I’m not sure anyone really asks, “What’s your sign?” as a pick-up line these days, but with the rising popularity of marketing automation, perhaps more people should be asking, “What’s your score…lead score, to be exact?”

Isn’t it every sales person’s dream to know exactly how qualified a prospect is and the intended purchase timeframe?  By knowing this information, sales could focus on the hottest prospects – the ones that are in the buying phase and judged most likely to close.  The remaining leads could receive additional follow-up communications until they move closer to the decision-making process.

Using the lead scoring feature within a marketing automation system, this dream scenario can become reality.  Lead scoring tracks the leads’ interaction with your website, emails, online events, etc, and then automatically assigns a numerical value.

The guesswork associated with a prospect’s level of engagement is substantially reduced, if not eliminated, because you can assess interest based on a finite value…the lead score.  Additionally, the score is adjusted automatically by the system so you don’t need to login each time an event occurs and adjust the score manually (although that can be done if an offline action occurs that necessitates a change in the score).

To get started thinking about how lead scoring applies to your lead database, imagine the different actions, attributes or behaviors a lead might have that would make him/her more qualified.  Here is a quick list of lead criteria that we’ve found particularly helpful:

Visitor attributes

• Referred by a high-value lead source such as a technology partner, application exchange website, etc
• Searched for a specific keyword strand that implies familiarity like brand or product name
• Came to the website from a specific geographical area where your company is well-positioned

Website activity

• Clicked on a high-value link such as a white paper download
• Viewed a certain amount of pages or spent a specified length of time on your site
• Returned to the website multiple times
• Submitted an inquiry form such as “Contact Us” or subscribed to your Blog feed

Emails

• Clicked on specific links within the email or went to landing pages
• Interacted with a specific number of emails received

Online events

• Registered or attended an event such as a webinar

As you can see, the possibilities of assigning and adjusting a lead score based on a lead’s attributes or actions are limitless and provide a great way to identify the most qualified leads without adding manual bulk or processes.  Here’s to knowing your leads’ scores instead of their signs!

I met with a client this morning who currently uses Net-Results to track website visitors and identify companies coming to her site. When she sees one who could be a good prospect, she picks up the phone and attempts to call the person who came to her site. She doesn’t always get to the right person, but she does typically make contact with someone in the organization and has a good initial prospecting call. When I asked her how she normally follows up with those prospects, she said she generally handwrites notes and mails them. I thought that was a great idea – very few people do that because email is just easier – so it really makes her standout. But, I felt that the combination of handwritten notes and automated lead nurturing could further enhance her follow-up strategy and give her greater insight into the actual interest level of her prospects. Read more

The term marketing automation has been around for some years now, and many (like us) in the industry believe this term to be pretty commonplace.  Truthfully, however, I can’t tell you the number of times we get blank stares or bits of awkward pauses when we say ‘marketing automation’ with prospective customers, and even prospective channel partners. Then I will say something like “What if you could identify the real prospects who are visiting your site, the things they are interested in, and how often they are visiting? Then you could follow up with an integrated email campaign targeted at a variety of segments based on their interests, behaviors and feedback? And provide scoring and nurturing of these leads within your system, all the while tying it into your CRM system and passing it on to salespeople to turn that information into revenue?” Read more