skills/account-research/references/signals-guide.md

# Common Room Signal Types — Interpretation Guide

## Signal Categories

### Product Signals (1st-Party)

| Signal | What it means |
|--------|--------------|
| Active seats increasing | Expansion within the account — outreach opportunity |
| Feature adoption (new features used) | Product engagement deepening — good for expansion talk |
| Login frequency spike | Increased engagement — follow up to understand why |
| Login frequency drop | Risk of disengagement or churn — proactive outreach needed |
| Trial started | Active evaluation — time-sensitive, prioritize |
| Trial nearing expiry | Decision point approaching — immediate action |
| Support tickets opened | Potential friction — check for patterns |

### Community Signals (2nd-Party)

| Signal | What it means |
|--------|--------------|
| New community post | Actively engaged, has a question or idea |
| Reply / reaction to post | Community participation |
| Forum thread started | Seeking help or sharing feedback — can engage directly |
| Documentation viewed (specific page) | Researching a specific feature — high value if tied to expansion area |
| Event registration/attendance | Strong engagement and intent signal |

### Intent Signals (3rd-Party)

| Signal | What it means |
|--------|--------------|
| Hiring for relevant roles | Growing team, budget exists |
| Funding announced | New budget likely available — reach out congratulating |
| Company news / press mention | Good hook for outreach |
| Tech stack change | May need new integrations |
| Competitive product removed from stack | Window of opportunity — very high priority |
| Website activity spike | Active research phase |

### Relationship Signals

| Signal | What it means |
|--------|--------------|
| Recent meeting logged | Active relationship — context available |
| No meeting in 90+ days | Relationship cooling — check in |
| Open opportunity in CRM | Active deal — coordinate with AE |
| Champion job change | Relationship risk or opportunity |

## Signal Interpretation Principles

1. **Recency matters most.** A signal from yesterday far outweighs one from 6 months ago. Always note timestamps.
2. **Signal clusters > single signals.** Multiple signals in the same direction are much stronger than any individual one.
3. **Absence of signals is a signal.** Minimal usage + no community engagement at a paid account = risk indicator.
4. **Contextualize against account stage.** Trial: conversion signals dominate. Mature customer: expansion and churn-risk. Prospect: intent signals are paramount.