Lead scoring: What is it and what is it for?
What is Lead Scoring
Lead Scoring is an automatic qualification made of lead prospects to identify their relevance to the company, based on different criteria.
In general, these qualifications are linked to the Lead when it is within the conversion funnel (when the possibility of transaction is more likely, further along in the process), how loyal it is and / or the frequency, recency and purchase amounts of each one.
The criteria by which each company qualifies its Leads may vary. Perhaps in some companies, aspects such as the interaction of prospects with the brand or their degree of similarity with the Buyer Persona are evaluated. Everything is valid, as long as it is related to the objectives of each company.
Is it suspicious that all this can be done automatically?
The future is already here and now we have to make the most of it.
If you can use this qualification technique correctly, you will be able to offer your current and potential clients much richer, more timely and valuable experiences. Do you know what all this translates to? Into higher turnover and more effective loyalty.
What is the potential of Lead Scoring?
The greatest benefit of using this qualification has to do with the possibility of offering each Lead adequate content. This will ensure that those who are likely to make a purchase obtain the final motivation to do so and those who have just met you, for example, receive communications aimed at increasing trust with the brand.
This is exactly what Inbound Marketing is about, and it is difficult today to generate good results and differentiate yourself from fierce competition. Unfortunately, some companies resort to invasive advertising.
For this reason, companies are currently betting on content as a technique to attract potential customers and then convert them into brand buyers.
What cannot be denied, although it sounds a bit cruel, is that not all prospects are (or should be) equally important to us. Why? Because inevitably a person who spends more money on our brand, who buys frequently, who is very loyal and who recommends us in his circle, has more value.
In turn, a potential client that exactly matches the profile of our Buyer Persona should be more interesting than another.
It is important then, that we distribute efforts and resources in such a way that in the medium term we generate a higher Return on Investment.
Of course, we are not going to dismiss those users who just know us or buy less frequently, but we are going to dedicate other types of attention and content to them.
Taking user interactions into account to detect and take advantage of business opportunities can become a much more efficient mechanism for generating income.
If you do not work with a well segmented and qualified Database, your Marketing actions may lose effectiveness and the interest of your Subscribers in turn declines, when receiving uninteresting content.
How to implement a Lead Scoring strategy
There are many alternatives and different levels at which you can put this grading technique into practice.
For example, if you have a List of Subscribers that you work through Email Marketing, you can use Lead Scoring to know the value of each Lead according to the interactions they have with your Campaigns.
Do they open your emails? Do they interact with them? Do they forward the contents to their acquaintances? Do they share the content on their social networks? Those are just some of the criteria that could be considered.
Tools like Doppler include this functionality so that you can have automatic Lead Scoring and thus correctly segment your content.
There are also more advanced processes that are considered when rating aspects such as frequency of purchase, amounts, categories and other factors of this type.
In all cases and whatever the tool, a numerical score is usually applied to each Lead based on compliance with the criteria that have been considered.
It is always essential that the Marketing Department work in this way, alongside the salesperson in order to exchange information and be clear about the moment when the sales team must take control of each prospect to continue the process and try to convert them into customers of the brand.
Thus, you will ensure that the sales team does not use resources in vain to work with potential clients who are still unready to purchase or who don’t belong to the target audience. And, in turn, you won’t let those are not quite ready to buy, fall away.
With this information, you now have enough to understand what Lead Scoring is about and to be able to consider including it in your strategy.
If you want to know the meaning of other Digital Marketing terms in detail visit the Metricool Dictionary.
