B2B intent data is powerful...but third-party cookies are going away soon...how will data providers adapt?

Hello! The topic for this week's Feed is Intent Data - it's extremely effective in B2B marketing, and currently undergoing some dramatic changes as we transition to a future without third-party cookies ("cookies").

What is intent data? 

Intent data provides a measure of interest (it could be a yes/no flag or a score based on the provider) in products, services, and/or general business topics. There are 1000's of topics, but some typical ones include financial expansion, construction, hiring, etc. It's primarily sourced from publisher networks that track individual behavior (based on cookies or IP-addresses) and publisher partners that aggregate data (using cookies) across publisher networks. This data is then mapped to companies using various techniques (e.g., IP-address location).

What is it useful for?

The top two use-cases for intent data are account-based marketing ("ABM") and retention analysis. In the ABM use-case, intent data can enable a marketer to whittle down a target universe of hundreds of thousands of businesses to a shortlist of those that have been flagged across key topics of interest. In the retention use-case, an institution can monitor portfolio customers across key topics to understand their external behaviors (e.g., what services are they seeking). We've written an expanded blog post and conducted a webinar expanding on these use-cases and several others. We also discuss the applicability of intent data to B2C use-cases in the webinar.

Long Live Third-Party Cookies

Last week we highlighted recent iOS data privacy updates implemented by Apple and their subsequent impact on the geolocation data landscape. This week, it's Google in the world of third-party cookies. More specifically, Google has indicated that third-party cookies will be phased out of its highly popular Chrome browser by 2022. We're still in the early days of understanding how Google's changes will impact advertising, but third-party cookies are the primary mechanism of tracking users across the internet, and both publisher networks and publisher partners have developed a deep pool of cookies to track users. Losing these will dramatically impact their ability to source intent data.

How will providers adapt?

Google is not the lone-player in banning third-party cookies. Firefox, Safari, and others have already banned them, but it is the most significant player because Android has 85% of the smartphone market and Chrome has 64% of the browser market. That being said, with every change there is ample room for innovation and intent data providers are keen on staying relevant. As a result, major players in this space such as MeritB2B and Bombora are developing proprietary opt-in networks of thousands of targeted content providers. Cookieless identity solutions are also being developed within the context of publisher networks and partners. Our view is that while overall scale may decrease, data quality and compliance will improve, and these changes will make intent data even more targeted than it is today.

Other Recommended Feeds

[Upcoming Webinar] Truebiz for Business Underwriting on Wednesday 5/26 at 1pm Eastern and Wednesday 5/26 at 10:30pm Eastern.
A brief introduction to Demyst’s small business underwriting offering (learn more here).

Alternative data for property insurance is taking off!
Demyst discusses the latest trends in property data and interviews the TensorFlight team to learn more about their geospatial data product that uses aerial imagery to assess attributes such as “distance to pool,” “roof condition,” and “distance to trees.”

Looking for contractor leads? Try Buildzoom 
Demyst discusses how to multisource B2B leads, with a special focus on Buildzoom, a recently onboarded vendor that operates a construction marketplace with an extensive database of verified contractors.

Have a great rest of the week!


Prashant Reddy