What Is Buyer Intent Data?
Intent data is information that signals potential customers’ interest in a specific product or service when browsing online. This data encompasses these prospects’ web searches, visited pages, and consumed content.
What Are the 3 Types of Intent Data?
Three main types of intent data can help businesses improve business revenue.
First-party intent data: collected through direct interactions between a company and its customers or prospects.
Second-party and downstream intent data: collected by partnering with other companies to share data and gain insights into a broader range of potential customers.
Third-party intent data is collected from external sources, such as social media or online behavior-tracking platforms.
By utilizing all three types of intent data, businesses can comprehensively understand their audience’s interests and behaviors, which can be leveraged to personalize messaging and increase conversions. Let’s have a look at each of these.
What Is First-Party Intent Data?
First-party intent data refers to the interest level that can be measured from the direct interactions between prospects and a company. This data is collected by identifying individuals through their email, IP addresses, or device identification which can be sourced through forms and cookies on the company’s website. The level of intent is then measured based on the interactions received from these emails, IP addresses, or device identification. By utilizing first-party intent data, companies can gain insights into their potential customers’ interests, browsing behavior, and the products or services they are interested in. This information can be used to personalize a company’s outreach efforts and improve customer engagement.
One of the key advantages of first-party intent data is that it is collected directly from prospects’ interactions with a company. This means that the data is likely to be highly relevant and accurate, as it comes from individuals who have already shown interest in your brand.
In addition to identifying individuals through their email and IP addresses, companies can collect first-party intent data through other means, such as tracking website behavior, monitoring social media interactions (only with customer data platforms (CDP)), and analyzing email open and click-through rates. By gathering data from multiple sources, companies can better understand their potential customers’ interests and intentions.
Another benefit of using first-party intent data is that it can create more personalized sales & marketing campaigns. Companies can tailor their messaging and offer to better meet their needs and preferences by understanding what products or services a prospect is interested in. This can increase engagement, higher conversion rates, and stronger customer loyalty.
Overall, first-party intent data can be a powerful data source for businesses looking to improve overall revenue strategy and the impact of their teams. By leveraging the insights gained from direct interactions with prospects, companies can make more informed decisions about engaging with their target audience and drive better results for their business.
What Is Second-Party Intent Data?
Second-party intent data refers to data collected by another company but shared with you in a mutually beneficial way. This type of data sharing usually occurs between companies with a similar target audience or complementary industries. The idea is that the company sharing the data has valuable insights into their customers’ behavior and interests that could be useful to your business.
For example, if you run an e-commerce store selling outdoor gear, you might partner with a company specializing in outdoor adventures to gain access to customer data. This could help you better understand your target audience and create more targeted marketing campaigns.
On the other hand, downstream intent data refers to data collected from third-party sources, such as data providers, publishers, or other online platforms. This data can provide insights into a consumer’s behavior after they have left your website or interacted with your brand in some way. This data type can help you identify patterns in consumer behavior, such as the types of content they engage with or the products they frequently purchase.
For example, run an online store. You might use downstream intent data to identify consumers who have recently visited a competitor’s website or have been searching for similar products. This information could be used to create targeted ads or personalized product recommendations to entice these consumers to purchase from your store instead.
Second-party and downstream intent data can provide valuable insights into consumer behavior and help businesses create more targeted marketing campaigns. However, using this data ethically and complying with relevant regulations and privacy laws is important.
What Is Third-Party Intent Data?
Third-party intent data refers to information from external sources that offer a more comprehensive understanding of a potential buyer’s intentions and can provide a broader view of market trends and customer behavior. Various methods can be used to acquire this data, but it’s crucial to rely on a reputable and transparent source for collection.
This data can include browsing behavior, search queries, and other online activities that indicate a potential interest in your product or service.
One of the key advantages of using third-party intent data is that it can provide a broader and more nuanced view of a buyer’s interests and intentions, as it is gathered from a variety of sources. This can help you identify potential customers who may not have interacted directly with your brand yet but are already showing interest in similar products or services.
Various methods for sourcing third-party intent data include data marketplaces, providers, and exchanges. It’s important to work with a trustworthy source that is transparent about their collection methods, as this will help ensure that your data is reliable and accurate.
Overall, third-party intent data can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to understand their potential customers better and improve business revenue.
The Main Difference
The data source is the main difference, as the company itself collects first-party data, and other specialized companies collect third-party data. However, you miss much when only working with third-party intent data.
Let’s compare:
Data Providers for First-Party Intent Data
As the word first-party already insinuates, you must accumulate this intent data yourself. Sourcing first-party intent data involves setting up the proper tracking and analytics tools, creating lead capture forms, monitoring social media and email engagement, conducting customer surveys, and using data management platforms to analyze and leverage data.
It is possible to do this as all you will need to do is measure the interaction with your content, videos, website, or other business material. There are many different companies out there that can help you do this separately. These platforms would execute tracking of and analytics email, website, and content and set up lead capture forms.
Data Providers for Second-Party Intent Data
Sourcing second-party intent data requires partnerships with other companies with access to data relevant to your business. Here are some steps you can take to source second-party intent data:
Identify potential partners: Look for companies that have a similar target audience or that operate in complementary industries. You can research potential partners online or through industry events and conferences.
Reach out to potential partners: Once you have identified potential partners, reach out to them to explore the possibility of data sharing. You can email or call their business development team to discuss potential opportunities.
Negotiate data sharing agreements: If your potential partner is interested in data sharing, you will need to negotiate the terms of the agreement. This may include details such as the data type that will be shared, how often the data will be updated, and any fees or revenue-sharing agreements.
Implement data sharing: Once you have agreed to the terms of the data sharing agreement, you will need to implement the necessary technology and processes to access and utilize the data. This may involve working with your partner to set up data feeds or APIs or integrating their data into your existing marketing technology stack.
Monitor and optimize performance: As with any marketing initiative, it’s important to monitor the performance of your second-party data partnerships and make adjustments as needed. This may involve regularly reviewing data quality, refining targeting criteria, and optimizing campaigns to maximize ROI.
Sourcing second-party intent data requires building strong partnerships and implementing effective data-sharing agreements and technology solutions. It’s important to approach these partnerships clearly, understanding your business goals and data needs and prioritizing transparency, ethical data use, and compliance with relevant regulations and privacy laws.
Data Providers for Third-Party Intent Data
Sourcing third-party intent data involves obtaining data from external sources, such as data providers, publishers, or other online platforms.
Sourcing third-party intent data requires identifying relevant data providers, evaluating data quality, negotiating data access, integrating data into your marketing technology stack, and monitoring data quality and performance over time. It’s important to approach third-party intent data with a clear understanding of your business goals and data needs and to prioritize transparency, ethical data use, and compliance with relevant regulations and privacy laws.
Third-party data providers will give you an overview of the customers’ interests outside your website. When a company or decision-maker conducts a purchase, they will do more than 12 internet searches before purchasing. Those internet searches will result in data the B2B intent data providers can sell to you. Here are some of these companies:
- Visitor Queue
- Bombora
- ZoomInfo
- 6sense
- SalesIntel
- TechTarget
- DemandBase
- G2
Which Intent Data Is Better for Driving Sales?
All types of data will improve your prioritization of who or which company to target first.
With first-party intent data, you will have a much more in-depth understanding of your prospects. However, you might not receive an initial alert when a new company is interested in your service or product.
With third-party intent data, you will get that initial alert about which company is interested in your product/service. The downside is that you might not have the correct contact details and could miss out on the opportunity.