Intent data is evidence that a company or person is actively researching a problem or purchase right now, such as reading about a product category, visiting a vendor's pricing page, or hiring for a related role, and teams use it to decide whom to contact and when.
Types of intent data
Intent data is grouped by who collected it.
| First-party | Second-party | Third-party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Your own site, product, email and events | A partner's first-party data, shared with you | Providers that track research activity across many sites |
| Example | Three visits to your pricing page this week | A review site reporting that a company compared vendors in your category | A surge in a company's reading about "payroll compliance" across publisher sites |
| Accuracy | High: you saw it happen | Medium to high | Varies widely; often inferred from IP addresses |
| Coverage | Only people who already know you | The partner's audience | Broad, including companies that have never heard of you |
A fourth category is often lumped in: public trigger events. A funding round, a new executive, an office opening or a job post for a role your product supports are not research behavior, but they predict buying for the same reason. Each is a signal that something at the company changed.
How intent data is used
Third-party intent data grew out of the same tracking methods as behavioral targeting in advertising: observe what content a browser or company network consumes and infer interest. In 2022 the FTC opened a possible rulemaking on what it calls commercial surveillance: the collection, aggregation, analysis and sale of consumer data, including web browsing, much of it passed on to advertisers and data brokers. Revenue teams use intent data in three places.
- Prioritizing accounts. Intent feeds the signal half of account scoring, lifting good-fit accounts that are in market.
- Timing outreach. A rep contacts an account the week its research spikes, rather than on a fixed sequence. That is the core of outbound scoring.
- Choosing the message. If the research topic is "audit readiness", the first email talks about audits, not the full product.
It is most common in account-based marketing, where a team has picked target accounts and needs to know which ones to work first. It feeds lead scoring too, though most third-party intent is measured at the company level, not the person. In GTM scoring it is the third layer, after fit and engagement. In cold outreach scoring it supplies the reason to write now to someone who has never heard of you.
Worked example: one week of intent
Kestrel Security, a fictional vendor of compliance software, watches 300 target accounts. In one week:
- Marlow Pharmacy Group (fictional) shows a third-party surge on "SOC 2 audit" and posts a job for a compliance manager.
- Quayside Insurance (fictional) has two visits to Kestrel's pricing page from its own network, first-party.
- Elmstead Retail (fictional) shows a third-party surge on "compliance software", but nothing else.
Kestrel weights first-party signals highest and requires two independent signals before a rep calls. Quayside gets a call the same day. Marlow, with two signals from different sources, gets a call and a message about audit readiness. Elmstead gets a marketing email and stays on watch, because a single third-party surge is often noise: one researcher, a student on the company Wi-Fi, or a competitor.
Is intent data compliant with privacy laws?
It depends on what is collected and where. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Data about a company as a whole is generally not personal data. Data that identifies or can be linked to a person, including a named contact's browsing, is. In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation then applies, and the UK has a closely similar version, the UK GDPR. Processing needs a lawful basis, often legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f), which requires balancing the business interest against the person's rights. Article 14 requires telling people when their data was collected from somewhere other than them. Article 21 gives people the right to object to direct marketing, and once they do, the processing for that purpose must stop.
In practice, ask any provider how its data was collected, whether it is account-level or person-level, and what consent or notice sits behind it. Enrichment tools that attach intent to named contacts carry more risk than account-level feeds. See data enrichment.
Common intent data mistakes
- Acting on one signal. A single third-party surge is weak evidence. Require corroboration.
- Ignoring fit. Intent from a company you cannot serve is still a poor lead. Filter by fit with your ideal customer profile first.
- Letting signals age. Intent fades in weeks. A spike from last quarter means little now.
- Revealing the tracking. "I saw you were reading about X" alarms people. Use the topic to shape the message without citing the surveillance.
Intent signals in investing
ScoringFactory is not an intent data provider. Investors face a similar timing question, though: when does a founder or company become worth meeting? It sits at the center of deal sourcing. ScoringFactory learns a fund's or firm's bar from its past decisions, ranks founders and companies against it, watches for the moment a company becomes actionable, and cites every score to the record. The team decides who to meet next. To talk about it, contact the founders.
Frequently asked questions
What is intent data?
Intent data is evidence that a company or person is researching a problem or purchase now. It includes visits to your own site, reports from partners such as review sites, and third-party data on research across many websites. Sales and marketing teams use it to decide which accounts to contact first and what to say.
What is the difference between first-party and third-party intent data?
First-party intent data comes from your own channels, such as your website, product and emails, so you know it is accurate, but it only covers people who already know you. Third-party intent data comes from providers that observe research activity across many sites. It reaches new accounts, but it is inferred and noisier.
Is intent data compliant with privacy laws?
Account-level data is generally lower risk than data tied to named people. Where intent data identifies a person in the EU, the GDPR applies (the UK has its own, closely similar version): you need a lawful basis, must give notice when data came from elsewhere, and must stop direct marketing on objection. Check how providers collected their data. This is not legal advice.
How long is intent data useful?
Usually a few weeks. Research activity tends to peak around an active evaluation and then fall away once a decision is made. Most teams give intent signals a short window, such as 30 days, after which they decay or expire in the score. Fit data, by contrast, stays valid for months.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation), EUR-Lex, European Union, current text
- FTC, Trade Regulation Rule on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security, advance notice of proposed rulemaking (2022), Federal Register