Zero-Party Data vs First-Party: What’s Best for B2B Lead Generation?
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September 16, 2025
- 18 min read
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Quick Summary: What Type of Data Is Best for B2B Lead Generation?
When running B2B lead generation campaigns you’re looking for suppliers who can provide you with zero-party data and first-party data. You’ll want to avoid suppliers that deliver aggregated, third-party data, which often comes from unknown third-party suppliers and sources. This means you should only work with reputable suppliers that generate leads using their own data in-house.
To evaluate lead generation suppliers and the type of data they deliver, use the Checklist for Quality Lead Generation. It will give you greater confidence in both the data and the results you receive.
| Type of Data | Zero-Party Data | First-Party Data |
|
General Marketing Definition |
Zero-party data is any data that is intentionally and proactively shared with you, by a user (e.g. sharing their preferences, survey responses). | First-party data is information you collect based on your audience’s behaviors and interactions (e.g. website visits, landing page conversions, email engagement). |
| Lead Generation Context | Within lead generation, zero-party data is generated when an external supplier’s audience of B2B professionals intentionally and willingly provides additional information to the lead generation supplier. This could include sharing their preferences, job title, or areas of interest in exchange for a more relevant experience. For example, when a user downloads a piece of gated content or subscribes to one of Headley Media’s seven brands, they actively volunteer details that help marketers tailor future interactions. | When running B2B lead generation campaigns with an external, first-party supplier, such as Headley Media, first-party data is generated from behavioral signals observed directly from their own audience. Remember, we discussed earlier that a lot of suppliers do not generate first-party data so it’s important to ask exactly how they are generating your leads and what type of data you’ll receive. |
| Lead Generation Example | A reader fills out a download form on Cybersecurity Corporate, sharing their business card details. They also answer any additional Profiling questions on the form in exchange for a piece of content, such as an eBook, research report or recorded webinar. Explicitly shared information, directly from the audience | A reader consumes several pieces of content about AI transformation across AI Corporate. Each interaction is recorded against the reader’s profile, building a picture of their interests over time. When keywords and topics consistently align, they generate intent signals. These signals are then delivered as first-party intent data, identifying prospects actively researching specific solutions. |
What About Lead Generation Suppliers That Deliver Third Party Data?
By comparison, third-party data refers to data that has been aggregated from external sources. Third-party data is often purchased and not consent-led, so you can see where the potential issues lie when it comes to lead generation, accuracy and quality.
At Headley Media we don’t use third party data within our lead generation campaigns. Unfortunately, many other lead generation suppliers do (even when they don’t disclose it to you!) so it’s important to vet your suppliers carefully and ask the right questions – our Quality Lead Gen Checklist can help you with that.
Here’s the reality. Many lead gen or intent suppliers resell or aggregate third-party signals, then blend them with your first party engagement to make the output look stronger. Press them on provenance: do they collect it themselves on owned properties or buy from a co-op/bid stream, and is the feed exclusive or the same one 10 competitors get?"
Dave Gerhardt, Founder, Exit Five
Zero-Party Data vs. First Party Data Within Lead Generation
Let’s explore zero-party vs first-party data in more detail to help you better navigate the lead generation landscape.
Firstly, the main differences between zero-party and first-party data come down to how the data is collected, and what it reveals about your audience.
Zero-party data is data that is explicitly shared by a user. For example, someone providing their content preferences to receive a better experience with your brand or manually populating a form themselves. It is intentional and explicitly volunteered by the user.
By comparison, first-party data is passively collected and observed through user behavior, such as content engagement or tracking repeat visits to a landing page or website. Both types are critical for building trust, improving personalization, and driving ROI in a cookie-less future.
At Headley Media, our B2B lead generation services deliver both zero party and first party data through consent-led content syndication and intent-driven campaigns. You can learn more about our lead generation process via our Methodology page.
A Closer Look: What Is Zero-Party Data?
Zero-party data is any data your audience willingly and proactively shares with you. Unlike inferred or purchased data, it comes directly from users, which makes it highly accurate and privacy compliant.
It’s important to remember that the main reason a person will provide you with zero-party data is for a value exchange. For example, to gain a better and more personalized experience with your company’s offering, or to access valuable content.
Examples of Zero-Party Data Include:
- Content category preferences selected on subscription forms.
- Opt-ins for specific newsletters or gated content topics.
- Explicit feedback shared via surveys or preference collection.
- Additional information shared on a content download form (that go beyond their email address). For example, Headley Media generates zero-party data at the point of content download. We ask readers to provide additional information, that is relevant to their persona, when downloading a piece of content from one of our seven technology brands.
Why Zero-Party Data Is Valuable to Your Lead Generation Campaigns:
- 100% consent-led, supporting compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws.
- Highly accurate, because it reflects self-declared interests.
- Enables hyper-personalized campaigns, especially at the top of the funnel.
Headley Media’s Zero Party Data
At Headley Media, we collect zero-party data when our readers interact with one of our 300+ content library websites. For example, when they download a piece of content from one of our brands.
When a reader populates a form and provides details of their role, challenges, or areas of interest, it gives them a more personalized experience with our brands, and in turn, our clients’ brand.
A Closer Look: What Is First-Party Data?
In contrast, first-party data is inferred from user behavior rather than explicitly shared. It’s collected across owned channels and content interactions, such as how users engage with promotional assets, complete content downloads, or interact after downloading. Within a lead generation campaign, if your supplier is delivering your campaign via their own audiences, this behavioral data builds a picture of their interests and intent based on real engagement.
Examples of First-Party Data Within Lead Generation Include:
A reader’s eBook or whitepaper download history or the intent signals gathered by a lead generation supplier’s own audience are examples of first-party data within lead generation.
When you receive your leads and start your nurturing process, you will also generate your own first-party data as your leads work their way through your marketing funnel.
For example, when you track a prospect’s activity on your website or any interactions with your email lead nurturing campaigns (such as opens and clicks), you will generate your own first-party insights that you can use to better understand your audience. This will help you to further nurture your existing leads, as well as make optimizations to future lead generation campaigns based on the additional first-party data you’ve collected.
What you want if they [a lead gen supplier] claim first party is a clear list of owned sources, what events they capture, recency, and how they tie it to accounts and people. If they can’t or won’t show that, assume it’s third party with a thin wrapper. Dave Gerhardt, Founder, Exit Five
Why First-Party Data Is Valuable to Your Lead Generation Campaigns:
- Reveals intent signals, like which topics or solutions are under active consideration amongst your prospects.
- Supports lead scoring and segmentation, moving prospects through the funnel from MQL to SQL.
- Improves campaign ROI by focusing outreach on engaged audiences.
Headley Media’s First-Party Data
Our Intent Data Targeting campaigns gather multi-touch engagement data across our content syndication programs. Each time a reader engages with a piece of content from one of our websites, we tag their profile with keywords, progressively profiling and scoring their engagement to build up a picture of their interests and intent. By analyzing which assets and topics prospects interact with, we provide first-party intent signals that help B2B marketers prioritize the right leads.
How Headley Media Collects & Uses Zero & First-Party Data
At Headley Media, we specialize in consent-led lead generation that combines both data types for maximum marketing impact.
Our approach includes:
- Content syndication campaigns (for example Single Touch, Double Touch, Nurture Track) to collect zero-party data via content download forms and explicit opt-ins.
- Intent-driven engagement tracking to generate first-party behavioral insights across multi-touch journeys.
- Lead enrichment that delivers enhanced audience intelligence while staying compliant with all global privacy regulations.
The result? Higher-quality leads, faster funnel progression, and more effective marketing spend for our technology clients.
Headley Media Lead Generation Example:
You launch a campaign with Headley Media to reach cybersecurity decision-makers.
A reader downloads a cybersecurity whitepaper via Cybersecurity Corporate, sharing their full business card details and role as Chief Information Security Officer – this is zero-party data.
You’ve chosen to run a Single Touch campaign enriched with Headley Media’s first-party intent data. The data generated is also verified through a dual validation process to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Once in your CRM, the lead engages with a webinar and clicks on a product demo email within your nurturing flow, generating your own first-party data. Combined, these insights create a richer lead profile, strengthening your targeting, nurturing, and ROI.
Final Thoughts: Zero and First-Party Data in a Cookie-less Future
As third-party cookies are becoming more controversial and less accepted by businesses and users alike, zero-party data and first-party data have become the foundation of successful B2B marketing strategies. Together, they empower marketers to:
- Build trust with privacy-first interactions
- Personalize campaigns with confidence
- Generate higher-quality marketing qualified and turn them into sales qualified leads
As the landscape continues to evolve, publishers like Headley Media are more valuable than ever. Our consent-led, intent-driven campaigns ensure that your leads aren’t just high-quality, they’re the right decision-makers at the right time.
Frequently asked questions
Zero-party data is any data that is intentionally and proactively shared with you, by a user (e.g. sharing their preferences, survey responses). Within lead generation, zero-party data is generated when an external supplier’s audience of B2B professionals intentionally and willingly provides additional information to the lead generation supplier. This could include sharing their preferences, job title, or areas of interest in exchange for a more relevant experience. For example, when a user downloads a piece of gated content or subscribes to one of Headley Media’s seven brands, they actively volunteer details that help marketers tailor future interactions.
Zero-party data is intentionally provided by users, like content preferences or role selections, typically for an enhanced experience with a brand, website or service. In comparison, first-party data is observed from user actions, like email marketing engagement or website visits. Take a look at our zero-party vs first party data guide to learn more.
At Headley Media, we collect zero party data through our portfolio of over 300 technology websites which are used for content syndication. Our audiences of B2B technology professionals and decision-makers willingly share their preferences, professional details, and interests in exchange for access to high-quality, gated content from our technology clients. Based on this zero-party data we’re also able to provide each reader with a more personalized experience with each of our Brands. If a reader is eligible to become a lead based on the information they’ve provided, and following our end-to-end Methodology and lead validation process, we deliver this zero-party data to our B2B technology clients.
