HubSpot lead scoring is a feature within the HubSpot CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that helps businesses identify and prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert into customers.
It’s a way to assign a numerical value (or "score") to each lead, which indicates how “sales-ready” the lead is, based on their behavior, interactions, and fit with your business criteria. The higher the score, the more likely the lead is to convert into a paying customer.
This handy tool plays a key role in helping marketing teams qualify leads and helping sales teams prioritize leads. Read on to discover the benefits of lead scoring and how to implement your own lead scoring.
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How Lead Scoring Works
HubSpot allows you to define what constitutes a “good” lead by setting scoring criteria based on demographic data (like job title, company size, etc.) and behavioral data (such as website visits, email opens, form submissions, etc.).
You can assign positive scores for actions that suggest interest in your business (like visiting a pricing page or downloading a case study) and negative scores for actions that indicate lower interest (like unsubscribing from emails).
Once a lead reaches a certain score, it can be considered sales qualified and passed on to the sales team for follow-up. The qualification threshold can vary depending on your business's needs.
Even better, HubSpot’s automation features can trigger notifications to your sales team when a lead hits this threshold, ensuring that the most promising leads are prioritized.
Why Lead Scoring Is Important
By assigning a numerical value to leads based on their likelihood to convert into paying customers, lead scoring provides several key advantages that directly impact a company’s sales and marketing performance.
Helps Prioritize High-Quality Leads
Lead scoring enables businesses to identify the most promising leads, ensuring that sales teams focus their efforts on prospects who are most likely to convert.
By scoring leads based on both behavioral and demographic factors, businesses can prioritize leads with the highest potential. This increases the likelihood of closing deals and prevents sales teams from wasting time on leads that are not a good fit or are still in the early stages of awareness.
Improves Sales and Marketing Alignment
Lead scoring fosters better alignment between sales and marketing teams. When both departments use the same system to assess lead quality, they can work together more effectively.
Marketing can create content and campaigns that target high-scoring leads, while sales can follow up with those leads at the right time. This alignment leads to smoother handoffs and reduces miscommunication, helping to close deals faster.
Increases Conversion Rates
By focusing efforts on the highest-scoring leads, businesses can significantly increase their conversion rates. Sales teams spend less time chasing unqualified leads and more time on individuals who have demonstrated interest in the product or service.
Lead scoring ensures that the leads you’re pursuing are not just interested, but ready for conversion, ultimately making your sales process more efficient.
Personalizes the Customer Journey
With lead scoring, businesses can deliver more personalized marketing messages. If a lead scores high based on specific actions, such as visiting a product page multiple times or downloading a whitepaper, marketing can tailor the messaging to match that lead’s interests.
Personalization at this stage can significantly improve engagement, increase the chances of conversion, and foster stronger relationships with prospects.
Streamlines the Sales Process
Lead scoring helps eliminate time wasted on leads that are unlikely to convert. By evaluating leads automatically and assigning scores based on set criteria, the sales process becomes much more streamlined.
Salespeople are only dealing with leads who meet a certain threshold, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth and improving overall sales productivity.
Improves Marketing ROI
Lead scoring helps marketing teams understand which campaigns and tactics are generating the most valuable leads. By measuring which behaviors lead to higher-scoring leads, marketers can optimize their efforts to focus on channels and activities that produce the best return on investment (ROI). This data-driven approach helps avoid wasting resources on ineffective marketing activities.
Predicts Future Sales Success
Over time, lead scoring helps companies predict future sales success. By analyzing historical data and patterns, businesses can fine-tune their lead scoring models to identify traits and behaviors that lead to successful conversions. Predictive lead scoring, powered by AI in platforms like HubSpot, can automatically adjust scoring based on new patterns, making it easier to spot high-potential leads earlier.
Types of Lead Scores
Understanding the different types of lead scoring—behavioral scoring and demographic scoring—is essential for optimizing your sales and marketing efforts. These two approaches allow businesses to identify which leads are most likely to convert, ensuring a more targeted and efficient sales process.
Behavioral Scoring
Behavioral scoring focuses on the actions and engagement a lead has with your content. For example:
- Opens an email: +5 points
- Clicks on a call-to-action (CTA): +10 points
- Visits a specific product page: +15 points
- Fills out a form: +20 points The more a lead interacts with your content, the higher their score climbs.
Demographic Scoring
Demographic scoring is based on a lead’s attributes, such as:
- Job title: Decision-makers may receive higher scores than non-decision-makers.
- Company size: Leads from companies that fit your target customer profile may get higher scores.
- Industry: Certain industries may be more aligned with your business and thus more valuable.
HubSpot Lead Scoring Models
HubSpot supports both manual scoring (where you set up the scores for various actions and demographics) and predictive lead scoring (using HubSpot's AI-driven tools to predict the likelihood of a lead converting based on historical data and patterns).
Predictive lead scoring improves over time as it learns from past lead behavior, whereas manual scoring must be edited and adjusted over time by your team.
Manual Lead Scoring
Manual lead scoring involves assigning values to leads based on specific criteria that sales and marketing teams manually determine. This type of scoring can be customized to align with your business's unique goals, buyer personas, and sales processes.
For example, sales teams may manually score leads higher if they meet specific characteristics such as being in a target market, having a high-level job title, or expressing strong interest in your product or service during direct interactions (like a phone call or email).
While manual lead scoring can be highly flexible and tailored, it does have its limitations. It relies on human judgment and can be time-consuming, especially as lead volume increases. However, for smaller teams or businesses with a well-defined ideal customer profile, this method can work well to prioritize leads based on personal insights and expertise.
Predictive Lead Scoring
Predictive lead scoring takes a more data-driven approach by utilizing machine learning algorithms and historical data to predict which leads are most likely to convert. Rather than manually assigning values to specific criteria, predictive scoring analyzes patterns from past customer behaviors, engagement data, and attributes to identify trends that correlate with successful conversions.
For example, a predictive scoring system might analyze factors like how often leads visit your website, how long they spend on product pages, and how they interact with your content to determine the likelihood of conversion. By integrating tools like HubSpot's predictive lead scoring, companies can automatically score leads based on their behavior and past performance, which allows sales teams to focus on high-potential leads without manually tracking every interaction.
Predictive lead scoring is particularly useful for large-scale businesses with high volumes of leads, as it provides more automation and accuracy, removing much of the guesswork from the sales process. However, it can also require significant data input and technical setup, and the accuracy depends on the quality of the data and algorithms used.
HubSpot Lead Scoring Attributes
Choosing the right attributes for lead scoring is a critical step in ensuring that your lead scoring system is effective and helps prioritize the leads most likely to convert. Attributes should be selected based on factors that are directly tied to your business goals, buyer personas, and past customer behaviors. Here's how to go about it:
Analyze Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Start by identifying the characteristics of your ideal customer. This typically involves analyzing past customers or leads that have successfully converted. The more specific you can be about their attributes, the more accurate your lead scoring will be. Some key attributes to consider include:
- Job Title: Is your target customer a decision-maker like a CEO, CTO, or a procurement officer? Higher-level titles often indicate a more qualified lead.
- Industry: Some industries may be more likely to purchase your product or service. Identify which industries tend to convert at a higher rate.
- Company Size: Larger companies might need more complex solutions or have a bigger budget, while smaller companies might be more agile and easier to close.
Behavioral Indicators
Behavioral data can provide insight into a lead’s level of interest and readiness to buy. Leads who engage more with your content are likely to be more qualified. Consider attributes like:
- Website Visits: How often does the lead visit your website, and which pages do they frequent? For example, if they visit product-specific pages or pricing pages, that’s a strong sign of intent.
- Email Engagement: How does the lead interact with your email campaigns? High engagement, such as opening emails or clicking on CTAs, should be assigned higher scores.
- Content Interaction: Leads who consume high-value content like whitepapers, webinars, or case studies are showing deeper interest.
Demographic Data
Demographic attributes are crucial for filtering out unqualified leads. Here are some common demographic data points to use in scoring:
- Company Revenue/Size: Larger companies might have a bigger budget but also a longer buying cycle, while smaller businesses might be quicker to make decisions.
- Geography: Are the leads in your target regions? Leads outside your service areas may not be worth pursuing.
- Technology Usage: If you sell software or technical products, knowing which technology a company already uses can help you gauge how easily they’ll adopt your solution.
Buying Intent and Engagement
Understand where the lead is in their buying journey. A lead who has interacted with sales calls or filled out a demo request form is likely more interested in purchasing. Attributes that reflect intent include:
- Form Submissions: Leads who fill out forms for demos, consultations, or quotes should be scored higher, as they are showing a strong interest in making a purchase.
- Product Trials or Demos: Leads who sign up for free trials or book product demos are expressing direct intent to evaluate your offering.
- Requesting Pricing Information: Leads who inquire about pricing, discounts, or deals should be considered hot leads.
Negative Attributes
Sometimes it’s just as important to know what to avoid. Negative attributes are red flags that can help you deprioritize leads who are unlikely to convert. For example:
- Out of Territory: Leads outside your target regions or countries can be marked with a negative score.
- Non-decision Makers: Leads without purchasing authority (e.g., a junior staff member) might be scored lower.
- Irrelevant Industry or Company Size: Leads from industries or company sizes that are not a good fit for your product should be assigned a lower score.
How to set up lead scoring in HubSpot
Setting up lead scoring in HubSpot involves creating a custom lead scoring model based on both demographic and behavioral attributes, so you can effectively prioritize leads that are most likely to convert. HubSpot makes this process simple with its intuitive interface and automated scoring features. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up lead scoring in HubSpot:
Step 1: Access Lead Scoring Settings
- Login to HubSpot: Go to your HubSpot account and log in.
- Navigate to Lead Scoring:
- Go to your Account Settings by clicking the gear icon in the top-right corner.
- In the left-hand sidebar, select Objects > Contacts.
- Under the Lead Scoring section, you’ll see a default lead scoring property and the option to customize it.
- Create or Edit Lead Scoring:
- You can create a new custom lead scoring property or edit the default one. HubSpot allows you to assign positive and negative scores based on various criteria.
Step 2: Define Your Scoring Criteria
You need to decide which attributes (demographic or behavioral) will be assigned points based on their importance to your business. This can include both positive (for attributes that show engagement or intent) and negative (for attributes that indicate a poor fit) scoring.
Demographic Criteria:
- Job Titles: Score higher for decision-makers, such as CEOs or Directors.
- Company Size: Score leads higher if they come from your target-sized companies.
- Industry: If you target specific industries, you can assign higher points to leads from those industries.
- Location: If geography matters, assign points based on their region or country.
Behavioral Criteria:
- Email Engagement: Assign points for actions like opening an email (+5), clicking a link (+10), or downloading an asset (+15).
- Website Interactions: Score higher for visiting product pages, pricing pages, or the blog section.
- Form Submissions: Leads that fill out forms should be assigned higher points, especially if they request demos or trials (+20).
- Trial Sign-ups: For SaaS or tech companies, scoring trials and demo requests higher can show real intent.
Step 3: Set Positive and Negative Attributes
Positive Scoring: For every attribute, assign points that reflect the lead’s engagement and relevance to your target audience. For example:
- Website visit to product page: +15 points
- Clicked CTA in an email: +10 points
- Filled out contact form: +20 points
- Attended a webinar: +25 points
Negative Scoring: Identify attributes that reduce a lead’s likelihood to convert, such as:
- Lead is outside your service area: -10 points
- Lead has a non-decision-making title: -5 points
- Lead belongs to a non-target industry: -15 points
- Email bounces or unsubscribes: -20 points
Step 4: Set Up Automation
HubSpot allows you to automate actions based on a lead’s score. For example, once a lead reaches a certain score threshold, HubSpot can trigger certain workflows or alerts to notify the sales team. Here’s how to set it up:
Create a Workflow:
- Go to your Workflows tool in HubSpot and select “Create Workflow.”
- Choose a Start Trigger based on the lead score (e.g., “Lead Score is above 50”).
- Add actions like Send internal notification or Create a task for sales.
- You can automate email workflows for leads at different stages of engagement, triggering content based on their score.
Step 5: Review and Adjust Your Lead Scoring Model
After your lead scoring system is set up, it’s crucial to monitor the effectiveness of your lead scoring over time. HubSpot’s analytics tools can help you track how well your scoring is working by providing insights into which leads are converting and which are stagnating. Be sure to:
- Review regularly: Adjust scores based on the type of leads converting and the feedback from your sales team.
- Test and iterate: Experiment with different scoring strategies, such as giving more weight to form submissions or interaction with high-value content.
Step 6: Monitor Lead Scoring Performance
Once you've set up your lead scoring, keep an eye on your results. HubSpot offers performance tracking and analytics, which allows you to see if your lead scoring criteria are effective in converting high-quality leads. Here’s how to monitor:
- Lead Conversion: Track how well scored leads are converting to customers.
- Sales Alignment: Check if your sales team is aligned with the lead scores and whether they’re following up with high-scoring leads promptly.
Conclusion
Setting up lead scoring in HubSpot is a powerful way to prioritize leads based on engagement and relevance to your business. By customizing your scoring model and using automation to act on high-quality leads, you can streamline your sales process, focus on the most promising leads, and improve conversion rates.
