Learn to Win 30% More Sales with Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is a process used by many companies. Lead scoring helps you quantify the lead’s potential lead scores identify opportunities that are ready to be handed off to sales teams.
The lead score ranges from a low of -100 points to a high of 100 points. A lead with this number is based on the lead’s behavior and contact history with the company.
Lead scoring can help you automate lead nurturing scoring works best when paired with lead management.
Lead grading allows businesses to measure prospect interest and engagement levels. In addition, it identifies opportunities that are ready to be handed off to sales teams or set up for automatic nurturing–allowing marketers to focus on the most active and ready-to-buy prospects.
Lead scoring 101 – Top 20
- Lead scoring is a process used by many companies, including SharpSpring
- Lead score ranges from a low of -100 points to a high of 100 points, with this number being based on the lead’s behavior and contact history with the company
- Scoring can be used for both B2B and B2C businesses
- Lead scoring helps you determine which leads are most likely to convert into customers
- Lead scores are calculated using data collected about your past interactions with potential customers (including open email rates, click-throughs, visits to your website)
- The higher the lead score, the more likely that person will become a customer in the future
- Scoring is a basic process that helps you identify the best marketing leads and provides insight into how your marketing campaigns are performing
- Lead grading involves assigning points to certain actions, which will then allow you to rate opportunities based on their potential for business or conversion rates
- Lead scoring allows you to quantify the lead’s potential based on the actions they have taken to help you prioritize your sales team’s efforts
- Lead scoring is an integral part of any marketing automation platform because it tracks how leads interact with your content and distinguishes between those that are ready to buy now and prospects who are not quite ready yet
- Lead grading can be triggered by different actions such as viewing a product page, visiting your blog, or reading targeted emails
- Lead scoring is one of the most important features in any marketing automation platform because it helps you quantify and qualify potential opportunities
- Lead scoring works best when paired with Lead Management to simplify the lead generation and increase sales productivity
- Lead grading can help you automate lead nurturing by identifying opportunities that are ready to be handed off to sales teams
- Scoring is used to measure prospect interest and engagement levels by assigning different value points for actions or events an individual may take
- Lead scoring allows companies to measure prospects’ interest in their business based on specific activities, ranging from content consumption to website visits
- Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their actions, giving you valuable insight into which prospects are most likely to become customers
- Lead scores to range from -100 (least engaged) to 100 (most engaged). Lead scores are determined by lead activities that are passed through an algorithm, which assigns points to the lead for specific actions
- Scoring allows you to prioritize your sales team’s efforts by providing insight into how well different marketing campaigns are performing
- Lead scoring is a process used by many companies, including SharpSpring Lead scores help businesses identify the best marketing leads and provide insight into how customer-ready their marketing campaigns are.
What Is lead scoring?
Lead scoring is a process used by many companies, including SharpSpring. The lead score ranges from -100 to 100, with the number being based on the lead’s behavior and how often they interact with the company.
Lead scoring is more than just defining upfront if a lead is considered sales-worthy or not- it provides insights into which leads are likely more valuable, so you can start focusing on your highest potential customers.
Lead scoring helps you evaluate what you should be doing differently to win more sales. More importantly, scoring allows you to prioritize which leads need your time and effort so that you can go after the best of the best.
How can lead scoring benefit your business?
Lead scoring is a process that can be used to analyze the potential of your leads. Scoring places individuals into different categories based on how interested they are in purchasing products or services from you.
Lead scoring also allows you to monitor your best customers and make them want to purchase more products or services from you.
The result is that scoring helps you to sell more by focusing on the top tier of customers for your business. Lead scoring can be done manually or automated, but manual scoring takes a lot more time and effort.
Lead scoring best practices
Best lead scoring Practice: Lead scoring is a simple and effective way to keep track of your prospects and measure their interest and progress.
Lead scoring works best when coupled with lead management and lead nurturing.
Lead scoring platforms
- SharpSpring CRM and Marketing Automation Platform
- Keap – InfusionSoft
- HubSpot
- Adobe – Marketo
- Salesforce
SharpSpring lead scoring
SharpSpring lead scoring helps businesses identify the best marketing leads and provide insight into their customer-ready marketing campaigns. Scoring is one of the most important features of any marketing automation platform.
Lead scores to identify opportunities that are ready to be handed off to sales teams Lead scoring provides insight into how well different marketing campaigns perform.
How can lead scoring benefit your business?
Scoring provides insight into how well different marketing campaigns are performing.
- Lead scores to identify opportunities that are ready to be handed off to sales teams
- See a 30%+ boost in sales
- Lead scoring triggers different actions
- Scoring helps you prioritize your sales team’s efforts
- Lead scores range from -100 (least engaged) to 100 (most engaged)
- Lead scores provide insight into how customer-ready their marketing campaigns are
- lead scoring is an integral part of any marketing automation platform.
Manual lead scoring: What You Need to Know
Manually calculate your leads score by dividing the number of positive interactions (i.e., sales-worthy actions) by the number of negative interactions (i.e., unqualified actions).
There are many ways companies can automate scoring, but these three options work best:
- Lead scoring with SharpSpring
- Scoring through Google Analytics (under Behavior>Site Content>All Pages)
- Other CRM and marketing automation tools
With scoring, the more a lead interacts with you, the higher their score goes. This means that leads interacting with your business across multiple platforms and downloading educational content will be ranked as sales-qualified leads.
Lead scoring inbound lead generation
Inbound lead generation and Lead Management are growing more and more important for business marketing.
When you nurture your leads with Lead Management, scoring can also benefit your business.
Scoring allows you to evaluate how effective your lead nurturing strategies are on each lead, as well as the total number of leads successfully converted into customers (i.e., “sales pipeline”).
Scoring also highlights which leads are worth your time and effort, so you can better know where to invest the majority of your resources.
At first, scoring might seem complicated, but it is quite simple. Scoring can be done through an automated tool like SharpSpring.
Lead scoring through Google Analytics
Another way to do scoring with Google Analytics is by evaluating how different behaviors on your site affect how likely a lead is to convert. Scoring sites with Data Studio would be an example of this scoring through Google Analytics.
When scoring through Google Analytics, it’s important to remember that Lead grading can’t be done automatically. You’ll need to track each lead manually and then score them based on how likely they will convert.
Lead grading through Data Studio is a great way to figure out where you need improvement in lead management and lead nurturing strategies.
As with lead management, Data Studio must be used along with lead nurturing strategies that nurture leads regardless of their score or behavior.
In this way, Data Studio can help you determine which leads are sales-worthy and which leads are not sales-worthy (and can be passed on to the sales team).
Data Studio allows you to track each lead’s behavior on your site, and lead nurturing helps determine what content they should receive based on their score.
Types of lead scoring models
There are six different models of lead grading:
- AIDA
- Lead Value Model
- Lead Conversion Rate Model
- Lead Status Quo Model
- Lead Volume Model
- Lead Strength Model
The AIDA model is the oldest and most well-known lead, scoring model. AIDA stands for awareness, interest, desire, and action.
These four stages represent the process leads go through when deciding to buy a product or service.
The second type of scoring is Lead Value, and it assigns varying values to leads depending on how close they are to becoming a customer.
This model is most commonly used by companies willing to spend more money on their highest value leads and less money on low-value leads.
Lead Value is a better predictor of companies’ bottom line because it correlates revenue with the price tag associated with acquisition rather than the number of sales closed.
Lead Value models are particularly useful when calculating ROI because they factor in which lead was acquired for how much.
Lead Value models vary from Scoring Models: Lead Strength because Lead Value factors in a lead’s financial value whereas Lead Strength does not.
This type of lead scoring Model is used for companies who want to use data to predict future sales.
These leads are grouped by those who have been shown to convert and those who have not.
Lead Conversion Rate scoring is the most accurate of scoring models because it factors in volume and cost, unlike Lead Value.
Lead Conversion Rate takes into account how many leads convert to a sale, as well as the cost of each lead. Lead Conversion Rates can be divided into five categories – A (the highest value), B, C, D, and E (lowest value).
Lead Conversion Rate models are especially effective because of their predictive nature- it helps companies optimize their marketing efforts to increase the conversion rate of each lead category.
Lead Conversion Rates can also be used for scoring models: Lead Status Quo by identifying which groups are converting or not.
One of the major benefits of lead scoring is that scoring doesn’t focus on Lead Quantity, and scoring is more about Lead Quality:
Lead Interests and Lead Behaviors.
Scoring, in this aspect, can be seen as a process whereby your Lead Score is calculated based on the Lead Metric and Lead Selection Method.
Lead Selection Method is the type of lead you would like to receive: web form submissions, phone calls, or responses to an email marketing campaign.
It is important to understand your customers vs. prospects.
Other scoring models:
Logistic regression lead scoring
Logistic regression lead scoring is a scoring method that calculates Lead Scores based on Lead Metric and Lead Selection Method.
The lead selection method is what type of Lead you want: web form, phone call, or response to an email marketing campaign.
Lead Score is calculated by the Lead Metric and Lead Selection Method, then converted into a range from 0 to 1. Lead Selections Methods may not accurately reflect what you want–resulting in inaccurate Lead Scores.
The example below (see image) displays how logistic regression scoring can be used when using webform submissions as your Lead Selection Method:
(L) lead score;
(M) logistic regression equation;
(N) lead metric (in this example, Lead Quality)
Lead Score: A lead Score is a number between 0 and 1 based on Lead Metric and Lead Selection Method.
Lead Metric: Lead Metric can be unique to your business or industry; however, you will most likely use ‘Lead Quality’ for webform submissions. To keep Lead Score simple to understand, Lead Quality can be viewed as Lead Value.
Lead selection method
If you’re unsure whether your lead selection method is accurate, ask yourself these questions: Does this accurately reflect what I want? Does this provide actionable lead data?
Lead Quality is the lead metric that measures lead interest maturity and lead engagement level.
Advanced scoring strategies
Advanced lead scoring strategies are a crucial technique marketers use to make scoring more powerful. Scoring is a process of assigning Lead Scores to Leads based on Lead behavior and scoring rules.
It’s largely based on historical Lead data, but it can also be done proactively with lead grading rules that use predictive Lead scoring models. Advanced scoring techniques include:
- Value-based lead scoring: where not all Leads are created equal–scoring may vary if the Lead has been in contact with the company before;
- Predictive lead scoring: advanced methods of predicting which leads will become customers;
- Conversational lead grading: focuses on past customer-company interactions;
- Range-based lead scoring: evaluates lead scores based on Lead’s score range.
Predictive lead scoring
Predictive lead scoring is the statistical process of assigning a probability to a lead’s potential to convert. Scoring can be calculated manually with scoring rules, but it automatically happens using lead scoring software.
Scoring has been used across many industries because it helps prioritize and qualify customers and leads according to their likelihood of becoming customer leads.
- Helps marketers focus on high-value customers that are most likely to become buyers;
- Determines how much time and resources should be allocated;
- Creates targets for marketing campaigns; and,
- Improves conversion rates by setting goals. SharpSpring’s ead scoring tailors scoring to match its clients’ needs.
Importance of lead scoring for lead generation
Scoring is an essential part of lead generation, especially in the early stages.
Leads grading helps marketers determine which leads are worth their time and resources, both short-term and long-term.
Leads grading also provides a lead’s expected lead value (i.e., how many conversions or revenue it will produce), allowing marketers to make more accurate lead generation plans for current and future lead generations.
Lead scoring helps marketers understand lead quality and predict lead potentially to close, resulting in more targeted lead generation campaigns that generate fewer non-qualified leads.
The ROI of lead scoring
As lead generation becomes more competitive, scoring has become an essential part of lead generation. Leads grading helps marketers identify which leads are worth their time and resources by providing the lead’s score.
Scoring provides a lead score, which ranks how high-value the lead is about other leads. Scoring also provides a predicted lead value (i.e., how many conversions or revenue it will produce) and helps marketers make better plans for targeted lead generations.
This means less wasted money on non-qualified leads without having to spend significant amounts of time qualifying the lead themselves. All of this ultimately translates to more ROI for your company.
Lead scoring with SharpSpring
One of the easiest scoring strategies is using Lead Personalizer within SharpSpring.
We calculate your Lead Score based on your lead selection method and Lead Metric, and then we personalize your scoring based on Lead Personalizer’s Lead Interest Categories.
Lead Interest Categories allow you to create a group of lead Interests that match certain demographic qualities.
Why your business needs lead scoring
Lead scoring is a process that can be implemented to increase sales. A lead score is a way to use data to calculate sales-ready leads.
Lead scoring is beneficial because it helps you identify qualified leads and those who are not interested in purchasing from you.
Lead grading has been shown to increase sales for many businesses, making it an important topic to consider regardless of your business type.
Conclusion
Lead scoring for your company means asking questions about the lead’s past interactions with your company and assigning a lead Score based on the answer.
Leads graded also means determining how likely it is for this lead to purchase from you, as well as adjusting the lead score as the prospect moves through your pipeline.
A lead score platform has been shown to increase sales for many businesses, making it an important topic to consider if you want increased ROI in 2022 (and beyond). All of this ultimately translates into more ROI for your business!
Lead scoring is a confusing concept. How can you use data to calculate sales-worthy leads? The lead score system helps you quantify the lead’s potential lead scores identify opportunities ready to be handed off to sales teams.
A lead score platform can help you automate lead nurturing lead scoring works best when paired with lead Management. lead scoring triggers different actions.
With SharpSpring, it’s easy to set up and manage your customized lead score. You get full control over how points are assigned for specific actions, giving you insight into which marketing campaigns are working best and where your team should focus their efforts.
Get started today by signing up for a free trial of SharpSpring! We offer competitive pricing on our plans so everyone from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies can make the most of our marketing automation software.
FAQs
What are the benefits of lead scoring in SharpSpring CRM?
Lead scoring allows marketers to quickly identify potential customers, increase conversion rates and ultimately close more sales. lead scoring engines to assign points (a lead Score) for different lead attributes based on your marketing efforts—and once you calculate the lead score, the system ranks lead by lead Score to show which of these qualified opportunities are likely to convert into sales at higher rates.
Why are lead scores important for sales?
Lead scoring is a process often used by sales and marketing professionals to qualify leads and assess their likely conversion rate into sales. Lead scoring assigns points to different actions or attributes like: clicking on a link, signing up for an account, and purchasing items. Lead scores can be calculated using simple formulas such as the number of sign-ups x $1,000 = Lead Score.
How does lead scoring work?
Lead scoring is a process often used by sales and marketing professionals to qualify leads and assess their likely conversion rate into sales.
