Intent Data
Intent data is information about the online behavior of people or companies that suggests they are researching a topic, product or problem and may be moving toward a purchase.
Also called: buyer intent data, purchase intent data
Why it matters
First-party intent comes from a company's own properties: website visits, pricing page views, product usage, email clicks and webinar attendance. Second-party intent is another company's first-party data shared or sold directly, such as activity on a review site's category page. Third-party intent is aggregated across many publisher sites and data networks and shows which companies are reading more about a topic than usual.
Intent data helps teams decide when to reach out and which accounts to prioritize, but it shows likelihood, not proof. Third-party signals are usually reported at the company level and can be noisy, so many teams combine them with first-party activity and fit data before acting. Intent data is one category of buying signal, alongside hiring, funding and leadership changes.
Example
A company that sells endpoint security software sees in a third-party intent feed that a target hospital group is reading more than usual about ransomware protection. In the same week, someone from that hospital group visits its pricing page twice. The account moves into the top tier, and the account executive writes to the IT security lead about protecting clinical devices.
Questions people ask
Can you give me an example of intent data?
A target account whose employees read several articles about a problem your product solves, visit your pricing page twice in a week, and post a job that names a related tool. Each is an intent signal; together they suggest the account is actively researching.
How is intent data collected?
First-party intent is collected from your own website, product and email activity. Second-party intent comes from a platform that shares its own engagement data with you. Third-party intent is gathered across many outside websites and data sources, then aggregated by providers and matched to companies.
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