Lead Scoring

By /

Lead Scoring is a method used by sales and marketing teams to evaluate potential customers, or leads, based on their likelihood of buying something.

Each lead gets a score that shows their value to the company.

This score is usually determined by various factors such as their personal details (like age or location), how they behave online, how much they interact with the company and their direct actions with the brand.

The higher the score, the more likely the lead becomes a customer.1

Visual Representation

lead scoring visual representation

Purpose

The main purpose of lead scoring is to prioritize your leads to optimize sales and marketing efforts.

It helps businesses identify and prioritize potential customers most likely to purchase, allowing for targeted communication and more efficient use of sales resources2

Criteria for Scoring:

  1. Demographic Information: Data such as age, location, job title, and industry help determine how well the lead fits the target customer profile.
  2. Online Behavior: Tracking activities like website visits, pages viewed, content downloaded, and social media interactions to gauge interest level.
  3. Engagement Level: Assessing how the lead interacts with marketing materials, including email open rates, click-through rates, and participation in webinars or events.
  4. Lead Source: Considering where the lead originated (e.g., organic search, social media, referral) to understand their potential value.3
  5. BANT Criteria: Evaluating Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline of the lead to assess readiness for a purchase.

Usage

Here’s where you typically find lead scoring being applied:

  • Sales Teams: They use lead scoring to decide which potential customers to call first. Leads with higher scores are contacted sooner because they’re more likely to purchase.
  • Marketing Departments: Marketers use lead scoring to send different messages to different people. For example, someone with a high score might get emails encouraging them to buy, while someone with a low score might get more general information to build interest.
  • CRM Systems: These are the tools that businesses use to keep track of their customer interactions. Lead scoring can be part of these systems, helping companies to see which leads are the hottest.
  • Email Campaigns: Based on scores, businesses decide when to send emails and what the emails should say. High-score leads might get more urgent “buy now” messages.
  • B2B Companies: Companies that sell to other businesses use lead scoring to manage long sales processes, focusing on leads more likely to result in big deals.
  • Content Marketing: By examining how leads interact with content, such as downloading a guide or watching a webinar, businesses can score leads to determine who’s really interested in what they’re offering.
  • E-commerce: Online stores might use lead scoring to suggest products or offer discounts to visitors based on their browsing and buying behavior.4

Example

Consider a software company that sells business management tools.

They could score leads based on criteria like company size (larger companies get higher scores), the role of the contact person (decision-makers like CEOs score higher), recent interactions with marketing emails (high engagement scores higher), and the current use of competing products (indicating a readiness to purchase).

A lead with a high score would be prioritized for immediate follow-up, while a lower-scoring lead might be nurtured with automated emails or educational content.

Related Terms

References:

1. Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, December 1). Lead scoring. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_scoring

2. Wu, M., Andreev, P., & Benyoucef, M. (2023). The state of lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. Information Technology and Management, 1-30. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10799-023-00388-w

3. Wainwright, C. (2017, August 25). Lead scoring: 13 criteria you should be using to grade leads. HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33381/lead-scoring-13-criteria-you-should-be-using-to-grade-leads.aspx

4. B2B Marketing: A Guidebook for the Classroom to the Boardroom. (2021). Germany: Springer International Publishing. https://www.amazon.com/B2B-Marketing-Guidebook-Management-Professionals-ebook/dp/B0945ST4XD/

Scroll to Top