As a marketer or a business owner, you are focused on generating more leads.

Source: Marketoonist

The magic lies in learning how to run a successful lead-generation campaign.

However, lead generation is only the first step in identifying your new customer. The bigger challenge is identifying leads that pay! 

But how do you identify high-quality leads? 

Enter lead scoring!

Like they say, “Don’t win a battle to lose the war.” 😉

Lead scoring helps you segregate prospects who are just casual visitors to your website or social media channels, from the prospects with a medium-level interest to those with a great deal of interest in your product or service.

The video below breaks down the basics of lead scoring in great detail:

Source: Youtube

How does lead scoring work?

Lead scoring includes a 2-step process:

1. The process begins with determining each criterion that suggests some chances of the lead being sales-ready.
   
   
2. Based on each of those criteria, a score is assigned to that lead.

The sum of the individual scores gives you the total score for each lead that depicts the chances of converting it into a buying customer. In a nutshell, it differentiates a purchase-interested prospect from a less interested or a disinterested one. 

To begin your lead scoring journey, you must first make a lead scoring model.

What is a lead scoring model?

A lead scoring template or lead scoring model lays down set parameters that assign numerical values to user behavior. These values then guide you to identify who your potential customers are.

But can you use a lead scoring model designed and used by any other business for your business?

The answer is no!

Since each business is unique, so are its lead-scoring methodologies. There is no one-size-fits-all approach applicable here!

How do you begin the lead-scoring process? The best part about lead scoring is you can scale it as you go! You can start with a basic template, and then add details that help you find prospects that much easier.

This would help prevent wasting time on unworthy leads and focus more on the hot leads.

Source: Leadsquared

We have several amazing lead scoring tools available today that can help you streamline your scoring processes and ensure that you are using lead scoring properly.

Key components of a successful lead scoring model

As mentioned already, each lead scoring model needs to be tweaked for your usage and preferences. To build a lead scoring model that works well for you, start by creating an ideal customer profile (ICP).

Your ICP should be informed by several important data points. This includes demographic information like age group, gender & location, online behavior such as engagement with website content or ad clicks, history of transacting with your business, the origin of the lead, and the revenue their business generates annually.

Once your ICP is ready, you can start using lead-scoring software. Most CRMs already have a built-in one, so you don’t have to go out of your way to find something new!

Once you have a hold on the basics, you can move on to more advanced practices, like learning how to implement lead routing like a boss!

How helpful is lead scoring?

As per a study by DemandGen Report, 41% of those who participated, saw an incremental conversion rate when they adopted lead scoring methodology. 

Now that’s an encouraging number for anyone still thinking of including lead scoring in their business!

Compare that to another number: 66% of businesses do not use any kind of lead scoring. That means you can give yourself an edge just by applying this useful, yet rather straightforward method.

Moving on to the most important part of the blog: What is the importance of lead scoring for your business?

How a well-structured lead scoring system helps your business

Your marketing campaigns turn out to be successful

A lead scoring model helps you identify which marketing campaigns and channels brought high-quality leads into your system. Based on the findings, you can go ahead and tweak your marketing strategy to run a more successful lead generation campaign and bring in more leads that need little nurturing before they purchase from you.

Your sales and marketing departments are well-calibrated

With no results-driven lead scoring system in place, your marketing and sales wings feel unaligned. Having a well-built lead scoring system ensures that each lead that the marketing team passes on to the sales team would be a marketing-qualified lead (MQL). 

It means that the marketing team does the job of retaining the high-quality leads, ignoring the pointless ones, and nurturing the medium-interest ones before passing them on to the sales team, for them to follow up and convert them into a paying customer. 

A typical lead recycling process for medium-interest leads is depicted in the image below.

Source: Marketo

When there is a consistent inflow of qualified leads for the sales team to do their job, there is a stronger relationship between the marketing and sales teams and a better alignment of their processes.

Improved lead prioritization and segmentation lead to higher conversion rates

Once you have an effective lead-scoring model in place, you can categorize leads based on their likelihood to convert. 

This helps you improve lead quality and ensures that you don’t waste time on cold leads. It helps you strategize to turn warm leads hot and convert them as quickly as possible. 

Increased business awareness

Even if leads do not convert, your interaction with them still ensures that they might reach out when they are ready. 

Your unconverted leads may also recommend you to their friends or colleagues to whom your products or services might be more suited.

Personalized messaging

Identifying leads based on their readiness to convert is a great way to personalize your messaging based on where your lead is in their customer journey. 

This helps you deliver meaningful content to your potential customers that they want to consume. Always remember, the best ads never feel like ads. 😉

More efficient resource allocation

Like any other business, you need to ensure that your employees are making the best use of their time. 

Lead scoring ensures that your team does not waste time on leads that are not likely to convert, which means you use your valuable man-hours on more productive things. 

Your business generates a higher ROI

Reaching out to interested leads on time is a game-changer!

In fast-paced businesses, even a single-day delay may lose you a potential client. When you are focusing on leads that have a higher lead score and are more qualified, you generate a better ROI for your business.

To put this in numbers, as per Marketing Sherpa, organizations using lead scoring methodology witness a 77% increase in their ROI.

Whopping, right?

On to your journey towards lead-scoring success

Most businesses do not follow a tactical lead-scoring process. Not being able to identify a high-quality lead from a pool of leads hampers their growth trajectory by a great deal. 

These businesses spend a lot of time trying to convert worthless leads and miss out on high-potential customers.

Having a well-strategized lead-scoring methodology in place assists businesses by aligning the marketing and sales teams and making them more efficient in their processes. They then can understand which leads to focus on and which leads to pass over. 

What are you waiting for? Have a detailed meeting with your team, devise your lead scoring model, and start counting your gains!

Need help with lead scoring or RevOps solutions for your business? Our experts at RevX would be delighted to assist you!