Is using intent data an invasion of privacy, or is it just a good way to create more tailored experiences for target audiences? It’s a difficult question without a simple answer.

Intent data is designed to help marketers find buyers before they enter the sales funnel by tracking their online behavior. By knowing what content potential customers are consuming and what actions they’re taking, you can gain new customers before your competitors even know they’re on the market. This cuts your acquisition costs, increases ROI, and shortens your sales cycle.

There’s no doubt intent data is a powerful tool, but is it ethical, or does it cross lines into privacy invasion? There’s definitely a lot of risks involved. The key is staying on the right side of privacy laws—GDPR and CCPA—which means knowing where your intent data comes from.

Bad data can get you into serious trouble when it comes to data privacy regulations, costing your organization millions of dollars for violations, even if your misuse of data is unintentional. So what do you need to know to stay on the right side of data privacy?

Understanding Data Types

First, let’s talk about the different types of intent data you can use and how they fall within privacy guidelines.

First-Party Data

First-party data is nothing new. It’s customer information that you capture on your own website and channels. The key to collecting and processing this intent data correctly is gaining consent. Your customers must expressly give consent to you collecting and using their data, and they must be able to remove their consent easily.

Zero-Party Data

Zero-party data is data that is intentionally shared by customers. For example, a customer might voluntarily share their purchase intentions or personal information with a brand because they want to be recognized as a customer. Compared to first-part data, zero-party data relies on proactive permission to gain access to your customer’s interests and preferences, and it should be used to improve the value you provide to your customers.

Third-Party Data

This data is captured by an intent provider, such as Aberdeen, and provides you insight into customer behaviors that happen on websites other than your own. Because third-party data relies upon a provider, it’s essential that you know how it is collected and distributed. Based on this information, it could cross the line when it comes to customer privacy.

Third-Party Intent Data and Privacy Invasion vs. Tailored Customer Experiences

Third-party data puts you at the greatest risk of invading your customers’ privacy. The key is understanding how your intent provider collects its data and the purpose behind it. Here are a few things you need to know.

1.     Customer Consent Required

First, and most importantly, data should be collected with consent. Data collected through independent websites, portals, or publisher co-ops should be valid because visitors are asked to opt-in on their first touch. In this way, the intent data you use is only gathered after express consent is given. On the other hand, bidstream data trolls for keywords without web visitor’s consent, which could cross a few lines, so you must be careful.

2.     Clear and Compelling Data Use

Secondly, when collecting and using intent data, the third-party provider and your marketing team must be honest and clear with your customers. You need to clearly disclose your intentions with the data—how do you plan to use it? And your intentions must fall within guidelines that customers can appreciate. For example, collecting customer data that will then be used to more effectively serve your customers is different than collecting data to make robot calls.

3.     Ability to Opt-Out

Don’t make assumptions for your customers. They may have opted-in to sharing their information a month ago, but they could change their minds at any time, and they need to be allowed to do so. Failing to provide your customers the ability to opt-out of having and using intent data could get you in trouble.

There’s no doubt that intent data is the future of marketing and creating tailored experiences, but if not done correctly, it could put your company at risk. By ensuring that you only use the highest-quality third-party intent data providers and by being transparent with your customers about how and why you’re collecting data, you can protect yourself from the ugly sides of privacy invasion. In this way, you can use intent data for the goldmine of information it is without alienating your customers.

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