Did you know that 68% of marketers have been able to demonstrate a positive correlation between lead scoring and revenue? If you’re still building or refining your own lead scoring process, understanding the core components and models can help you significantly improve qualification and conversion quality. It’s not uncommon for marketers to struggle with lead generation and qualifying leads for their sales teams — but implementing a lead scoring system can help solve for both of these issues.
That’s why we’ve compiled the following list of lead scoring best practices to help you improve the quality of your conversions and revenue.
Here are 12 lead scoring practices you can use to close more deals and grow your business.
1. Start with a clean database
You can’t score your leads effectively if you don’t have accurate data.
For example, let’s say you have two leads. One has entered their name, email, and company name. The other lead has entered their name, email, company name, and job title. Based on this data, you’d assume that the lead with more information is more valuable.
But what if the lead with less information is actually a better fit for your product? What if the lead with more information is actually a competitor trying to get a look at your sales process?
2. Identify your best customers
The more you understand about your best customers, the easier it is to find new ones. Use lead scoring to identify what characteristics set your best customers apart from the rest.
This could be anything from their job title to the size of the company they work for. Once you know what to look for, you can use lead scoring to identify new leads who share those characteristics. This approach is similar to how employee feedback tools help companies identify patterns and high-impact behavior signals, except here, you’re applying that same analytical process to prospects. Similarly, companies that rely on MRP systems often use operational data to refine buying signals, which can enrich your lead scoring criteria with more accurate intent indicators.
3. Create a lead scoring matrix
With a lead scoring matrix, you can determine how much each of your lead scoring criteria is worth. This will help you calculate a lead score and determine how qualified a lead is.
First, create a table with your lead scoring criteria as the rows and the values as the columns. Then, fill in the cells with the values you want to assign to each criteria.
For example, if you want to assign a value of 1 to 10 to each criteria, you would fill in the cells with the numbers 1 through 10.
Then, you would add up the values in each row to calculate a lead score.
4. Score your leads
Lead scoring is a method of ranking prospects based on their likelihood to convert. This process enables you to prioritize your leads based on how likely they are to convert.
You can use different lead scoring models to determine the quality of your leads, and there are several factors you can consider when scoring your leads. For example, you might assign a score to each lead based on their demographic information, such as their job title or company size. You could also assign a score based on their behavior, such as the pages they’ve viewed on your website or the emails they’ve opened.
You can then use these scores to segment your leads and create targeted campaigns. This will help you improve the quality of your conversions and increase your ROI.
5. Define lead scoring stages
Lead scoring is a great way to understand where your leads are in the buying process. But if you don’t define your lead scoring stages, your sales team might not know how to prioritize leads.
Defining your lead scoring stages will help you identify which leads are most likely to convert into customers and which ones need more nurturing.
You can also use your lead scoring stages to segment your leads so you can send them targeted content. This will help you move them through the buying process more quickly.
There are many different ways to define your lead scoring stages, but one of the most common is to use a simple three-stage model with “top of the funnel,” “middle of the funnel,” and “bottom of the funnel” leads.
6. Set up a lead scoring system
In the simplest terms, lead scoring is a way to determine how likely it is a prospect will convert into a customer.
You can do this by assigning values, or scores, to each lead based on the information you have about them.
Lead scoring can be done manually, but it’s much more efficient to use a lead scoring system or software to automate the process.
There are many different lead scoring systems you can use, so it’s important to find the right one for your business.
In general, a good lead scoring system will help you assign values to your leads based on their behavior, demographics, and engagement with your brand.
The more you know about your leads, the more accurate your lead scoring system will be. Integrating tools such as an MTA-STS checker can further improve data reliability by ensuring secure email delivery and reducing the chance of invalid or spoofed contacts entering your scoring model.
This can help you identify high-quality leads and prioritize them over low-quality leads, which can help you improve your conversion quality.
7. Monitor your lead scoring program
Like any marketing program, it’s important to monitor and evaluate your lead scoring program. This will help you identify any issues or areas for improvement, and ensure that your scoring model is still accurate.
You can monitor your lead scoring program by tracking your conversion rates and looking at the quality of the leads you’re generating. You can also look at how your sales team is using the lead scores, and get their feedback on the accuracy of the scores.
By monitoring your lead scoring program, you can make sure that you’re generating high-quality leads and that your sales team is able to prioritize their time and resources effectively.
8. Score lead sources
Not all lead sources are created equal. Some sources will drive high-quality leads, while others will drive low-quality leads. To get the most out of your lead scoring, you should score your lead sources.
To do this, you’ll need to use a lead scoring tool that allows you to assign a score to each of your lead sources. You can then use this score to determine which sources are driving the most high-quality leads and focus your efforts on those sources.
By scoring your lead sources, you can improve the quality of your leads and increase your conversion rates.
9. Score demographic and firmographic data
Demographic and firmographic data are two types of data that can be used to create a profile of your ideal customer. Demographic data includes information such as age, gender, income, and education level. Firmographic data includes information about the company your lead works for, such as company size, industry, and location.
Both types of data can be used to create a profile of your ideal customer, which can then be used to score leads. For example, if your ideal customer is a woman between the ages of 25 and 35 who works for a tech company in San Francisco, you can assign a higher score to leads that match that profile.
You can also use demographic and firmographic data to create negative scoring rules. For example, if your product is only available to customers in the United States, you can assign a lower score to leads from other countries.
And if you run a referral program, you should score referred leads separately. Referred prospects typically convert at a higher rate because trust transfers through the person who referred them. Platforms like ReferralCandy make it easy to track referral-origin leads, allowing you to assign higher scores to this high-quality source.
10. Score behavior
Lead scoring isn’t just about the actions a user takes on your website. It’s about the actions they take in your emails, ads, and more.
You can have different lead scoring scales for different actions. For example, you might have a lead scoring scale for actions on your website, and another one for actions in your emails.A dedicated email marketing software can help you track these behaviors more accurately and score leads with better precision
The key is to make sure that all of these actions are being taken into account when scoring a lead.
11. Score engagement
Engagement is a lead’s interaction with your company. This can be through things like page views, email opens, and social media interactions.
To score engagement, you can assign a point value to different interactions and then add them up. The more interactions a lead has, the more points they will have and the more engaged they are.
You can also use a lead’s engagement score to segment your leads. For example, you could have a segment for highly engaged leads and a segment for less engaged leads. Then, you can use this information to personalize your marketing and sales outreach.
12. Score by product interest
If you have multiple products or services, you can create a lead scoring system that tracks which products each lead is most interested in. This will help your sales team know which products to discuss with each lead.
You can track product interest by monitoring which pages your leads are visiting on your website, which emails they are opening, and which content they are downloading. For example, if a lead frequently views the pricing page and also clicks on a campaign advertising the Apollo discount for a specific product line, you can assign a higher score to that product based on the level of interest your lead has shown, especially factoring in price sensitivity.If you have a lead who has shown a high level of interest in multiple products, you may want to prioritize them over other leads. If you have a lead who has only shown interest in one product, you can use this information to tailor your sales pitch and increase the likelihood of a conversion.
Conclusion
Lead scoring is a critical part of the marketing process. It allows you to prioritize leads and close more deals faster. Don’t let your business fall behind by scoring leads incorrectly.
By implementing the lead scoring best practices above, you can improve the quality of your conversions and increase your revenue.
