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Qualifying Leads Through Lead Scoring

Companies come to TribalVision all of the time saying that they need more qualified leads. The purpose of lead scoring is to do just that. Lead scoring is set up to assign a numeric value to both the actions an individual takes with any given email communication, and a person’s demographic information. The end goal is to bring the right type of people, who take the right type of action, to the top of the lead pile and bring them to the attention of the New Business team to follow up with. The end outcome results in the sales team spending their time working quality leads instead of having to hunt for them themselves.

Lead Scoring revolves around a few key goals:

Goal 1: Build on known demographic data to inform behavioral scores.

Some demographic information that can have lead scores attributed to them include:

  • Industry Type: ranking each industry in terms of revenue value or potential.
  • Company: developing a target list of companies and prioritizing behavior from contacts who work there.
  • Lead Source: outlining various sources and valuing those that generate the most qualified leads.
  • Job Title: establishing which positions have the authority to make or influence a buying decision.

Goal 2: Score predictive behavior that will lead to purchase

Not all actions are created equally, some actions to rank include:

  • Link Specificity: scoring different types of links at various levels allows marketers to differentiate the degree to which a customer is interested in purchasing.
  • Click Frequency: if a contact clicks to view information more than once, this indicates a higher degree of interest and should be scored as such.
  • Type of Email: different types of emails can be scored to varying degrees of qualification.
  • Landing Page Specificity and Conversion Forms: different pages on the website can serve different ranks as well as the actions a person takes on each page such as downloading a form or watching a video.

Goal 3: Distinguish insignificant or negative behavior

Negative behaviors should be taken into consideration as well; some include:

  • Frequency of Opens without Clicks: if a lead is opening e-mails but never visiting the website, this could mean that they are not fully interested in purchasing.
  • Undesirable Website Visits: while someone visiting the About Us page is not a negative action, scores should still be decreased to avoid inflation. A lead visiting the careers page is unlikely to be interested in purchasing.
  • Inactivity Periods: if a contact does not interact with a company for a certain amount of time, their score should decrease to show that they are not interested in purchasing.
  • Demographic Score Depreciation: Differentiators that determine the decision-making power of a lead should also decrease the score with a negative point value to indicate lower purchasing likelihood.

To calculate lead score, companies can designate a 0-100 scale that will accurately depict where leads are in the buying cycle. To ensure that business fit is incorporated with behavioral indicators, lead scoring programs can be split into two dimensions that will help designate if a prospect is worth pursuing by sales. Demographic information can determine the “Fit” score, while e-mail and web activity can determine the behavioral “Engagement” score. Together, these will add up to the full lead score that designates whether a contact is marketing qualified or sales ready.