Free guide

The 7 buying-intent signals (with examples)

A plain-English guide to the posts that turn into customers — from “looking to hire” to “switching from X” — with examples, how hot each one is, and how to respond.

Hiring someone

Hot

“Looking to hire a Webflow developer for a 5-page site, ~$2k, this month.”

What it means: They've decided to pay a person or agency and are choosing who.
How to respond: Reply fast with one relevant example and a concrete first step.

Asking for a quote

Hot

“How much should a Shopify store setup cost?”

What it means: They're budgeting — a decision is usually weeks away, not months.
How to respond: Give real price ranges and what drives them.

Looking for a tool

Warm–Hot

“Is there a tool that syncs Stripe invoices into QuickBooks?”

What it means: A specific job to be done, and they'll try whatever fits.
How to respond: Say plainly whether your product does exactly that, and how.

Unhappy with a competitor

Warm–Hot

“Switching from Zapier, it's too expensive at 10k tasks.”

What it means: They know the category and have a reason to move — often a deadline (renewal).
How to respond: Name their pain, offer options (including yours), help with migration.

Asking for recommendations

Warm

“Which CRM do you recommend for a 5-person agency?”

What it means: They'll shortlist from replies; the most useful answer gets tried first.
How to respond: Answer the question honestly; disclose your product in one line.

Comparing options

Warm

“Make vs Zapier for 10k tasks a month?”

What it means: They're down to a shortlist and deciding now.
How to respond: Compare fairly on their criteria; be in the comparison.

Describing a problem

Early

“We spend 10 hours a week copying data between tools.”

What it means: Pain without an ask yet. They'll shop once it hurts enough.
How to respond: Help with no pitch. They remember who helped.

How to put this to work

1Decide which signals matter for you: services usually want hiring and quote posts; products want tool and switching posts.
2Search for each signal's phrases where your buyers hang out.
3Answer the hottest signals first, the same day.
4Track which signals turn into customers and double down.

Questions

What is buying intent?+

Evidence that someone is about to buy: they ask for a provider, a tool, a recommendation or a price, or describe a problem they'll pay to solve.

Which signal converts best?+

Explicit asks with a budget or deadline (“hiring a Webflow dev, $2k, this month”), followed by people switching from a competitor.

How does SocialStinger use these signals?+

It reads public posts, classifies each into one of these types with AI, scores it 0–100 and shows you the ones matching what you sell.

Let SocialStinger find these posts for you, every 15 minutes.

SocialStinger reads public posts on Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and Bluesky, scores each one for buying intent, and shows you the ones that match what you sell. Free plan available.

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More free tools

Buying-intent keyword generator

Type what you sell and get the exact phrases buyers use when they're ready to buy, with one-click searches on Reddit, Hacker News and Google. Free, no sign-up.

Competitor alternative finder

Enter a competitor and get the searches that surface their unhappy customers: “alternative to X”, “switching from X”, “X too expensive” — ready to run on Reddit, Hacker News and Google.

Lead intent checker

Paste a Reddit, Hacker News or forum post and get a 0–100 buying-intent score with the reasons: explicit asks, budget, deadline, seller signals. Free and private — it runs in your browser.

Subreddit finder for leads

The Reddit communities where people ask to hire, buy or switch — grouped for freelancers, agencies, AI & automation, SaaS, marketing, web and consumer apps.

Lead reply templates

Copy-ready replies for the five kinds of buyer posts: hiring, recommendations, switching from a competitor, price questions and problems. Helpful first, light on the pitch.