Signals and signal types

Signals are things you need to know. Tasks are things you need to do. A signal brings new context about an account or contact into your daily workflow. Review the evidence, decide whether it matters, and create or complete the next action when appropriate.

Open Signals. A fresh feed starts with signals assigned to you; saved views and shared links can use different filters. Open a signal to read its detail alongside the relevant account or contact.

In the detail, Type describes the category your organization uses, while Provider identifies where the signal came from. Read the description, date, and any supporting links or citations before acting. Where available, the Salesforce provider link opens the original CRM record.

The Signal type filter uses your organization's configured names. The available types depend on your integrations and rules, so every workspace does not have the same list.

• Compelling Events (Athean): relevant company news found through your organization's research topics. Read the event and its supporting sources to understand why it matters.
• Reengagement (Athean): an opportunity to revisit an account, with an explanation of the reason to act.
• Salesforce or HubSpot: signals supplied through your connected CRM. The record and description explain the event; the CRM name alone does not tell you its significance.
• Website visits: activity supplied by a connected provider such as Demandbase or ZoomInfo Websights. These are provider-specific examples, and availability depends on your connections.
• Other configured types: your organization can categorize job changes, workflow-generated signals, and signals from internal systems using names that fit your process.

A type is a way to organize incoming signals. Creating a new type does not connect a new data source. To bring in signals from another platform, including an internal tool, chat with us.

Use Add filter to narrow the signals you review:

• Status: choose Open, Actioned, or Ignored.
• Signal type: choose the categories relevant to your work.
• Assignee: select the person or group responsible for the signals.
• Time window: focus on a recent period, such as Today or Last week.

Use the Account and Contact filter sections to narrow the audience further. Turn on Group by account when you want to review several signals about one company together.

Save a useful combination as a view so you can return to it. If a signal seems missing, check the current assignee, status, type, and time filters first.

1. Open a signal, or select several rows and use Start with … selected to work through them in a signal flow. Without a selection, the start button uses the available signals in your current view.
2. Read the account or contact context and choose the next step. Create a follow-up task when work needs to happen, and include a due date and the signal context in your notes. For signals associated with contacts, Assign sequence is also available.
3. Use Mark Actioned when you have acted on the signal, or Ignore and choose a reason when it does not need action.

For several selected rows, use Change status or Reassign signals. Reassignment can name a person explicitly or return responsibility to Use account owner.

Changing a signal's status records how you handled the information. Keep the follow-up work in Tasks so it can be assigned and completed.

Organization administrators manage the shared categories in Org settings → Signal types. These names also appear in Find accounts and Find contacts.

1. Select a type to edit it, or choose New signal type. Give it a clear name, color, and icon.
2. Use Add rule to define what matches, using fields such as Source, Record type, and Signal description.
3. Review What this matches and use Re-run to refresh the preview.
4. Arrange the types in priority order. A signal takes the first matching type from the top of the list.
5. Choose whether to Notify the assigned rep and Include in AI context, then save and review the confirmation.

Signals that match no type remain uncategorized. To adjust the company news Athean looks for, use News research topics. Changes to types and research topics affect the shared workflow, so use names and criteria your team will understand.