Lead scoring is a simple way of ranking potential customers based on how likely they are to convert into paying customers. By giving each lead a score, you can focus on those who are most likely to buy your product or service, making your sales efforts more effective.
How Lead Scoring Works
The main idea behind lead scoring is to assign points to leads based on their actions and characteristics. These actions could include opening your emails, downloading content, or requesting a demo. Characteristics could be things like their job title, company size, or industry. With lead scoring, you can quickly identify which leads need more attention and which ones are ready to buy.
Types of Lead Scoring
- Basic Lead Scoring (Unidimensional): This is a simple system where leads are given a score from 1 to 100 based on their interactions and fit for your product.
- Behavior-Based Scoring (Retrospective): Every time a lead interacts with your brand (e.g., opens an email, visits your website), they earn points. The more engaged they are, the higher their score.
- Predictive Lead Scoring: This method uses past data to predict future behavior. It looks at patterns from similar leads who have already converted to help identify which leads are most likely to convert.
- Advanced Lead Scoring (Multidimensional): This system uses multiple factors, like demographics, engagement, and job title, to give a more complete view of the lead’s potential. For example, a lead with a job title like CEO might score higher than one with a job title like marketing assistant.
How to Build a Lead Scoring System
- Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): First, you need to know who your best customers are. This means understanding the characteristics of leads that convert well.
- Identify Important Factors: Decide what factors are most important for scoring. For example, if you sell to large businesses, company size could be a key factor.
- Assign Scores: Give numerical values to different actions and attributes. For example, a CEO could score +20, and visiting your website might add +5 points. Also, don’t forget to subtract points for actions like unsubscribing from your emails.
- Set Up Lead Actions: Based on the score, decide what actions to take. For example:
- Leads with scores over 80 are hot and should go straight to sales.
- Leads with scores between 50-80 might need more nurturing.
- Leads below 50 are not likely to convert.
Tools for Easier Lead Scoring
Lead scoring can take time, so it’s helpful to use tools like lemlist to automate the process. This way, you can score leads quickly based on specific criteria, saving you time and making your process more accurate.
Next Steps
- Choose your lead scoring system.
- Define your ICP and relevant factors.
- Assign scores and start taking action.
- Use tools to automate and improve your lead scoring.