Lead Scoring

What is Lead Scoring?

Lead scoring is a methodology that ranks people based on their likeliness (or readiness) to buy from a business — based on factors like their age, location, engagement level, or specific activities.

How Does Lead Scoring Work?

How Lead Scoring Works

Marketing or sales teams start by deciding what can be classed as a qualified lead. They then collect information, such as:

The pages a lead visits on the company’s website
How long they’re on the pages
Whether they’ve interacted with any forms

The company then decides on a point value for each action the lead takes that signals whether they’re interested in the business’s offering to get an overview of the leads most likely to convert into customers.

This information is then fed into pre-decided filters in CRM software which then automates the process of scoring leads, saving businesses valuable resources.

The variables involved in lead scoring can vary depending on the businesses’ preferences — they can be ranked using an A to F grading scale or a 1-100 point system, for example.

The 3 Lead Scoring Models

Lead Scoring Models

Let’s now discuss lead scoring models in detail:

1. Demographic Model

1. Demographic Model

The demographic model, also termed explicit lead scoring (because it’s based on hard data), identifies the profiles of people who best fit the customer’s target audience.

This model uses personal data received from customers (for example, through web forms on their home page) to score them. This data includes:

Age
Geographic location
Annual revenue
Industry type
Job title
Gender identity

For example, if a business caters to women aged 30-45, they’d qualify leads within this range. Similarly, if they only cater to the US market, those outside this region wouldn’t qualify.

The CRM gathers this data from multiple touchpoints and segments leads accordingly.

2. Online Behavior Model

2. Online Behavior Model

The online behavior model or implicit lead scoring is when prospects are ranked based on how they engage with the brand. This includes the way they interact with your website, for example.

For example, if a prospect repeatedly visits your pricing or product’s features page, or fills out your web form, then they’d score more points than a prospect that visits your Career page, for example.

3. Engagement Model

3. Engagement Model

The engagement model is similar to the online behavior model, as it focuses on how a particular lead interacts with your business, but it also includes actions that the above model does not.

This includes if/when a lead opens your emails, whether they’ve subscribed/unsubscribed your newsletters, their engagement with your brand on social media, and more.

For example, if a lead talks to a sales team about a product, the CRM tool being used will give this lead high- or – maximum points, as they’re actively engaged and clearly interested in the product.

Through this lead scoring model, businesses can find leads that are actively interested in their offerings to better allocate their resources to these qualified leads.

How to Score Leads

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Here’s a breakdown of the steps involved in scoring leads:

Use a CRM System
CRM apps or services are designed to help businesses automatically store lead and customer data from various touchpoints to ensure up-to-date information, including their contact details and history of interactions with a business, for example.

Many of these tools also offer built-in lead-scoring capabilities to help automate and streamline the process for sales and marketing teams.

Work With Your Sales Reps

Sales and marketing teams are the most knowledgeable when it comes to what sells in the market, as they’ve got on-field experience in communication with the audience.

A sales team can easily tell which lead is best and which may possibly be a waste of time. An organization should start by working with these customer-centered teams to make use of their knowledge. They have deep insight into the businesses’ customer preferences, profiles, and pain points.

Implement Negative Scoring

Negative scoring is a must to separate qualified leads from those who aren’t interested in the businesses’ offerings. This helps to avoid wasting time and resources on leads that won’t convert into paying customers.

Note Customer Feedback

Customer feedback can offer insight into how leads or customers feel about the business — which can also aid in the lead-scoring process whilst offering valuable insight into the customer journey.

Knowing your customer preferences and pain points is vital for successful campaigns and content delivery, too — not to mention that it’s a must for improving customer support.

To score leads better, it’s advised to collect reviews from customers regularly to learn more about their satisfaction levels and their willingness to buy (or to buy again).

The Benefits of Lead Scoring

Lead scoring helps businesses pinpoint qualified leads that require attention. It has a positive impact on businesses, resulting in boosted efficiency and better resource management.

Here are some of the main benefits of lead scoring:

Increased Sales EfficiencyHigher Conversion RatesCross-Departmental Alignment

Knowing which leads to prioritize effectively boosts sales efficiency, as resources go toward leads that are more likely to take action. Spending time aimlessly nurturing cold leads is a huge waste of resources — which is why lead scoring is so vital.

Focusing efforts on hot leads ready to take action (or those who are close but need a bit more nudging) increases your chances of closing more deals quicker — ultimately boosting conversion rates.

Lead scoring ensures the alignment of an organization’s sales and marketing efforts, ensuring all departments are aligned on the leads that should take top priority.

The Bottom Line

Lead scoring is an important methodology for businesses looking to boost their customer support, sales, revenue, and overall growth.

By assigning points to leads based on their interest level, businesses can effectively tell which leads are hot or cold to better manage their resources — for this, a CRM system is key, as this is often done automatically based on the actions leads take.