First-party intent signals

First-party intent signals show what a lead does across your website and Knock Links, then summarize how ready they are to buy. This article explains what Knock captures, how we calculate Knock: Intent Score and Knock: Intent Type, and where you use them for routing and outreach. It’s for admins and reps who want clearer qualification without extra forms.

What is first-party intent in Knock?

Knock records actions a lead takes on your properties: website actions (such as link clicks), clicks on a Knock Link (a shareable URL that starts a chat or meeting with your team), and messages sent in the chat. Each action becomes an intent signal. Signals appear on a timeline for each lead and account, and feed Knock’s scoring and classification.

Where does Knock capture signals?

Website activity. Actions on pages: page views, link and button clicks, CTA taps, form starts/submits.
Knock Links. Opens and clicks from links you add to assets (email, PDFs, social, QR codes, marketplaces).
Chat messages. Content from the lead’s chat with your team in your Slack workspace.

Tip: Create your first link with Create a Knock Link.

What intent data does Knock provide?

Intent signals timeline. A chronological list of actions attributed to the same person and account across links, devices, and sessions.
Knock: Intent Score. Buying-readiness summary shown as High, Medium, or Low based on recent, meaningful actions.
Knock: Intent Type. The lead’s purpose: Buying, Partnership, Support, or Job seeker. This field is finalized once the lead has sent at least one chat message.

CRM note: By default, Knock syncs intent data only for leads who connected via Knock. Syncing these fields for non-Knock sources (such as web forms) is available as a paid add-on.

How does Knock calculate these fields?

Signals → categories. Each action is categorized (e.g., Pricing, Find a Job, Docs).
Score aggregation. Knock: Intent Score weighs signal type, recency, and volume to infer buying readiness and buckets it into High / Medium / Low. (For example, job-seeker signals typically contribute less to buying readiness.)
Type classification. Knock: Intent Type uses the signal mix and the lead’s chat messages to assign one of the four types (Buying, Partnership, Support, Job seeker). Before a first message, the type may be Unknown. When enabled, the AI agent can ask clarifying questions to determine intent.

Where do I see results?

In the Knock Dashboard.

Accounts and Contacts tables show each record’s latest Knock: Intent Score and Knock: Intent Type.
Open a record to view the full Intent signals timeline.

In Slack notifications. New chats include the current intent score and type.

Use Routing Rules and Workflows per intent type. For example, post Job seeker leads to a hiring channel and let a dedicated AI agent guide them to apply—keeping reps focused on buyers.

In your CRM (optional). Map Knock: Intent Score and Knock: Intent Type to your fields to report and trigger CRM workflows. Review intent signals per Contact and Company on a timeline.

What can you do with this data?

Route smartly. Update Routing Rules to prioritize Buying leads and use round-robin for lower-intent traffic. See Set up advanced lead routing.
Tailor outreach. Use Workflows to trigger messages based on real-time signals (e.g., engage a lead who viewed Pricing but didn’t convert).
Book faster. For High intent, send scheduling immediately from chat. See Schedule sales meetings in Slack and Route qualified leads to the right rep’s calendar.
Keep the CRM clean. Use the Clean CRM segment template to exclude Low score records from rep queues, and sync only what you accept to the CRM.

How do I set this up?

Open the Knock Dashboard.
Install Knock on your website (if not already installed).
Map CRM fields in Settings > CRM Sync. Map Knock: Intent Score and Knock: Intent Type to your preferred objects/fields.
Review routing. Create dedicated routing per intent type in Routing Rules.
Configure AI agent workflows per intent type in Workflows.
Enable outreach. In Workflows, add nudges for Pricing viewers who didn’t start a chat or didn’t schedule.

Limitations and requirements

Intent type needs a message. Knock: Intent Type is finalized after the first chat message; before then it may be Unknown.
First-party scope. Signals come from your site where Knock is installed and from Knock Links you distribute.
CRM sync is opt-in. Knock syncs only leads who connected via Knock by default. Syncing/enriching other sources is available as an add-on.

Mini-FAQ

Does intent scoring update in real time?

Yes. New signals update the score and timeline within seconds.

Can I change High/Medium/Low thresholds?

Thresholds are standardized in Knock. Use Segments and Routing Rules to fine-tune how you act on each bucket.

Which CRM fields are created?

Knock provides standard fields such as Knock: Intent Score and Knock: Intent Type. You can map to your own fields or create new ones in your CRM.

Can I see which signals drove a score?

Yes. Open the record in the Dashboard to review the Intent signals timeline.

On this page

First-party intent overview • Signals and fields • Calculation basics • Where to see results • Use cases • Setup • Limits • FAQ