openings** - Open positions indicating investment in certain areas
    * **Promotions** - Internal promotions within the buying committee
    * **Champion Tracking** - Previous customers moving to new companies
    * **Funding Rounds** - New funding indicating budget availability
    * **Acquisitions** - Company acquisitions or mergers
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Social Signals">
    **Social media activity indicating interest:**

    * LinkedIn posts mentioning specific keywords
    * Twitter/X posts about industry topics
    * Mentions of competitors (e.g., "6sense", "Demandbase")
    * Conference attendance announcements
    * Engagement with relevant content (likes, comments)
    * Industry-specific keyword tracking
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Engagement Signals">
    **Interaction patterns across channels:**

    * **Depth** - How many touchpoints per account
    * **Breadth** - How many people at the account engaging
    * **Multi-channel** - Activity across website, email, ads, sales
    * **Frequency** - Rate of engagement over time
    * **Recency** - How recently activity occurred
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
  Intent signals (website visits, email engagement) are technically a subset of signals but are tracked separately in Seam's [Intent](/guides/monitoring-and-intelligence/intent) system.
</Note>

## Common Signal Use Cases

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="New Hire Outreach" icon="user-plus">
    **Signal:** Target account hires a VP of Sales or Head of Revenue Operations

    **Opportunity:** New leaders often evaluate tech stacks in first 90 days

    **Action:** Automatically add new hire to welcome sequence with role-specific messaging

    **Example:** When a company hires a "Director of Clinical Documentation," trigger outreach with relevant use cases for that role
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Champion Tracking" icon="star">
    **Signal:** Previous customer or champion moves to a new company

    **Opportunity:** Warm relationship can accelerate deal at new organization

    **Action:** Alert sales team, trigger personalized "congrats on the new role" sequence

    **Benefit:** Convert one customer into multiple by following champions
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Funding-Based Timing" icon="money-bill-trend-up">
    **Signal:** Series B company raises \$20M funding round

    **Opportunity:** Fresh budget and growth initiatives create buying windows

    **Action:** Engage with growth-focused messaging about scaling infrastructure

    **Segmentation:** Track funding signals for companies under 500 employees, hiring signals for 500+ employees
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Job Opening Intelligence" icon="briefcase">
    **Signal:** Company posts 5+ engineering roles

    **Opportunity:** Rapid hiring indicates growth and potential tech stack expansion

    **Action:** Target with messaging about developer productivity or infrastructure tools

    **Example:** "We see you're scaling your eng team—here's how we help companies grow efficiently"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Competitive Displacement" icon="trophy">
    **Signal:** LinkedIn post mentions "frustrated with \[competitor name]"

    **Opportunity:** Active dissatisfaction with current solution

    **Action:** Automatically route to competitive sales team with comparison content

    **Keywords to monitor:** Competitor names, pricing complaints, migration mentions
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Conference & Event Signals" icon="calendar">
    **Signal:** Key contact posts about attending your industry conference

    **Opportunity:** In-person networking opportunity or increased awareness

    **Action:** Book meeting at event or trigger post-event follow-up sequence

    **Benefit:** Convert event awareness into pipeline conversations
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## How Signals Trigger Automation

Signals power Seam's automated plays by triggering actions when specific events occur:

**Example Play: New VP of Sales Outreach**

```
Signal Detected: Company hires VP of Sales
  ↓
Filter: Fit Score = A or B
  ↓
Actions:
  1. Research new VP's background (previous companies, challenges)
  2. Find 2-3 additional buying committee members
  3. Enrich all contact data (emails, phones, LinkedIn)
  4. Add VP to "new executive" personalized sequence
  5. Route to appropriate account executive
  6. Notify SDR with talking points about tech stack evaluation
```

<Card title="Build Signal-Based Plays" icon="play" href="/guides/actions/plays">
  Learn how to automate outreach triggered by signals
</Card>

## Automated Air Cover

Signals enable "air cover" for mid-tier accounts that don't justify manual SDR time:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Signal Fires">
    B-fit account posts job opening for "Data Engineer"
  </Step>

  <Step title="Automatic Prospecting">
    Seam finds 3 relevant contacts (Engineering Lead, VP Engineering, CTO)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enrichment">
    Validates emails and phone numbers from 20+ data providers
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deployment">
    Adds contacts to automated nurture sequence without SDR involvement
  </Step>

  <Step title="Escalation">
    If contacts engage, escalate to human rep for personalized follow-up
  </Step>
</Steps>

This ensures no opportunities slip through while reps focus on A-tier accounts.

## Signal-Based Segmentation

Different signals matter for different account segments:

| Account Segment                  | Primary Signals                     | Why                                            |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Enterprise (1000+ employees)** | New hires, promotions               | Leadership changes drive evaluation cycles     |
| **Mid-Market (100-1000)**        | Funding, rapid hiring               | Growth and budget availability                 |
| **SMB (under 100)**              | Founding team changes               | New decision-makers with different preferences |
| **High-Growth**                  | Series B+ funding, 50+ job openings | Scaling pain points emerge                     |
| **International**                | New market expansion posts          | Entering regions you serve                     |

Configure plays with segment-specific signal triggers for maximum relevance.

## Social Listening

Seam monitors LinkedIn and Twitter/X for relevant signals:

### Keywords to Track

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Buying Intent Keywords">
    * "Looking for recommendations for \[your category]"
    * "Evaluating \[solution type]"
    * "Need help with \[pain point you solve]"
    * "Anyone use \[your product] or \[competitor]?"
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Competitor Mentions">
    * Competitor product names
    * "Frustrated with \[competitor]"
    * "Switching from \[competitor]"
    * "Alternative to \[competitor]"
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Pain Point Indicators">
    * Industry-specific challenges
    * Complaints about current tools
    * Questions about best practices
    * Requests for advice
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Timing Signals">
    * "Starting new role as..."
    * "Excited to announce..."
    * "We're hiring for..."
    * Conference hashtags and mentions
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>
  Start with 10-15 high-signal keywords. Monitor results for 30 days, then refine based on which keywords correlate with opportunities.
</Tip>

## Data Sources

Seam aggregates signals from multiple sources:

| Category        | Sources                                                       |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **First-Party** | Website tracking, CRM, marketing automation, sales engagement |
| **Job Data**    | LinkedIn, job boards, company career pages                    |
| **Social**      | LinkedIn, Twitter/X (posts, likes, comments, shares)          |
| **Enrichment**  | ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lucia, 20+ other providers                  |
| **Funding**     | Crunchbase, PitchBook, press releases                         |
| **Intent**      | Bombora (offsite keyword surges)                              |

The multi-provider waterfall approach ensures comprehensive signal coverage across geographies and company sizes.

## Integration with Scoring

Signals contribute to account prioritization alongside Fit and Intent:

**High-Priority Account Example:**

* **Fit Score:** A (perfect ICP match)
* **Intent Score:** High (visited pricing page 5 times)
* **Signal Score:** High (just raised Series B, hiring VP Sales)
* **Reach Score:** Low (not currently engaged)

→ **Action:** Top priority for immediate outreach with personalized, timely messaging

This account has the right profile, is showing interest, has a trigger event, and isn't being worked yet—perfect timing.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Fit Scoring" icon="bullseye" href="/guides/monitoring-and-intelligence/fit-score">
    Combine signals with ICP scoring
  </Card>

  <Card title="Intent Tracking" icon="radar" href="/guides/monitoring-and-intelligence/intent">
    Layer signals with engagement data
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Best Practices

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Prioritize quality over quantity" icon="star">
    Don't track every possible signal. Focus on 3-5 signal types that historically correlate with closed deals.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Personalize outreach based on the signal" icon="message">
    "Saw you just hired a VP of Sales" is much more relevant than generic messaging. Reference the signal in your outreach.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Layer signals with fit" icon="layer-group">
    A funding signal only matters if the account is a good fit. Filter all signals through fit score to avoid wasted effort.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Set timing windows" icon="clock">
    Some signals are time-sensitive (new hire has 90-day window), others are durable (funding lasts longer). Adjust urgency accordingly.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Segment by account tier" icon="chart-pyramid">
    A-tier accounts get manual, personalized outreach on signals. B/C-tier accounts get automated plays. Don't treat all signals the same.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Test messaging by signal type" icon="flask">
    Funding-based outreach should sound different from new-hire outreach. A/B test messaging for each signal category.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Monitor signal-to-opportunity conversion" icon="chart-line">
    Track which signals actually lead to pipeline. Double down on high-converting signals, eliminate noise.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Viewing Signal Data

### In Seam

* **Account Timeline** - Chronological view of all signals per account
* **Signal Dashboard** - Trending signals across your TAM
* **Play Triggers** - Configure which signals trigger automation
* **Audience Filters** - Segment by specific signal types

### In Your CRM

Signals sync to Salesforce/HubSpot:

* Recent signals displayed on Account records
* Custom fields for signal types (new hire, funding, etc.)
* Activity timeline showing signal history
* Alerts when high-priority signals fire

Sales reps see signals in context with other account data.

## Common Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How are signals different from intent?">
    **Signals** = External events at the company (new hires, funding, job posts)

    **Intent** = Engagement with your brand (website, email, ads)

    Signals indicate timing and opportunity. Intent indicates interest. Both together = high-priority account.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How quickly are signals detected?">
    Depends on source:

    * Social signals: Real-time to hourly
    * Job postings: Daily
    * Funding: Within 24-48 hours of announcement
    * New hires: 1-7 days (based on LinkedIn updates)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I track custom signals specific to my industry?">
    Yes. You can configure custom signal definitions based on keywords, role titles, or company attributes specific to your business.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do signals consume credits?">
    Monitoring signals does not consume credits. Acting on signals (prospecting contacts, enrichment) consumes credits based on the actions taken.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I know which signals matter for my business?">
    Run a back-test: analyze your last 20 closed-won deals and identify common signals that were present before or during the sales cycle. Focus on those.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I get alerted when specific signals fire?">
    Yes. Set up Slack notifications, email alerts, or CRM task creation when high-priority signals occur on A-tier accounts.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>