Does buyer intent data seem fishy to you? Learn how first, second, and third-party data really work with this simple, fun fishing analogy.

Buyer intent data is information about your target audience’s online behavior that indicates their interest or intention to buy. This information can include anything from content downloads to website page views, social media interaction, internet searches, and more. Buyer intent data is a critical piece of any modern digital marketer’s strategy and can be used to build targeted sales and marketing campaigns, personalize the content on your website, build ad retargeting lists, and much more. Buyer intent data generally comes in three distinct types: first, second, and third-party data.

Side note: If you’re looking for an in depth explanation of each type of intent data, that can be found in our other article: What is buyer intent data? But if you’re looking for a fun, easy-to-understand explanation of intent data through the analogy of fishing, then read on!

First-Party Data

First-party data is like catching a fish right off the dock. You have your fishing pole, a bucket of bait, a good radio station, and that’s it all you have to do now is sit back and wait for the fish to bite.

The benefits of this type of fishing (aside from being a relaxing way to spend a Saturday) is that you know exactly where the fish came from, you can do whatever you want with it, and once you have your fishing pole and bait, all the fish you catch are essentially free.

First-party data is information about your website visitors that you collect yourself across your digital properties. The benefit of first-party data is that it gives you unmatched insights into who your real audience is, what they are interested in, and when they are looking at your solutions. Since you collected the data yourself, you can assume it is highly accurate. You can also do whatever you want with it – whether it’s personalizing content on your website, bringing warm leads to your sales team, building targeted email or ad campaigns, or other ABM activities.

Finally, once your tracking technology is in place, the data is essentially free to access. It’s collected 24/7.

Limitation: You are limited to the number of “fish” you can catch on your own. First-party data only includes data from your own digital properties, meaning you only get insights after someone visits your site.

Second-Party Data

Second-party data is like making friends with the person fishing next to you. You both catch fish and can trade or buy them from each other. The key here is that you each caught your own fish.

Second-party intent data is essentially someone else’s first-party data that you buy, trade, or use in conjunction with your own to improve decision making. This expands your view of what your audience is searching for and what topics they’re engaging with.

The benefit of second-party data is increased visibility into your target audience. It’s generally reliable, too, since it comes from a known source (your fishing buddy). However, it typically comes at a cost either a monetary fee or an exchange of your own data.

Third-Party Data

Third-party data is like buying fish from the grocery store. The store didn’t catch the fish themselves; instead, they sourced it from many different fishermen and wrapped it up in neat packages.

Third-party intent data is collected from a wide range of sources around the web. Vendors aggregate, segment, and sell it as intent audiences to buyers like you.

The benefit of third-party data is ease of access and large scale availability. These vendors pull data from everywhere, giving you variety and volume. However, you pay for the convenience.

Drawbacks include:

  • Lower data quality (you don’t always know how the data was gathered)
  • Lack of control
  • Restrictions on use
  • Higher cost

Conclusion

With more buyers than ever doing extensive research before contacting sales, buyer intent data offers marketers a window into what their audience is searching for and engaging with.

Understanding and using first, second, and third-party intent data is key to filling your sales pipeline and boosting revenue in the modern B2B buying landscape.