Understand Engagement

Capture Behavioral Evidence Without Requiring Form Fills

The Problem

Someone visits your website. They read three articles, watch a webinar recording, download a guide, and return four times over two weeks.

What do you know about them?

If they didn't fill out a form: Nothing. They're invisible.

If they filled out a form: You have their email address and whatever fields you forced them to complete. You might know they downloaded "that one PDF" — but not the three articles, the webinar, or the four return visits.

The 90% blindness problem: Most organizations only see the 10% of engagement that happens through form fills. The other 90% — the reading, watching, exploring, comparing, returning — is invisible.

This isn't just a data gap. It's a relationship blindness that leads to:

  • Treating deeply engaged researchers like cold strangers
  • Missing readiness signals because they didn't "convert"
  • Pestering people who've already consumed your best content with the same content
  • Having no idea what someone actually cares about

The Value-First Approach

Engagement isn't something that happens when someone fills out a form. Engagement is continuous behavior — and capturing it requires thinking differently about what constitutes a "record."

The principle: Every meaningful interaction can be a Signal. Signals accumulate to reveal patterns. Patterns indicate readiness. Readiness informs appropriate engagement.

This isn't lead scoring. Lead scoring assigns arbitrary points and ranks human worth. Signal pattern recognition observes behavior and recognizes what it means.

Objects That Enable This

Signal (Primary)

Behavioral evidence captured

The Signal object captures interactions:

Signal: Content Engagement
Type: Article View
Source: Blog
Listing: "The ERP Trap: Why Your Customer Data Lives in the Wrong System"
Contact: (anonymous — cookie ID: abc123)
Timestamp: November 15, 10:23 AM
Engagement Value: Standard

Signal: Content Engagement
Type: Webinar View
Source: Media Library
Listing: "VF Revenue Episode 47: Breaking the ERP Trap"
Contact: (anonymous — cookie ID: abc123)
Timestamp: November 18, 2:15 PM
Engagement Value: High

Signal: Assessment Completion
Type: Assessment
Source: Assessment Tool
Listing: "The Leads Trap Assessment"
Contact: sarah.chen@precisioncomponents.com (now identified)
Timestamp: November 22, 9:45 AM
Engagement Value: Very High
Assessment Result: High Signal Blindness

Key properties:

  • Signal Type (Content View, Assessment, Event Registration, etc.)
  • Source (where the engagement happened)
  • Associated Listing (what they engaged with)
  • Contact (known or anonymous)
  • Timestamp
  • Engagement Value (relative weight)

Listing (Content as Addressable Entity)

What they're engaging with

Listings make content trackable:

Listing: "The ERP Trap: Why Your Customer Data Lives in the Wrong System"
Type: Blog Article
Topic: ERP Integration
Audience Stage: Researcher
Published: October 1
Total Engagements: 847
Signals Associated: 847

Why Listings matter: Without Listings, Signals capture "they viewed something" — but not what. Listings make content addressable so you can analyze which content drives which behaviors.

Contact (Identity When Known)

Individual accumulating Signals

When identity is established, Signals associate:

Contact: Sarah Chen
Email: sarah.chen@precisioncomponents.com
First Signal: November 15 (anonymous)
Identified: November 22 (assessment completion)
Total Signals: 23

Signal Timeline:
- Nov 15: Article view (ERP Trap)
- Nov 16: Article view (Signal Intelligence)
- Nov 18: Webinar view (VF Revenue 47)
- Nov 18: Podcast listen (Value Path ep 12)
- Nov 20: Article view (NetSuite Integration)
- Nov 22: Assessment completion ← IDENTIFIED
- Nov 24: Newsletter open
- Nov 25: Article view (Case Study)
- Nov 27: Office Hours registration
- ... (15 more Signals)

The power: When Sarah identifies herself, her anonymous history connects. You don't just know she filled out a form — you know she's been researching for two weeks, focused on ERP integration, and completed an assessment showing "high signal blindness."

Marketing Event (Engagement Moments)

Events that generate Signals

Events create engagement opportunities:

Marketing Event: Office Hours — December 3
Type: Live Session
Registration Signals: 34
Attendance Signals: 28
Question Signals: 12
Associated Contacts: 28

Why Marketing Events matter: Events are high-value engagement moments. Someone who registers, attends, AND asks questions is demonstrating very different behavior than someone who just browses articles.

How They Connect

ENGAGEMENT TRACKING OBJECT MAP

Contact: Sarah Chen
    │
    ├── Signal: Article View → Listing: "ERP Trap"
    ├── Signal: Article View → Listing: "Signal Intelligence"
    ├── Signal: Webinar View → Listing: "VF Revenue 47"
    ├── Signal: Podcast Listen → Listing: "Value Path ep 12"
    ├── Signal: Assessment → Listing: "Leads Trap Assessment"
    │       └── Assessment Result: High Signal Blindness
    ├── Signal: Event Registration → Marketing Event: Office Hours
    ├── Signal: Event Attendance → Marketing Event: Office Hours
    └── Signal: Question Submitted → Marketing Event: Office Hours

Setting It Up

Step 1: Define Signal Types

Create a Signal Type enumeration:

Signal Type Description Typical Weight
Page View Basic content viewing Low
Article Read Blog/article engagement Standard
Resource Download PDF, guide, template Standard
Video View Webinar, episode watched High
Assessment Start Began assessment Standard
Assessment Complete Finished assessment Very High
Event Registration Signed up for event High
Event Attendance Actually attended Very High
Question Submitted Asked a question Very High
Direct Outreach Contacted directly Very High

Step 2: Create Listing Records for Content

Make your content addressable:

Listing Type Examples
Article Blog posts, guides
Video Webinars, show episodes
Assessment Diagnostic tools
Resource PDFs, templates, tools
Case Study Customer stories

Each Listing should have:

  • Type
  • Topic/Category
  • Target Audience Stage
  • Published Date

Step 3: Configure Signal Capture

Website tracking:

  • HubSpot tracking code captures page views
  • Custom events for deeper engagement (scroll depth, video completion)

Assessment tools:

  • Capture start, completion, and results as Signals
  • Associate with the Assessment Listing

Event platforms:

  • Registration creates Signal + Marketing Event association
  • Attendance creates additional Signal
  • Engagement (questions, polls) creates Signals

Step 4: Build Pattern Recognition Views

Engagement Timeline:

  • Chronological view of all Signals for a Contact
  • Shows progression and focus areas

Content Performance:

  • Which Listings generate most Signals
  • Which Listings correlate with progression

Readiness Patterns:

  • Contacts with Signal patterns suggesting readiness
  • High engagement value + focused topics + recent activity

What This Enables

For the Customer Org

"I know what someone has engaged with before I talk to them."

  • Conversation context without asking
  • Relevant recommendations based on actual behavior
  • Understanding of where they are in their research

For the Operations Org

"I can see which content actually works."

  • Content performance based on engagement, not just traffic
  • Correlation between content and progression
  • Investment guidance for content creation

For Leadership

"I can see the full engagement picture, not just form fills."

  • True engagement metrics
  • Audience health beyond vanity metrics
  • Investment validation for content and events

Pattern Recognition Examples

The Deep Researcher Pattern

15+ Signals in 30 days
Multiple content types (articles, videos, assessments)
Focused topic cluster (e.g., 80% about integration)
Assessment completed with actionable result

Indicates: Active Researcher stage, possibly approaching Hand Raiser. Ready for personalized engagement if they reach out.

The Casual Browser Pattern

3-5 Signals over 60+ days
Single content type (articles only)
No topic focus (scattered across categories)
No high-value engagement (assessments, events)

Indicates: Early Audience stage. Awareness is building but not yet active research. Continue providing value; don't push.

The Ready-to-Engage Pattern

10+ Signals in 14 days (acceleration)
High-value Signals present (assessment, event attendance)
Question submitted or direct outreach
Focused topic cluster with comparison content

Indicates: Hand Raiser emerging. They're doing final research before engaging. Be ready to respond quickly when they reach out.

The Transformation

Before

"Sarah Chen filled out a form to download our guide."

That's all we know. She could be casually curious or deeply researching. We have no idea.

After

"Sarah Chen has been researching for 6 weeks. 23 Signals total. Heavy focus on ERP integration content."

Completed our assessment — scored "High Signal Blindness." Attended Office Hours last week and asked a specific question about NetSuite integration. Yesterday she submitted a contact request. We know exactly where she is in her journey and what she cares about. Our first conversation can be relevant and valuable.

Common Pitfalls

Capturing too much

Not every page view needs to be a Signal. Focus on meaningful engagement indicators, not noise.

No Listing association

Signals without Listing association lose context. "They engaged with something" isn't useful. "They engaged with the ERP Trap article" is.

Over-automating response

Signal patterns should inform appropriate engagement, not trigger aggressive automation. The goal is intelligence, not pestering.

Ignoring anonymous patterns

Some of the most valuable patterns are visible before identification. Don't ignore Signals just because you don't know who the person is yet.

Related Resources

Related Unified Views

Related Stages

  • Audience — Where engagement tracking begins
  • Researcher — Where Signal patterns intensify