According to Aberdeen Research, companies that get lead scoring right have a 192% higher average lead qualification rate than those that do not. However, due to its complicated and intensive nature, many B2B tech and telecoms companies still don’t practice lead scoring, which can lead to ineffective marketing campaigns and sales processes.
What is lead scoring?
The lead scoring process begins with a marketing qualified lead (MQL), who has been sourced as a potential customer, based on their actions and engagements with your business. Through this information, values are assigned to each lead to prioritise outreach and build relationships with the right customers at the right time. If their score based on these criteria is high, they qualify as a sales qualified lead (SQL). This means they have displayed the intent to buy your services and are the right fit for your organisation.
Why should you practice lead scoring?
By integrating lead scoring into your marketing and sales process, you will gain a higher return on investment (ROI) from your content creation and have a clear competitive advantage over your competitors.
B2B tech and telecom companies who use lead scoring can improve the quality of their leads passed from marketing to sales, and in doing so, help increase close rates and revenues.
In order to define what makes a contact go from an MQL to an SQL, companies must evaluate their past and current data. Lead scoring looks at two types of data:
- Explicit data – datathat is provided intentionally and taken at face value rather than analysed or interpreted for further meaning, for example job title and company name.
- Engagement data – how frequently a prospect interacts with your company and what areas of your website they are visiting.
Both types of data will enable your marketing and sales teams to define and focus on the leads that are most important, in order to increase the rate at which these leads become customers.
At Ilex, our expert team are here to help you gain a better understanding of your data through the lead scoring process. Book a meeting today.
