Definition
Technographic data shows which technology a company uses: its CRM, cloud provider, analytics, ecommerce platform and other software. It is gathered from website code, job ads, DNS records and public integrations. Sellers use it to find companies running a competitor, a complementary tool, or nothing at all.
Why it matters when you sell B2B
If your product plugs into a particular platform, the companies on that platform are your market. If you replace a rival, the companies running that rival are your best list. Technographic data answers "what do they use?" at scale, which used to take a person checking sites one by one.
It also tells you what to say. A company on an old tool, a company that just added a new one and a company with a gap where a tool should be need three different first emails.
A worked example
Here is how one question, "does this company use a help desk tool?", looks from four sources.
Four sources, one questionExample
- 01Website code. A support chat script loads on every page.Strong: it runs
- 02DNS records. A support subdomain points to a help desk vendor.Strong
- 03Job ad. "Experience with our help desk tool preferred."They have one
- 04Review site. An employee review mentions the tool.Weak: may be old
A name in marketing copy can be years old. A script that loads or a subdomain that resolves is there because the tool is in use today.
Read job ads carefully. A tool named as a requirement usually means the company already has it. That makes the company a poor fit if you sell the same kind of tool, and a good fit if you sell something that works with it.
If you sell a replacement, see rip and replace. Our approach to research shows how we check claims like these by hand.
Common mistakes
- 1Trusting a vendor name in copy. A logo on a page or a mention in a press release is not proof of use. Look for what runs.
- 2Reading a job ad as intent to buy. "Experience with X" means they own X. It is a reason to exclude, not a reason to pitch X.
- 3Assuming no data means no tool. Internal tools leave no trace on a website. A blank row is unknown, not empty.
- 4Treating first seen as bought. The date a tool was first detected is not the date it was bought, or the date its contract renews.
- 5Selling the tool they already have. Exclude current users of your category, unless you are selling them a replacement on purpose.
Check one technographic claim by hand
- Open the company's site and search the page source for the vendor's script.
- Check the company's subdomains for the vendor's name.
- Read its current job ads for the tool.
- Decide: it runs, they own it, or it is only mentioned.
- Put only "runs" and "owns" in the list.