Create an effective lead scoring system in 7 steps

An effective lead score model helps you target your most likely prospects and saves time and effort. A lead score helps you categorise your prospects according to their behaviour and characteristics.

A lead score can be used:

To target low scoring leads that need more attention and interaction. Some prospects may require a more rigorous campaign to eventually become a purchasing customer.
To understand the behaviour of your customers and the characteristics that lead to a purchase.
Identify your most loyal customers. There’s a set of satisfied loyal fans which you can identify by the rate of engagement. These customers often give you suggestions and feedback and deserve special treatment.
A standard to target leads. The marketing and sales teams get an insight into every lead and they can design their strategies accordingly. They can then target specific areas that need improvement to generate valuable prospects.
Refining the marketing messages. Your high scoring leads may not need a very aggressive marketing strategy because they are already your permanent contacts. By categorising, some less interesting leads could be targeted with an entirely different approach.

Some common mistakes that are made while developing a lead score system are;

Failing to include both characteristics and behaviour. It is important to include multiple rules and scores based on the characteristics and behaviour of the prospects.
Scoring based on a whim. It is easy to judge the importance of a rule simply by logic. But this can lead to an unbalanced scoring system. Instead, companies should assign points to each category and from there the points can be distributed to rules to create a balanced lead score.
Using a very simple system. Using a very simple and generalised scoring system will divide your good and bad prospects but won’t separate the best ones from the good.

Following is a stepwise method to create an effective and balanced lead scoring system;

What are your requirements? By defining a minimum criterion that passes a prospect into your system. This could be something as simple as the age eligibility.
Target Market – Target Market means identifying the typical characteristics of your customer that fit according to your product. These characteristics may or may not exist in your current prospects. The idea is to know the demographics and psychographics of your customer to target then with well-tailored messages.
Ideal Lead – You will identify the characteristics of your best lead so that a certain rule is set to score prospects. A sales team can be helpful in this regard as they have information about the deals and purchase patterns of the customer.
Customer Behaviour – The focus is now shifted from the qualities to the behaviour of the lead. A follow up can help you identify the most crucial and common behaviours of the lead. This may be something as simple as email replies or product trials.
Scoring System – Companies use different scoring systems. Some companies only need a 1-100 score scale while others require a ‘thousands’ digit system to include additional options. If your company deals with multiple types of leads, you would need an elaborate scoring scale that helps you refine the prospects. For instance, you can identify the small, medium and large businesses on a ‘thousands’ scale. The hundreds and tens digits would represent the purchase behaviour, characteristics, and engagement which would help your team make a decision. A well-designed scale wouldn’t even let a bad lead reach your sales team. Using a systems like ClickFunnels of AcitveCampaign will help you to get this right.
Distribution of Points – You have a system, it’s time to distribute your points. The purpose is to assign scores to categories in a logical way for a meaningful, balanced score. A well-developed system would give appropriate scores to fit and interest rules.
Refine – It is essential to review your scoring system regularly for further improvement. You can decide a time frame e.g. 30 days, when the system analysed for adjustments and new lead rules. A lead system can’t stay perfect for all times. It needs to be modified over time.