Both practices, regardless of which is more effective, are ultimately incomplete. That is, neither of them manages to optimize the capture and use of leads .
The reason for this is what this article is about, as we will see what lead scoring is, how it complements lead capture and the reasons that make it important for any brand.
What is lead scoring ?
Before defining lead scoring, we must briefly discuss the doctor database
concept of the buyer persona , also known as the ideal client.
Perhaps the simplest way to define it is as the profile that an organization gives to its ideal clients. That is, a way of describing and characterizing real people or organizations that are interested in a brand's services or products.
These profiles arise from customer research that explores not only interests, but also the problems that an organization or individual may have when seeking a solution to a need.
Let's go back to leads, which are real people who share their personal data so that a company has them in its database, allowing brands to contact them through different channels.
Ideally, leads should be captured as precisely as possible, with segmentation according to interests and needs, meaning that each lead should be as close as possible to the buyer persona profile. Unfortunately, the latter is impossible.
“There will always be some inaccuracy in lead capture and that is where lead scoring comes in.”
Since it is not a real aspiration that 100% of our leads have the profile of our ideal clients, lead scoring allows us to qualify each potential client we capture. In short, it is a technique that allows us to evaluate how closely a lead resembles our buyer persona.
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Why qualify leads ?
It may seem like this type of evaluation doesn't make much sense, because what good could this information do? At first glance, it could work to find out how many of these leads are ideal clients, but you have to look a little further.
Every sale or contract has a story. Let's quickly recall our last three thoughtful purchases, perhaps a household appliance, maybe a computer or a pair of shoes.
In each case we seek to solve a need and to do so, we investigate details, costs, performance, manufacturing material, etc. All this until we are convinced that the item or service is the answer to our problems. At the end of this path, we make a purchase.
This whole process is called the buyer's journey . In other words, leads, even those that are our ideal client, must go through a process to become clients, to translate into sales.
This is why lead scoring gives us the necessary information to know at what point in the sales process, what problems and information needs each lead faces .
