Intent Data: What It Is, the Main Types and How to Use It for Outbound
Intent data is information that suggests a company or a person is researching something you sell. It comes from online behavior such as reading articles on a topic, comparing vendors on a review site, visiting a pricing page or engaging with posts about a problem. Sales and marketing teams use it to decide who to contact first and what to say. It shows interest, not a decision to buy, so it works best combined with a fit check and a message that names the reason you are writing.
Disclosure: Looply publishes this guide and makes cold email software that finds prospects from buying signals. Facts about Bombora, G2 and LinkedIn come from their official pages, checked on October 16, 2026. This guide is not legal advice.
What intent data is, and what it is not
Intent data answers one question: who is showing interest in a topic right now? It does not tell you that someone has budget, authority or a deadline. A company reading about "email deliverability" might be planning a purchase, writing a blog post or training a new hire.
That is why good teams treat intent data as a timing signal on top of fit:
Fit without intent gives you a long list with no urgency. Intent without fit fills your pipeline with companies that will never buy.
The main types of intent data
Intent data is usually grouped by who collects it.
First-party intent data
First-party data is the most reliable because you collected it yourself and you know what each action means. A visit to your pricing page from a target account is a stronger signal than any topic score. The limit is reach: it only covers people who already found you.
Second-party intent data
Second-party data is another company's first-party data, shared or sold. Review sites are the common example. G2 says its Buyer Intent data is based on activity on G2 such as product and category page views, competitor comparisons, pricing page engagement, reading and writing reviews, and engagement with your G2 profile. These actions sit close to a purchase decision, but they only cover buyers who research on that site.
Third-party intent data
Third-party data is collected across many websites and sold by a provider. Bombora, for example, runs a data co-op of publishers and B2B brands. It says it compares the most recent three weeks of activity for each account and topic against a 12-week baseline, and flags a "surge" when research rises above that account's normal level. Some providers also use bidstream data, which comes from online ad auctions. Ask each provider exactly which sources it uses.
Third-party data reaches accounts that have never heard of you. The trade-off: it is usually account-level, so it tells you that someone at a company is researching, not who.
Public buying signals
Public signals are events anyone can see: a new VP of Sales, a funding announcement, a burst of job listings, a post about a problem, or people reacting to a competitor's page. They are not always called intent data, but for outbound they are often the most useful kind, because:
How the big platforms collect intent
Three examples show how different the sources are. Each fact below comes from the provider's own page.
Bombora Company Surge collects research activity through a consent-driven tag on the sites in its data co-op. It scores each account and topic against that account's own baseline, and sends the results to ad, marketing, sales and CRM platforms.
G2 Buyer Intent is based on what buyers do on G2: viewing your product and category pages, comparing you with competitors, engaging with pricing and reading reviews. G2 says customers can see which accounts are researching their product, their category or their competitors.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Buyer Intent is available only on the Advanced and Advanced Plus editions. LinkedIn builds it from activity on LinkedIn (such as comments, reactions and following a company page), interactions with your ads, InMail accepts and declines, and, if you install the LinkedIn Insight Tag, visits to your website. It labels accounts High, Moderate, Neutral or Negative.
How to use intent data in cold email
Intent data only pays off when it changes who you contact and what you write. A simple process:
Two short examples:
For 40 more examples built on signals, see our cold email templates.
Account-level vs person-level intent
Most outbound teams use both: account-level data to rank target accounts, person-level signals to decide who gets an email this week.
How to judge an intent data provider
Ask every provider the same questions before you sign:
Privacy and compliance
Intent data is often about companies, but outreach reaches people, so privacy rules apply.
In every case, honor opt-outs fast, keep a suppression list, and only say in an email what you actually saw.
Common mistakes
FAQ
What is intent data in B2B?
It is information that suggests a business is researching a topic, a product category or a vendor. It comes from first-party sources (your site and emails), second-party sources (such as review sites) and third-party sources (providers that collect research activity across many sites).
What is the difference between intent data and buying signals?
Intent data usually means scored research activity, often at the account level. Buying signals is a wider term that also covers public events such as job changes, funding rounds, hiring and engagement with posts. For cold email, signals that point to a person and can be cited are often the easiest to use.
How accurate is intent data?
It varies by source. First-party data is the most reliable. Third-party data depends on how the provider matches activity to companies, which can be wrong for remote workers and shared networks. Test any source on your own accounts before you rely on it.
Is intent data legal to use?
Generally yes, if you follow the rules where your recipients are, such as CAN-SPAM in the United States, the CCPA in California, and GDPR and electronic-marketing rules in the UK and the EU. Ask each provider how it collected consent. This guide is not legal advice.
How much does intent data cost?
It depends on the provider, the number of topics and accounts, and the contract length. Many providers quote prices on request, so ask for a pilot on your own target accounts before you sign.
