Intent data

What Is Intent Data?

Intent data is behavioral information that signals a prospect’s interest in a specific product, service, or topic. This data can include content interactions, webinar attendance, poll responses, downloads, or even time spent engaging with resources.

Within the ON24 Platform, intent data is captured directly from attendee engagement — making it first-party data, collected through company-owned digital experiences. These insights help B2B marketing and sales teams better understand what topics interest their audience and how close they may be to making a purchasing decision.

Unlike third-party intent data, which relies on aggregated browsing behavior, ON24’s first-party data reflects real engagement actions that directly demonstrate buyer readiness and preference.

Why Intent Data Matters

• Buyer understanding: Identify what products, services, or themes are top-of-mind for your audience
  
• Revenue acceleration: Use data-driven signals to prioritize leads showing strong purchase intent.
• Marketing efficiency: Build campaigns that align precisely with customer interests and stages in the buyer journey.
  

How Intent Data Works in ON24

The ON24 Platform captures intent signals across webinars, virtual events, and content hubs, giving marketers a 360-degree view of audience engagement. This data helps align marketing and sales teams with actionable insights such as:

• Engagement behavior: Tracks webinar interactions like Q&A participation, poll responses, and CTA clicks. 
• Content consumption: Measures which assets users view most, including videos, e-books, and reports. 
• Session duration: Indicates depth of interest based on how long attendees remain active during sessions. 
• Pipeline prioritization: Integrates intent data with CRMs and marketing automation tools for targeted outreach. 
• Personalized follow-up: Enables tailored email and content recommendations using high-intent engagement signals.
  

By connecting this data to marketing systems like Marketo, Salesforce, and HubSpot, ON24 ensures every engagement moment becomes a measurable buying signal that powers smarter, more efficient pipeline growth.

Key Benefits

• High-quality first-party data: Collected directly from ON24 experiences, ensuring accuracy and compliance. 
• Enhanced lead scoring: Combine engagement depth and frequency to identify sales-ready opportunities. 
• Improved conversion rates: Deliver relevant content and follow-ups that reflect audience intent. 
• Streamlined sales enablement: Provide sales teams with engagement insights to personalize outreach. 
• Better ROI measurement: Attribute revenue to specific webinars, campaigns, or engagement actions.
  

Explore how ON24 helps you propel your pipeline by turning digital engagement into actionable buyer intelligence.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the difference between first-party and third-party intent data?
   
   • First-party intent data comes directly from your owned digital channels, such as webinars and landing pages. Third-party data is aggregated from other sites and may be less accurate or compliant.
2. How does ON24 capture intent data?
   
   • ON24 collects engagement signals across its platform — including polls, Q&A, content downloads, and time spent in sessions — providing accurate behavioral intent insights.
3. Can ON24’s intent data integrate with my CRM?
   
   • Yes. ON24’s integrations allow intent data to flow directly into systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo.
4. How is intent data used in lead scoring?
   
   • Engagement actions such as attending webinars, clicking CTAs, or downloading assets increase lead scores and help marketing teams identify qualified prospects.
5. Is ON24 intent data compliant with privacy laws?
   
   • Yes. ON24 collects data with full consent and adheres to global standards like GDPR, CCPA, and SOC 2 Type II.

Editorial & Methodology Notice

This glossary entry was created by the ON24 Editorial Team using verified 2025 ON24 benchmark data, engagement analytics, and first-party data insights aligned with EEAT standards.
Updated: October 2025