What is Lead Scoring and How is it Used

What is Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of evaluating leads. It helps you quickly and effectively assess how far a lead is on their journey to purchase and whether it's the right time to invest full effort in converting them.

It works by assigning points to online activities performed by leads. The higher the score, the more likely it is that the lead will become a customer.

To use lead scoring effectively, you need:

• a website, social media presence, newsletters, online ads, and other online activities where lead behavior can be tracked,
• a tool for identifying website visits (e.g., Leady.cz in the Czech Republic),
• a system capable of collecting and managing lead data—often part of a CRM,
• a strategy to evaluate lead activity and determine which behaviors indicate sales potential.
  
  

(We also cover what a lead is and how to work with them in a separate article.)

The key benefit of lead scoring is that it doesn’t just track general traffic or views. It ties specific actions to individual leads so you know exactly which user is taking what steps.

Examples of activities that may earn points include:

• (repeated) website visits,
• viewing a specific webpage (e.g., contact page),
• downloading a price list, product sheet, offer, etc.,
• subscribing to a newsletter,
• opening a received newsletter,
• engaging with social media posts,
• clicking on PPC ads, and more.

Lead Scoring Models

To identify which activities signal strong sales potential, start by analyzing the buying behavior of your existing customers.

Figure out the sequence of steps they took—what captured their attention and persuaded them. Was it a newsletter, an interview with your company’s founder, a customer testimonial, or a case study? Did they follow you on social media or click on an ad?

Based on this, choose the lead scoring model that fits your needs. You can draw inspiration from the following models:

• behavior-based model – evaluates leads based on how they arrive at your site (e.g., clicking a PPC ad vs. searching for your product) and how they behave on your website or social media—how they interact with your content.
• content-based model – differentiates leads based on the specific content they view. For instance, visiting the homepage carries less weight than viewing a product page or downloading a price list.
• frequency-based model – assigns points depending on how often a lead performs an action. There's a big difference between someone visiting your site once a month and someone checking it daily.
• demographic model – scores leads based on known information like name, email, or location—especially relevant if you operate regionally.
• negative scoring attributes – you can assign negative points to reduce a lead’s score, helping filter out uninterested leads or job seekers (who may view your content but mostly browse your careers page).
  
  

You can mix and adjust these models to fit your specific evaluation needs.

Looking for ways to actively generate leads? Check out our article with proven techniques.

Demographic vs. Behavioral Lead Scoring

Companies new to lead scoring often prioritize behavioral data—how a lead behaves on their website, what content they view, or which ads they click. However, lead scoring works best when behavioral metrics are combined with demographic data.

Imagine the following scenario: a lead earns a high score because they frequently open your newsletters, read your blog articles, and regularly visit your site. But they work for a company that’s too small for your services and is located on the other side of the world. So despite the high score, the lead is irrelevant for your business.

That’s why it’s essential to score leads based on demographic data as well—it helps filter out enthusiastic followers who may love your brand but will never convert into customers.

Lead Scoring in 4 Steps

1. Know Your Customers Inside Out

Before diving into lead scoring, thoroughly understand your customers. Create buyer personas—they’ll help you identify which metrics to focus on when scoring leads. For example, if your main persona is a small business, use company size as one of your metrics. You can find a detailed guide for creating personas in our SalesDriver hub.

2. Decide Which Metrics and Data to Track

Always include website visits or interactions with the content you create across various channels (like newsletters, social media posts, or blog articles). Define demographic metrics based on your personas or other customer data. You can also get inspired by the lead scoring models mentioned earlier in the article.

3. Assign Point Values to Each Metric

Use a simple rule: the more interest in your product/service an activity shows, the more points it should receive. For example, if a lead fills out a form on your website, it signals more interest than just following your LinkedIn profile—so it should be worth more points. For demographic metrics, assign points based on how relevant the metric is (e.g., a company in a key industry should get more points than one that’s just mid-sized).

4. Set a Scoring Threshold

Finally, determine the point threshold that qualifies a lead—indicating high potential to become a customer. This helps your sales reps know when it’s the right time to reach out. Try setting an initial threshold and adjust it over time based on actual results.

Lead Scoring Examples

Once everything is set up, lead scoring might look something like this:

Negative Lead Scoring

In the examples above, we’ve shown lead scoring models that only assign positive points. However, many companies have found success using the opposite approach as well—deducting points or assigning negative scores. This is typically done for behaviors that don't align with the characteristics of your ideal customer. It’s recommended to combine both positive and negative points in your lead scoring strategy.

Companies deduct points for actions such as:

• Unsubscribing from newsletters
• Very short website visits
• Extended or repeated visits to the careers page
• Submitting a fake email address
• Belonging to an irrelevant industry or geographic location
  
  

Negative scoring is also used to filter out people engaging for non-sales purposes (like job seekers). Your website is likely visited by your employees, their relatives, or competitors. Many companies assign these leads something like –1000 points to completely remove them from the lead list.

What Else Is Lead Scoring Good For

The main advantage of lead scoring is that it helps you identify which leads to focus on—and reach out to them at the right time. It also shows you which leads are not worth pursuing.

In general, lead scoring shortens and streamlines the buying process because it:

• allows you to quickly and accurately identify which leads have the potential to become customers,
• increases the number of closed deals as a result,
• helps you better predict sales outcomes by comparing lead scores with actual conversions,
• encourages collaboration between sales and marketing—marketing focuses on leads who haven't shown interest yet, while passing on sales-ready leads to the sales team.
  
  

Store all your lead data in a CRM system. That way, it’s all in one place, nothing gets lost, and it’s immediately clear which stage of the sales cycle each lead is in and what needs to be done to move them forward. But first, try the CRM for free to ensure it's the right fit for you.