Buying intent signals: how to spot people ready to buy in public posts

When you look for customers in public conversations, the hard part is not finding posts about your topic. There are thousands. The hard part is knowing which ones come from someone who is actually close to buying.

That is what buying intent signals are: clues in what someone writes that show they are looking for a solution now, not just talking about a subject.

Here are the five signals worth your time, the false signals that waste it, and how to answer each one.

Signal 1: asking for a recommendation

The clearest signal. The person is comparing options and wants to decide.

What it looks like (example phrasing):

• "What do you use for...?"
• "Any recommendations for...?"
• "Best tool for... in 2026?"

How to answer: give a real comparison, including options that are not yours. Explain what to choose depending on their situation. If yours fits, say so and say you built it.

Signal 2: looking for an alternative to a named tool

Someone who names a tool and asks for an alternative is already paying for the problem, or used to. They know the category and they are ready to switch.

What it looks like:

• "Alternative to [tool] that doesn't...?"
• "[Tool] raised prices, what are you using now?"
• "[Tool] is shutting down, where do I go?"

How to answer: start with what made them leave. If they left over price, talk price. If they left over a missing feature, say whether you have it, honestly.

Signal 3: describing a painful workaround

This one is less obvious, and that is why it is valuable: fewer people answer it. The person is not asking for a tool. They describe how they handle the problem today, and you can hear the frustration.

What it looks like:

• "Right now I track all of this in a spreadsheet and it's a mess."
• "I spend two hours every Monday doing this by hand."
• "Is it normal that this takes so long?"

How to answer: help them improve their current method first. They did not ask for a product, so a pitch will feel off. Your reply shows you understand the problem, which is what makes them curious about what you do.

Signal 4: a trigger event

Some moments create a need. Someone who just launched needs users. Someone who just hired their first employee needs payroll. Someone who just moved needs a new local supplier.

What it looks like:

• "We just launched, how do you get your first users?"
• "First hire next month, what do I need to set up?"

How to answer: speak to the moment, not the product. "The first two weeks after a launch, the thing that matters most is..." People remember who helped them at the right time.

Signal 5: asking about price or value

When someone asks if something is worth paying for, they have already imagined paying.

What it looks like:

• "Is [category of tool] worth it for a team of one?"
• "How much should I expect to pay for...?"

How to answer: give real numbers and a way to decide. "If it saves you more than two hours a month, it pays for itself at that price" is more useful than "it depends".

False signals that waste your time

These posts mention your topic but almost never lead to a sale:

• Job offers. "We are hiring someone to do X" is a company that chose to hire, not to buy a tool.
• People selling the same thing as you. Competitors and agencies write a lot about your topic.
• Old threads. A great question from eight months ago is closed. The person has decided.
• Theory and debate. "Is X dead in 2026?" invites opinions, not purchases.
• Self-promotion. A founder announcing their launch is looking for customers, not becoming one.

How to rank the posts you find

When you have more posts than time, rank them on three questions:

1. 1How recent is it? Under 48 hours is ideal. The person is still reading the replies.
2. 2How well does it match what you sell? One precise match beats ten vague ones.
3. 3How specific is it? "I need X for my 3-person agency by Friday" beats "thoughts on X?".

Answer the top three properly instead of ten quickly.

Measure what works

Keep a simple count each week: posts answered, replies received, conversations started, customers. After a few weeks, you will see which signal brings customers for your business. For some it is alternatives, for others it is workarounds. Then spend most of your time on that one.

Finding these posts automatically

Spotting these signals by hand means reading a lot of posts every day. FounderPulse looks for recent public posts that show these signals, on forums, Hacker News, Bluesky, Indie Hackers and the open web. It skips job offers and ads, checks the date of each post, tells you in one sentence why each person fits, and drafts a first message that helps before it sells.

You can try it free without signing up: paste your website and see three people to contact today.