Tag Archive for: Lead Scoring

Lead Liaison

Three Key Rules for Developing Lead Forms

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Three Key Rules for Developing Lead FormsB2B marketers have a plethora of tools available to gather information about marketing leads. One of the more effective methods is using online lead forms. Using a form to capture relevant data about a lead allows you to organize leads, personalize marketing messages, and score behaviors. There are three key rules for developing lead forms.

Developing effective forms requires thoughtful consideration about what information you want to gather and how forms will be used within a lead nurturing system. The first rule of lead form development is: don’t get greedy! Asking for too much information too early in the qualification and nurturing process can put any future relationship at risk. The most effective lead forms for a newsletter subscription or white paper download will only ask for a name and email address. Once the email address is collected it becomes an alternate communication channel, and an opportunity to deepen the relationship. So ask for minimum information up front then earn permission to request more.

The second rule of lead form development: keep it fresh! Rotating questions is a form development technique in which new questions are posed each time a lead revisits a form. For instance, a lead that visits a product page must enter a registered user name and answer a few questions that reveal qualifying criteria – such as company size, revenues, and industry – in exchange for an in-depth video about the product’s features. The next time that lead visits the same product page, she enters her username and answers three different questions that reveal need – such as purpose for visiting page or growth expectations – in exchange for a live chat Q & A session.

Protecting personal identifiers should be an essential factor in developing lead forms to gather information. Therefore, the third rule of lead form development is: keep it safe! Security verification certificates are commonplace among internet vendors providing online transactions, and should be included in any marketing page that contains a form. Secure socket layer (SSL) certificates present you as a trusted vendor to your leads, and can provide them peace of mind when sharing company information.

A final note: default form fields should be left blank. If your form has a default setting which returns a certain score in your lead scoring matrix, then the possibility exists that the lead will not select the another option. Often a lead will plow through a form by selecting the default option. Therefore, the score may be inadvertently skewed, and worse, not clearly represent a lead’s actual circumstance. For example, using “executive” as a default setting for a lead’s position may not clearly specify her position within the organization. If the associated score for a response of “executive” is 100, but the lead turns out to be a middle manager with a score of 15, then the resulting score won’t accurately reflect that lead’s appropriateness.

Lead Liaison offers companies professional-grade web form and landing page design solutions.  If you’re interested in visually creating forms and landing pages using drag/drop technology and using advanced techniques such as progressive profiling, form pre-fill and more let us know! We’d love to earn your business.

Lead Liaison

Use Lead Scoring to Increase the Chance of Conversion

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Use lead scoring to increase the chance of conversion. Marketing departments are collecting endless leads through demand generation activities such as email list sign-ups, events, and website registrations. Every lead has a unique profile and potential based on how they were obtained. Lead scoring is a powerful tool that can dramatically increase a company’s chance of conversion by ranking and qualifying leads prior to handing them over to the sales department.

Use Lead Scoring to Increase the Chance of Conversion

Identifies where they are in the buying cycle

Every lead is at a different point in their buying cycle. Lead scoring rates each lead using a pre-determined set of criteria to identify both their potential to purchase and their behavioral triggers. This method allows only leads with a high likelihood of conversion to be given to sales, which will ultimately increase the chances of turning each scored lead into a sale.

Buyers online activity is priceless

Savvy buyers are spending more and more time researching products online prior to purchasing. Their online activity is a clear indicator of their interest and position within the buying process. This information can be priceless, when scored and ranked.

Prioritize based on the ideal lead

Lead scoring starts with a relevant list of criteria that is based on the ideal lead profile. The criteria should determine which leads have the highest potential for conversion and which are still in the infant stages of their buying cycle. By prioritizing leads, a company can redirect leads that are not ready to purchase back to the marketing department for further lead nurturing.

Improve the efficiency of the sales team

This process will improve the efficiency of the sales department, since they will no longer be wasting their time on unqualified or unlikely leads. Lead scoring also provides a more in depth profile of a quality lead’s characteristics, making it easier for sales to relate to specific leads and hopefully convert them into a new stream of revenue.

Quality over quantity

The number of leads given to the sales department will most likely drop significantly, but the odds of converting the leads they do receive will more than make up for it.  Statistics show that lead scoring can increase the chance of conversion by up to 80%.

Increased chance of connecting with a lead

The better a salesperson understands a lead and their behavioral and demographics characteristics, the more likely they will be able to connect with the lead. The new trend in marketing is based on creating meaningful relationships with leads, since consumers are more likely to purchase from a company if they feel a connection has been made.

Lead scoring is based on quality over quantity. It gives the sales department more qualified leads, as well as an inside advantage on the lead’s specific needs which will significantly increase the chance of conversion.

Lead Liaison

Implicit Lead Scoring, What Really Matters

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Implicit Lead Scoring - What Really MattersLead scoring rules for B2B marketing automation programs may differ across various lead management architectures. An attribute such as a lead’s company position may receive higher scoring in one program than in another. But most programs will include explicit and implicit lead scoring matrices. While explicit, or physical, scoring is critical to lead qualification, it is the implicit, or behavioral, scoring that can really determine how sales-ready a lead may be. And we’re not just talking about establishing a score for a single website visit; effective scoring also includes the level of a lead’s interest.

There are several implicit scoring considerations that should be included when developing a lead scoring system.

Website Visits

How did a lead find you? The path a lead takes to land on your site may reveal some attributes like buying authority and need. Internet searches generally indicate a greater urgency or interest; therefore, scoring for a website visit should reflect how a lead arrived at your site.

How many and which pages were viewed? Site engagement is an important lead scoring criteria. The pages a lead will visit can indicate the level of buying authority and purchase imminence. Also, the amount of time spent viewing your content can reveal buying authority or influence and timing.

Webinar Attendance

Don’t forget about webinars as a variable in implicit lead scoring. When a lead attends your webinar, the score should reflect the deeper commitment to participate in your marketing efforts. This commitment may indicate buying authority, need, and timing. Time spent in attendance may reveal buying influence. A lead’s level of participation should also be used in your scoring metrics. Did she raise any questions? Those that ask questions are typically more interested than those that simply attend.

Content Download

Most automated lead scoring programs assign a score for content downloads. But not all download scoring is the same. For example, a lead who has downloaded free content should warrant a low to medium-level score, whereas a lead who pays for a download should receive a higher score.

It’s also important to score the type of content and the frequency of downloads by a lead. Has a lead requested a single white paper download or has he subscribed to a newsletter? Content download activity may reveal buying authority and need. It’s important to score the curious differently than the active buyers.

Email Activity

Email response is important as well, and scoring for this activity should include variations to reflect interest levels. Leads that open your email may all likely have a need for your solution. Their interest may be passive or active, but a lead who has opened a marketing email should be assigned a score that indicates an elevated level of interest. Click-through activity is also an important indicator that should be accounted for within an implicit score matrix. Leads that follow an embedded link may be close to sales-ready status.

If you would like to learn more about effective lead scoring, contact a Lead Liaison representative today!

 

 

Lead Liaison

Three Important Criteria for Lead Scoring

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Three Important Criteria for Lead ScoringScoring the quality of leads is not an exact science, but there are ways to determine if a lead is worth nurturing toward a sales engagement. Lead scoring includes metrics that account for buying authority, interest level, budget availability, and purchase timing. In order to accurately qualify a lead’s readiness for a sales engagement, your lead scoring framework should include three criteria: match, activity, and depreciation.

Match as a Criteria for Lead Scoring

The first step in qualifying any lead is to determine if a lead matches an optimal lead profile (OLP). The OLP includes all the attributes which make a lead a solid candidate for a sales engagement. The most qualified leads will fit the profile completely; in some cases, a lead might match some profile criteria but require nurturing in order to determine whether she is a complete match. Your marketing tools should extract enough details about each lead to allow you to determine if a lead is a match.

In order to receive a high score, a lead should possess the appropriate attributes of having buying authority (which can include decision-making influence), a budget that can accommodate the purchase, a need that can be fulfilled with your offering, and an imminent desire to purchase.

A match is primarily scored according to demographics such as industry, company position, revenues, location, company size, and other definable characteristics.

Activity as a Criteria for Lead Scoring

A lead’s behavior should also contribute to scoring his sales-readiness. The activities a lead performs while engaged with your marketing efforts will reveal his propensity to purchase, as well as identify his role in the buying process. A lead that appears to be actively researching available options should score higher within most automated marketing programs than a passive, curious lead.

Scoring should measure more than the type of activity a lead is engaged in. Scores should also reflect how involved he is in the buying process. What interest level is he at? What type of activities has he participated in? How many engagements have taken place? A fully engaged lead will hit several touch points during his research.

The duration of activities, such as website visits, or the frequency of actions, such as content downloads, can indicate the interest level. A lead that spends two minutes viewing a company profile on your website should score lower than one that spends ten minutes reading product descriptions.

Depreciation as a Criteria for Lead Scoring

Lead scoring should also account for gaps in time between marketing responses. The activity dormancy period should be scored according to its duration. How long has it been since a lead has responded to a message or has searched for your site, company or product? If there have been more than a few weeks between engagements, a lead’s score should be reduced. By decrementing a lead’s score to allow for engagement depreciation there is less likelihood of an untimely sales engagement.

Want to learn how Lead Liaison can help your company better qualify leads using lead scoring principles? Fill out the brief form on the top of this page.

Lead Liaison

Three Ways to Plug a Leaky Sales Funnel

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Three Ways to Plug a Leaky Sales FunnelDo you have B2B leads that aren’t converting to sales because they are falling through the cracks of a poorly managed sales funnel? If your company’s lead management system isn’t preserving your marketing leads, you’re not alone. According to B2B experts, 80% of leads aren’t converted because of poor lead management. The good news is there are ways to keep your sales funnel from leaking.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation (MA) software packages provide a programmed method of maintaining a connection with leads while they are being nurtured towards sales-readiness. An MA program helps prevent funnel leakage through a reporting structure which exhibits the status for each marketing lead.

If you’re running a lean sales team, agents are likely balancing the management of existing accounts and new account acquisition. Agents can quickly lose focus on a lead. An effective MA program engages your leads until they are contacted by a sales representative.

MA also allows your sales team to determine a contact strategy for building new accounts; it helps manage leads through a process of qualification, interest building, and preparation for sales engagement. When a sales agent contacts a lead, she is aware of the marketing activities that lead has been exposed to.

Lead Scoring

Developing a lead scoring system helps to prioritize and cultivate leads – and keeps leads from dropping off the face of your B2B world. A good lead scoring model identifies worthwhile leads and classifies leads as they advance through the sales funnel. Once a lead achieves a score that warrants a sales contact, an MA program can alert the appropriate sales team member.

Not only does a lead scoring system reduce the likelihood of a lead being improperly dropped from the sales funnel, it also increases the efficiency of your sales team by allowing it to focus on the hottest leads, which are indicated by the highest scores. Meanwhile, cold leads can be removed systematically. For example, leads can be eliminated from consideration when they drop below a lead scoring threshold.

CRM Integration

By blending your marketing software program with your customer relationship management software, your sales team becomes more effective at managing its sales funnel. If a lead enters the CRM because of a high lead score, but it’s discovered by a sales agent that circumstances have changed, such as a change in budget or timing, a sales member can return the lead to the marketing pipeline for further nurturing.

The B2B sales cycle is long, and sales engagements can be mistimed. Through a CRM integration with a marketing automation platform, the risk of losing a sales lead when it is reclassified as a marketing lead is reduced.

Lead Liaison’s Revenue Generation Software platform provides marketing automation, lead scoring and CRM integration among other capabilities as three corner stones of preventing  a leaky sales funnel.

Lead Liaison

How to Create Effective Lead Scoring Criteria

/0 Comments/in , , /by

How to Create Effective Lead Scoring CriteriaThe effectiveness of the entire marketing automation process relies on the ability to score and qualify leads based on their likelihood of conversion. The criteria developed to rank these leads must capture the demographic and behavioral characteristics of an ideal lead. Once a profile for an ideal lead is created, all leads are ranked based on how well they match the established profile, giving sales the ability to prioritize and personalize their efforts based on the unique potential for conversion of each specific lead.

These are the fundamental steps to create effective lead scoring criteria:

Step #1

Start by determining the criteria that will represent an ideal lead. Gather information from existing customer profiles and recent conversions. Look for indicates or triggers that nudged recent leads into sales.

Step #2

The next step is to define what constitutes a sales-ready lead. Often prospects will download a specific white paper, watch an instructional video, or click on relevant article prior to revisiting the site and committing to a sale. These triggers need to be identified and scored based on the likelihood of conversion. A company should be able to determine how likely they are to purchase, based on the frequency in which they visit the site and their number of clicks in a short period of time.

Step #3

Take the information gathered in step one and two, and create a list of scoring attributes using their demographics, purchasing history, and current interest in relevant products or services. This list of criteria should include the leads contact information, as well as their job title, company name, and location. It should also cover whether or not they have downloaded information from the site and the frequency of activity on the site. This should also include the source of the lead (Company website, Facebook, trade show etc.) and their engagement level.

Step #4

Divide the list of attributes into two groups: demographics and behavioral. Demographics should make up slightly more than the majority of the list.

Step #5

Rate each scoring attribute based on its relevancy and on the likelihood that the characteristic or behavior would result in a sale. For example, a customer who has attended trade show events or downloaded certain tutorials may be more likely to purchase and therefore should be ranked higher.

Step #6

Test the criteria by scoring existing customers or recent conversions. If your existing customers earn a high score, then it is a good chance others who receive the same score will have a greater potential for conversion.

Every company’s criteria will be ranked differently. The key is to review your existing customer profiles, develop lead scoring criteria that matches their buying process and demographics, rank each attribute based on relevancy or importance, and then test it to make sure it matches your ideal lead. If the criteria created through this process are accurate, then it will be a powerful tool to analysis and prioritize the leads that are being generated through various marketing efforts and social platforms.

Lead Liaison

Four Steps to Effective Lead Scoring

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Four Steps to Effective Lead ScoringSales lead scoring is an essential part of a lead management system. Leads enter your pipeline at different stages of the buying cycle, so it’s important to calculate how ready each marketing lead is for engagement by your sales team. In order to set up a lead scoring system, input should be gathered from your marketing and sales departments. There are four initial steps to take when developing an effective lead scoring system:

  1. Define qualified leads. The first step is to separate the curious from the interested. How prepared is a lead for engagement? The sales team should provide input when determining who is qualified. Leads that indicate a need for your product, who have the ability and willingness to purchase, and have expressed interest in your offer are generally considered a qualified lead; the next step is to grade the lead according to level of interest.
  2. Establish scoring criteria. What factors should be used to differentiate your leads? There are no hard and fast rules used to determine scoring values, but a lead scoring system should include attributes that indicate a lead’s identity, industry, level of interest or engagement source. For example, the responding party to a marketing touch point (e.g. CEO or purchasing agent) is an important attribute. The lead source is another variable to include – did the engagement come through a white paper download or a webinar registration? Examine each attribute of your marketing channels and your markets that can be used to assign a value that reflects its importance.
  3. Determine the scoring weight (point value) for each attribute. For example, how important is the lead source? A lead who has viewed a white paper should be given more points than one that has followed a Google Ad to your website. Leads that complete a survey may be at a higher engagement level than those who have responded to an automated call. There should be point values assigned to each attribute which indicate a lead’s willingness to be contacted by the sales team. The level of engagement (i.e. the amount of time spent investigating your offer) is often used to calculate an attribute’s weight.
  4. Establish a scoring range and threshold for transferring the lead to the sales department. Determine a scoring range – it can be 0 – 5 or 0 – 100 – by which leads can be prioritized for future engagements. However, don’t use a lead scoring system that limits the maximum score and ability to slide scores up or down in large intervals. For example, systems that cap lead scores at 100 hampers flexibility. Try to use a marketing automation system that ranges up to 1,000 for maximum versatility. When choosing your range make sure it allows for all variables that will be included in the system or your process. Once the range is determined, a threshold should be set which will move the interested party from marketing lead to sales prospect. At what point should the lead be passed to sales? That should be determined with the help of the sales department, and the scoring threshold should reflect the greatest willingness to be engaged by salespeople and readiness to purchase your product.

Lead scoring takes the guesswork out of determining whether a sales agent should be alerted about a potential prospect or if the lead requires nurturing prior to a sales engagement. Once you’ve established a lead scoring system, it should be installed in your automated marketing program.

Lead Liaison

Simplify your Database for Sales

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Simplify your Database for SalesIn an article last week by Mark Wicka on the B2B Lead Blog he talks about the challenges of prioritizing a company’s database. Mark describes how his company used an “opportunity grade” to create a snapshot of a prospect and prioritize the lead for sales.

“When you have a database of thousands upon thousands of names, how do you help your team easily and effectively prioritize who to contact?” – Mark Wicka, B2B Lead Blog

The challenge Mark’s company faces is all too familiar for many businesses. It’s imperative to simplify your database for sales and marketing effectiveness. Fortunately, technology can help automate snapshots and create opportunity grades across your database. Lead scoring technology helps businesses grade their database based on various demographics, interests and behaviors. Lead scoring is included with most Lead Management Automation (LMA) software packages. When using lead scoring marketers can create lead scoring programs that grade their existing database as well as future leads added to the database. Lead scoring programs can be run in a one-time-only mode or setup to run continually based on the needs of the business.

Some lead scoring systems allow marketers to create multiple types of grades/scores; for example, a “Fit Score” or a “Behavioral Score”. A Fit Score grades a prospect based on how they match up against your ideal buyers profile wherein a Behavioral Score grades a prospect based on their online behaviors or overall activity (whitepapers downloaded, forms submitted, pages viewed, etc.). Additionally, select vendors provide a snapshot view of leads with the highest grade directly from within a CRM system such as Salesforce.com. Having a consolidated view helps sales and marketers know where they need to spend their time and how to manage their day.

For a glimpse into Lead Liaison’s LMA software and an overview of how we help companies automatically grade their database and simplify their database for sales effectiveness ping us!

To be alerted of future posts, please click on the RSS button.

Lead Liaison

How to do Database Profiling

/0 Comments/in , , /by

How to do Database ProfilingHave you ever wondered how to build a database profile? If you haven’t, it’s time you start thinking about it. Database profiling creates individual, sub-segmented databases to target marketing efforts and personalize messaging. Dust off the cobwebs and consider tapping into your most prized resource, your database, vs. buying lists and using common “spray-and-prey” marketing approaches.

While driving cross country the other day, I saw a big semi truck with the words “Our most valuable asset sits here” plastered across the side of the truck. There was an arrow following the statement. The arrow pointed to the truck driver! The trucking company clearly feels their drivers are a key asset to their company. It got me thinking, what would a business say their most valuable asset is? Rightfully so, some might say their employees; however, companies would be remiss not to mention their database as one of their most valuable assets.

Databases take time to build and contain a host of crucial information on partners, competitors, prospects and customers making them a rich repository for any marketing savvy professional. Unfortunately, many businesses aren’t able to unlock the true potential of their assets without a database profiling solution. Sophisticated technology is necessary to build rich database profiles, which effectively partitions a database into smaller, more targeted sub databases. Database profiling solutions allow businesses to do two things, segment and score their database. Let’s cover lead scoring and database segmentation in more detail.

Database Profiling using Lead Scoring

Lead scoring allows marketers to prioritize their database by assigning points to each record based on custom criteria. For example, marketers can run scoring programs across the database to give 10 points to people in a target industry. Similarly, assign 10 more points to people who work for companies generating more than $100M in revenue. These scores are examples of demographic lead scoring. Behavioral lead scoring takes into account contacts interaction with marketing. For example, if someone filled out a web form or clicked through an email campaign. The end result is a prioritized and qualified database, something very handy for a sales team.

Database Profiling using Segmentation

Database segmenting is the process of creating individual lists or groups based on select criteria. For example, marketing can create a list of contacts in a certain industry that have interacted with your company in the past 6 months. With a segmented database, marketers can send personalized communications to prospects that are more relevant and topical. Segmented databases are easier to nurture using lead nurturing technology and result in higher lead to opportunity conversion.

Make sure your lead scoring and database segmentation solutions are dynamic, not just static. In other words, make sure the tools you use can build a database profile that applies to your existing database as well as future contacts added to your database. Case in point, when a new contact is added to your database that fits specific segmentation criteria, the contact should be automatically added to your list. Likewise, once a lead scoring program is setup and defined future contacts should be scored based on your criteria.

Database profiling is easy when you have the right tools to segment and score your database. Fortunately, Lead Liaison delivers solutions to help you statically and dynamically profile your database. Don’t forget to market and re-market with relevant material. Start getting the most out of your shiny new asset today! Maybe the “most-valuable-asset” arrow might get pointed at you!

To learn more about Lead Liaison’s database profiling solutions please contact us.

To be alerted of future posts, please click on the RSS button.

Lead Liaison

What is Lead Scoring?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

What is Lead ScoringWhat is lead scoring? Lead scoring is the process of using technology to automatically qualify leads for sales. Many organizations are flooded with inquiries and/or have a large database of contacts collected over time. Lead scoring helps businesses filter through inquiries and contacts and start prioritizing leads for sales.

What is lead scoring similar too?

When building a lead scoring model, make sure you look at scoring like dating or getting married. Your score should take into account criteria from both parties, not just one. Is the prospect a good fit for your business? Equally important, is the prospect interested in buying? Categorize your scoring into different ‘buckets’. Develop criteria for what you consider a good lead such as industry relevance, company size, and target buyer/role. Then, come up with a set of criteria that your team feels is indicative of prospects intent to purchase. For example, if a prospect visits your pricing page, visits 5 or more pages or makes multiple website visits within a certain period of time – all examples of online behavior that technology can automatically detect.

What is lead scoring without..?

Opposite lead scoring

For every positive lead score consider using a negative lead score. For example, visiting a web page on pricing might be a good sign; however, visiting a page with job postings might be a bad sign and deserve a negative score for that specific action. In summary, make sure your lead scoring solution allows scores to be incremented and decremented.

Limits

Make sure your lead scoring solution doesn’t have limits, such as capping at 100. Having a cap limits differentiation of one lead against another, making it more difficult for sales to figure out whose hot and who’s not.

The ability to score your existing database

Make sure your lead scoring solution allows you to statically score your existing contacts. For example, run a set of scoring rules across your CRM leads and/or contacts based on criteria. Being able to score your database as well as future inquiries makes sure your scoring program is consistent across past and future leads.

The end result of a solid lead scoring program is a hyper-efficient lead management process that produces higher quality leads for sales and allows marketing to make revenue contributions. Marketers get a stake in the sales process and get to work closer with their sales force, creating a more cohesive organization.

What do you feel is important in a lead scoring model? What is lead scoring to you?

Contact Lead Liaison to learn more about how your business can benefit from lead scoring with Lead Liaison’s proprietary technology that uses a three-prong approach to lead qualification.

To be alerted of future posts, please click on the RSS button.