First-party data comes directly from your audience through owned channels. Third-party data comes from external providers who aggregate business intelligence at scale. Both power B2B go-to-market strategies, but they serve different purposes and come with different compliance considerations.
As privacy laws crack down on third-party cookies, it's important to understand what's actually changing and what's not. Third-party cookies are not the same as third-party data. Here's what revenue teams need to know about each data type, how they differ, and how to use them to build pipeline while staying privacy compliant.
What Is First-Party Data?
First-party data is information your company collects directly from prospects and customers through your owned properties: website forms, demo requests, product usage, CRM records, and email engagement. It's consent-based data people provide when they interact with your brand.
In B2B, first-party data comes from multiple touchpoints:
Form submissions: Demo requests, content downloads, event registrations, webinar signups
Behavioral data: Website visits, email engagement, product usage patterns
Conversational data: Chat transcripts, support tickets, sales call notes
CRM records: Opportunity data, deal stage, purchase history
First-party data also includes behavioral tracking through first-party cookies: language preferences, pages visited, actions taken on your site. These cookies improve user experience and help marketers attribute engagement.
Cookies get a bad reputation, but in actuality they create a better experience for how the consumer interacts with a website. The marketer receives the information they need to provide a more cohesive and attributable experience.
B2B First-Party Data Examples
Here's what first-party data looks like in practice for B2B revenue teams:
Form-fill data: Name, job title, company, contact information from gated content downloads
Event attendance: Webinar registrations, conference booth scans, virtual event participation
Product engagement: Free trial signups, demo requests, feature usage within your platform
Email subscription data: Newsletter signups, content preferences, engagement history
Chat conversations: Questions asked, pages visited, topics of interest
CRM opportunity data: Deal size, stage, close date, stakeholders involved
Why First-Party Data Matters for Revenue Teams
First-party data is clean and accurate because it comes straight from the source. Sales can trust it for follow-up, advertising, email marketing, and analysis. Most important: it's privacy compliant because your audience consented to sharing it.
The key benefits:
High accuracy at point of collection: The prospect gave you the information directly
Privacy compliant: Consent-based collection meets regulatory requirements
Direct relationship: You own the data and control how it's used
The limitations:
Data decay: Contact information changes as people switch jobs
Limited scale: Only covers prospects already interested in your company, not your full total addressable market
How Zero-Party Data Differs from First-Party Data
Zero-party data is information a prospect explicitly and intentionally shares with you: survey responses, stated preferences, declared intent, self-reported needs or challenges.
The distinction:
Zero-party data is volunteered: A prospect tells you they're interested in X feature
First-party data is observed: You track that they visited the X feature page five times
Both are privacy-compliant because they come directly from the prospect. But zero-party data gives you explicit insight into what someone wants, while first-party data requires you to infer intent from behavior.
What Is Third-Party Data?
Third-party data is business intelligence collected by external providers: verified emails, direct dials, company firmographics, technology stack details, and buyer intent signals. It covers your entire addressable market, not just prospects who have engaged with your brand.
In B2B, third-party data typically includes:
Firmographic data: Company size, revenue, industry, location, employee count
Contact data: Verified emails, direct dials, job titles, reporting structure
Technographic data: Technology stack, tools in use, recent implementations
Intent data: Research activity, content consumption signals, buying committee engagement
Third-party data advantages:
Broader reach: Access ideal customers who haven't heard of your solutions, including competitors' customers
Dynamic updates: Continuously refreshed data, unlike static first-party records
Market coverage: Full TAM visibility, not just known prospects
The restrictions:
Privacy compliance:GDPR and CCPA require careful consent management
Data governance: Varies by provider and jurisdiction
The solution: partner with a trusted GDPR and CCPA compliant B2B data provider that implements best practices and knows where the rules apply.
Types of B2B Third-Party Data
GTM teams rely on several types of third-party data to power prospecting, targeting, and account prioritization:
Firmographic data: Company size, revenue, industry, location, growth indicators
Contact data: Verified emails, direct dials, job titles, reporting structure, org charts
Technographic data: Technology stack, tools in use, recent implementations, contract renewal dates
Intent data: Research activity, content consumption signals, buying committee engagement, competitor evaluation
Providers like ZoomInfo aggregate and verify B2B contact and company intelligence at scale, giving revenue teams access to data they couldn't collect on their own.
What Is Second-Party Data?
Second-party data is another organization's first-party data that you access through a direct partnership or data-sharing agreement.
Example: You partner with a complementary software provider for a co-marketing campaign. They share their customer list with you. That's second-party data.
It retains the accuracy of first-party data because it comes from a trusted partner's direct collection. You're just accessing it through a relationship rather than collecting it yourself.
Second-party data is less common in B2B than consumer marketing, but it's relevant for co-marketing arrangements, channel partnerships, and publisher relationships.
First-Party vs Third-Party Data: Key Differences
Here's how first-party and third-party data compare across the dimensions that matter most to revenue teams:
Dimension | First-Party Data | Third-Party Data |
|---|---|---|
Source | Collected directly from your audience | Collected by external providers |
Accuracy | High at point of collection, but decays over time | Varies by provider; depends on verification processes |
Scale | Limited to known audience | Covers total addressable market |
Cost | Operational investment in collection | Licensing fees |
Privacy Compliance | Consent-based; inherently compliant | Depends on provider practices |
Primary Use Cases | Retention, personalization, engagement | Prospecting, expansion, targeting |
Accuracy and Reliability
First-party data is highly accurate at the point of collection because it comes directly from the prospect. However, it decays over time as people change jobs, companies, and contact information.
Third-party data accuracy varies significantly by provider. Quality depends on collection methods, verification processes, and refresh frequency. A provider that updates records weekly will have more reliable data than one that refreshes quarterly.
Scale and Reach
First-party data is inherently limited to people who have already engaged with your brand. For most B2B companies, that's a small fraction of the total addressable market.
Third-party data extends reach to accounts and contacts you haven't touched yet, including competitors' customers and prospects who don't know your solution exists. Even if you receive millions of website visits and thousands of form fills every day, you're still tapping into a market that already knows you. As a marketer, it's your duty to find the markets that don't know you, and bring them to you.
How B2B Teams Use First-Party and Third-Party Data
GTM teams combine both data types to identify, prioritize, and engage the right accounts. The most effective revenue strategies use first-party data to understand who's engaged and third-party data to understand who else should be.
Prospecting and Lead Generation
Third-party data powers outbound prospecting by providing verified contact information, company details, and org charts for accounts that match your ICP. First-party data helps prioritize which inbound leads to pursue first based on engagement signals.
Here's how each data type contributes:
Third-party data: Identifies target accounts, surfaces buying committee, provides contact information
First-party data: Shows engagement level, indicates timing, reveals content interests
Together, they create a complete view of who to target and how to reach them.
Account-Based Marketing
ABM requires knowing which accounts to prioritize and who within those accounts to engage. Third-party data identifies target accounts based on firmographics and technographics, then surfaces the buying committee. First-party data shows which accounts are already engaging with your content, visiting your site, or responding to outreach.
The combination tells you:
Which accounts fit your ICP (third-party)
Who the decision-makers are (third-party)
Which accounts are showing interest (first-party)
What content resonates with each stakeholder (first-party)
Pipeline Prioritization
Not all opportunities deserve equal attention. First-party engagement data (email opens, site visits, demo requests) indicates active interest. Third-party intent data reveals which accounts are researching solutions like yours across the web.
Combining both helps sales focus on accounts most likely to close. You're not just chasing whoever filled out a form. You're targeting accounts that show both engagement with your brand and buying signals across the broader market.
Privacy, Compliance, and the Cookieless Future
Firefox and Safari have blocked third-party cookies. Google Chrome has shifted to implementing user choice controls for third-party cookies rather than full deprecation. But browser privacy changes affecting third-party cookies do not eliminate third-party data.
The distinction matters:
Third-Party Cookies Are Not Third-Party Data
Third-party cookies are browser tracking mechanisms that follow users across websites for retargeting and behavioral advertising.
Third-party data in B2B is contact, company, and intent information collected through public records, opt-in sources, proprietary research, and aggregated business intelligence.
The key distinction:
Third-party cookies: Browser tracking for ad targeting; subject to browser privacy controls
Third-party data: Contact and company information from data providers; unaffected by browser changes
Browser privacy changes affect cookies but do not eliminate B2B data providers. Contact databases, firmographic intelligence, and intent signals that power B2B prospecting remain available and compliant.
Data Governance and Vendor Evaluation
When evaluating third-party data providers, ask these questions:
Where does the data come from? Understand data provenance and collection methods
How often is it refreshed? Data decay is real; update frequency matters
How do they handle opt-outs? Compliance requires respecting user preferences
Are they compliant with GDPR and CCPA? Verify regulatory adherence
What verification processes do they use? Accuracy depends on quality control
Partner with a trusted GDPR and CCPA compliant B2B data provider that can demonstrate transparency in data sourcing and governance.
How to Build a B2B Data Strategy That Combines Both
Using both first-party and third-party data eliminates inaccurate data and increases campaign efficiency. Example: You have john.smith@previouscompany.com in your CRM. Your third-party data provider enriches that record with updated contact information, job title, and company data. Your targeting accuracy improves, and your match rates with advertising platforms increase.
Start With First-Party Data as Your Foundation
Your CRM and marketing automation data should be the starting point. It's the most accurate picture of who already knows and engages with you.
Focus on:
Capturing engagement signals: Track website behavior, email opens, content downloads
Maintaining data hygiene: Regularly clean and deduplicate records
Building a single source of truth: Centralize data across systems
For the longest time, marketers captured information by gating assets. But now we need to create better experiences that allow prospects to consume a little bit more. We need to give value as opposed to offer value.
Example: Instead of gating a whitepaper behind a form, let prospects read the first few pages. If they want to continue, ask for their information. You're showing value, not just offering it.
Conversational marketing tools like chatbots combine both data types effectively. ZoomInfo Chat uses third-party IP-to-Company data to identify website visitors. It then captures first-party data through conversation or routes high-value accounts directly to sales.
Use Third-Party Data to Fill Gaps and Scale
First-party data tells you who's engaged. Third-party data tells you who else you should be talking to.
Use third-party data to:
Enrich existing records: Update stale data, fill missing fields, append new data points
Expand into new accounts: Identify prospects that match your ICP but haven't engaged yet
Prioritize outreach: Use intent data to focus on accounts actively researching solutions
Third-party data reaches prospects who are researching solutions but haven't come across yours yet. First-party data shows who's already engaged. Both are necessary for a complete GTM strategy.
ZoomInfo Marketing combines both. Import your first-party data and we'll enrich it with updated information. Build campaigns using our third-party data while layering in your first-party segments.
Talk to our team to learn how ZoomInfo combines first-party and third-party data to power your go-to-market strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between first-party and third-party data?
First-party data comes directly from your audience through owned channels like forms and website interactions. Third-party data comes from external providers who aggregate business intelligence across the market.
Is third-party data going away with cookie deprecation?
No. Third-party cookies are browser tracking tools subject to browser privacy controls. Third-party B2B data from providers like ZoomInfo is contact and company information collected through other means and remains available.
Which is more accurate: first-party or third-party data?
First-party data is highly accurate at point of collection but decays as people change jobs. Third-party data accuracy depends on the provider's verification processes and update frequency.
Can I use third-party data for outbound prospecting in Europe?
Yes, with proper consent management and GDPR compliance. Partner with a verified GDPR-compliant data provider that understands regional restrictions.
How do I combine first-party and third-party data?
Use first-party data to understand who's engaged. Use third-party data to enrich existing records, fill gaps, and expand into new accounts that match your ICP.