Strategy

Trigger Event

Also called: Buying Signal, Sales Trigger, Purchase Trigger, Intent Signal

Definition

A signal that a company is entering a buying window — such as a funding round, leadership change, product launch, rapid hiring, or new compliance requirement — used to time outbound outreach for maximum relevance.

Trigger events are the reason why some cold emails land perfectly and others don’t — timing is as important as targeting and copy. A company that just raised a Series B is actively planning how to spend that capital. A company that just hired a VP Sales is building out their sales function. A company that just changed its CEO is re-evaluating all existing vendors.

These are buying windows. Outreach that hits a prospect during a trigger event — and references that event — is dramatically more likely to generate a reply than generic outreach.

Common B2B trigger events

  • Funding round: Companies that just raised are expanding headcount and buying tools
  • New executive hire: A new VP or C-level often evaluates solutions their predecessor chose
  • Rapid hiring: 20%+ headcount growth indicates scaling — likely buying tools to support it
  • Product launch: Companies entering a new market need a go-to-market motion
  • Compliance event: New regulatory requirements create urgent buying pressure (GDPR, SOC2, HIPAA)
  • Competitive displacement: A key competitor just shut down or changed pricing
  • Tech stack change: Adopting a new CRM or sales platform opens adjacent purchase decisions

How to use trigger events in outbound

Reference the trigger event in the first line of the email: “I saw [Company] just raised a $15M Series A — congrats. When teams are scaling from 50 to 150 people, the outbound motion usually becomes a bottleneck. That’s the problem we solve.” This is why the message feels relevant: it’s anchored to something real that just happened at their company.

Trigger events are a primary input for personalisation and ICP refinement. Intent data platforms like Bombora and 6sense surface trigger events programmatically at scale.

Related Terms

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