Skip to content
Lead scoring
Ash RoyApr 18, 2024 11:06:17 AM10 min read

HubSpot Lead Scoring: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners (2024)

Introduction

Uncovering HubSpot's full potential doesn't have to be as arduous as decrypting Morse code. 

Say hello to Lead Scoring—a customizable, formidable tool nestled right inside your HubSpot dashboard—where you turn clicked links and opened emails into powerful business leads.

I've been using Hubspot for at least 3 years now, and I've found it to be very effective. Lately I've discovered the lead scoring features in the software and I've found them to be a game changer. 

We are stepping into an era where filtering your inbound traffic into sales-qualified leads dismisses mindless investment and attracts better-targeted prospects. 

Let's face it: 

Time wasted on unproductive leads?  

As frustrating as hunting for a needle in a haystack. 

Congrats on making it here. You're about to learn how to set up lead scoring in HubSpot, streamlining your sales process like never before.

With three simple steps, you will quickly transform inbound traffic into meaningful business relationships. 

In the e-commerce realm, untapped potential is a lost opportunity. Cue action, not regret. Say no to wasted time and generic leads. It's 2024—the year you revolutionized lead scoring. 

Ready? Let's score some leads.

Step-by-Step Guide to HubSpot Lead Scoring Setup

 

  • Decipher the complex maze of HubSpot's lead scoring system
  • Embark on a guided journey of setting up score properties and assigning scores to leads
  • Understand fundamental aspects to consider and the importance of each step in the process

 

Step 1: Understanding HubSpot's Lead Scoring System

HubSpot's scoring shouldn't intimidate you.

Its prowess lies in its simplicity when fully understood. At its heart, it's a method to ascertain the probability of a lead transforming into a customer.

HubSpot has automated this grading mechanism where each lead is scored based on defined characteristics and behaviors.

Personally, I've found that lead scoring means I don't spend time on prospects that aren't familiar with my brand and therefore aren't likely to make a purchase right now. 

Typically a person is only in their buying window about 3% of the time. Lead scoring enables me to identify which of my audience is in their buying window right now and helps me to focus just on those customers.

But don't take my word for it. 

Here's an illustration of how lead scoring (or lack thereof) can impact a business.

Impact of lead scoring-1


The Importance of Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the linchpin in marketing automation. It sieves through your lead ocean to spotlight those with high sales potential.

This sifted list, in turn, allows marketing and sales teams to target prospects strategically, ensuring resources are invested in the most promising areas.

Step 2: Setting Up Score Properties

Adventures in lead scoring begin with setting up score properties.

Score properties are the scales on which leads are weighed. It's a set of parameters that gauge a lead's projected value.

The process to set them up in HubSpot is straightforward. Navigate to your settings, select properties, and here you can create or manage your scoring properties.

Keep in mind: the more context-specific your score properties, the more accurate your scoring model will be.

Significance of Score Properties

But why fuss about score properties? It's through these score properties you can tailor the lead scoring process better aligned with your business goals and customer personas.

It's these score properties that collectively generate your numerical lead scores. Essentially, they form the backbone of your lead scoring.


Step 3: Assigning Scores to Leads

Mastering score assignment can give you the reins to effective lead management.

In HubSpot, assigning scores involves setting up scoring rules corresponding to your score properties.

You have the flexibility to assign positive or negative scores, depending on the lead's action or property. 

Choosing Factors to Score Leads

Choosing what to score can make or break your lead scoring model. As a rule of thumb, you can start from profiling your best existing customers, exploring common traits, and defining rules around those.

For instance, engagement metrics such as email opens, form submissions, website visits could be your go-to lead behaviour metrics.

Additionally, demographic information or specific interactions with your site can make worthy additions to your scoring factors.

All in all, assigning scores effectively is about finding the right balance between who your ideal customer is and who's most likely to close.

Here's some data showcasing the impact of effective score assignment on lead conversion rates.

Impact of lead score assignment on conversions

Lead Qualification in HubSpot: Enhancing Your Marketing Strategy

 

  • Strategic utility of lead qualification

Crucial contribution of lead scoring to lead qualification

Now we walk into the arena of lead qualification and its crucial correlation with lead scoring. This brings yet another layer of strategy to our marketing efforts. 

Understanding Lead Qualification 

Drawing from the world of sales, lead qualification is nothing but a systematic evaluation process to identify if a potential customer is worth pursuing. 

Explanation of Lead Qualification

The process often takes into account various parameters like financial capabilities, product interest, market scenarios etc.

Here's how Hubspot explains lead qualification. 

Lead qualification Hubspot

Role of Lead Qualification in Marketing


For marketers, lead qualification can serve as a strategic tool to fine-tune their efforts. When leads are well-qualified, marketing efforts become more targeted thus saving crucial time and resources that may otherwise be spent on less promising prospects. 

How Lead Scoring Aids in Lead Qualification 

Once we dive into the nitty-gritty of lead scoring, it becomes easier to see how it plays a pivotal role in lead qualification. 

How Lead Scoring Helps in Qualifying Leads

In the realm of HubSpot, lead scoring grants you a quantified method for ranking potential customers.

This not only helps in segregating promising leads from lukewarm ones but also paves a data-driven approach towards lead qualification. 

Importance of Lead Scoring in Lead Qualification

Lead scoring inherently enriches the process of lead qualification. It allows businesses to engage and convert their leads at a much faster pace, thereby staying ahead of the competition. 

The role lead scoring plays here isn't just about numbers—it's about assigning meaningful parameters that then transform into actionable insights.

The alignment of lead scoring and qualification paves the way for decisions that can potentially move the needle favorably, ensuring you connect with the right lead at the right time.

Demandgen has published this interesting ebook that covers use cases around lead scoring and how it helps conversions.

With a solid foundation of lead scoring and qualification in place, let's look into some more specific tactics that can further augment our strategic approach.


Best Practices for HubSpot Lead Scoring

TL;DR

  • Continually revise your lead scoring criteria to maintain relevance
  • Both demographic and behavioral data should inform your lead scoring. 

 

Regularly Update Your Lead Scoring Criteria


Lead scoring is not a set-and-forget tool. Market dynamics change, and so do customer expectations.

Consequently, outdated lead scoring criteria may misinterpret potential leads, wrongly devaluing prospective customers or falsely escalating poor-fit leads.

Therefore, revisiting your criteria remains a crucial practice to ensure your lead scoring stays aligned with current market reality. 

It's necessary to update your scoring criteria in HubSpot. HubSpot's lead scoring feature stands out for its flexibility.

With its simple, intuitive interface, HubSpot allows you to quickly adjust scoring rules to reflect your evolving business objectives and ongoing interactions with leads.

However, making these changes without structured guidance or without understanding your leads and market can yield skewed results.

How to update lead scoring criteria in HubSpot (click on image to see gif)

How to use manual lead scoring in Hubspot

Use a Mix of Demographic and Behavioral Criteria

Leveraging both demographic and behavioral criteria paints a comprehensive picture of your leads.

Demographic data - age, location, profession, etc. - can hint towards a lead’s relevance. However, it's behavior that truly signifies interest.

Through behaviors (website visits, clicks, downloads), your leads express their preferences and receptiveness. Using both sets of data generates lead scores that reflect the prospect's relevance and readiness, thereby enhancing your lead segmentation. 

Integrating demographic and behavioral criteria on HubSpot is not just possible; it's also surprisingly straightforward. Again, HubSpot’s flexibility assists.

The platform's interface empowers users to define impactful behaviors, value them according to their relevance, and add them to the lead scoring equation together with demographic data.

Ultimately, successful lead scoring on HubSpot leans upon routinely updating your scoring criteria and judiciously blending demographic and behavioral data.

Incorporating these practices into your lead scoring process will ensure you're gauging your leads accurately, allowing for better resource allocation and improved sales and marketing alignment in the process.

Maximizing HubSpot Lead Scoring: Tips and Best Practices



  • Discover how to align sales and marketing using HubSpot.
  • Get insights on fine-tuning your lead scoring model.
  • Learn how to implement these practices for better lead generation.

 

Align Sales and Marketing Teams


Effective lead scoring hinges on tight synchrony between your sales and marketing — a disconnect can lead to dodgy judgments on lead scoring, squandering opportunities. But how do you forge this alignment in HubSpot?
  

The Need for Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales and marketing alignment does more than lubricate the lead scoring mechanism — it's the wizard behind the curtain for closing deals faster and effectively.

When your sales know what the marketing team drives at and vice versa, your lead scoring ramps up, leaving no stone unturned for potential leads.

Achieving Sales and Marketing Symbiosis in HubSpot

HubSpot simplifies this task with its unified platform, enabling seamless communication between the two teams.

Collaborating through a shared dashboard lets both teams see the urgency, quality, and relevance of leads, breaking silo thinking and creating a concerted effort towards lead conversion.

Regularly Review and Adjust Your Lead Scoring Model

Success in lead scoring isn't a set-it-and-forget-it task. The secret is in regularly reviewing and tweaking your lead scoring model to respond to the changing dynamics of markets and buyer behavior.

The Importance of Regular Model Reviews

Just as musical instruments need timely tunings to maintain sound harmony, so does your lead scoring model to keep its precision.

Regularly reviewing it lets you capture evolving trends, changes in your buyer's journey and preferences, and to refine your lead scoring model for improved accuracy.


Fine-tuning Your Lead Scoring Model in HubSpot

HubSpot, flexible as it is, provides various metrics and measurable indicators to help you adjust your scoring model. For instance, you can tweak the scoring criteria based on conversion patterns, feedbacks, and changing trends in your audience behavior.

And with HubSpot's clear analytics, this isn't a complex task. You just need to make it a regular one.

Implementing these best practices into your HubSpot lead scoring strategy can significantly improve your lead generation outcomes, setting your business on a path to greater success.

HubSpot Lead Scoring for Business: Why It Matters



  • Lead scoring filters high-quality leads for sales teams.
  • It simplifies marketing strategies, honing in on promising leads.
  • The ultimate goal? A real increase in revenue.

 

Improving Sales Efficiency

Every second matters in sales, and each outreach to an uninterested lead siphons precious dollars from your bottom line.

With HubSpot's lead scoring, you are not groping in the dark - your sales team gets its hands on valuable and interested leads, maximizing resources and boosting conversion rates.

A high proportion of salespeople spend most of their time qualifying prospects instead of closing deals.

High-quality leads, delivered to your doorstep courtesy of lead scoring, revolutionizes this model.

American Eagle, a retail titan, began their lead scoring journey and watched their sales skyrocket 

 

Enhancing Marketing Efforts

Imagine marketing free from guesswork, sculpted around an audience already interested in your offerings. Lead scoring in HubSpot makes this dream a reality, enabling precision-targeting that amplifies your marketing efforts.

Nurturing leads good enough to score high eventually ensures they convert.

Increasing Revenue

The bottom line isn't merely one metric among many. Instead, it's the lifeblood of your business.

Steering high-scoring leads to your sales team isn't just about improving efficiency or enhancing marketing - it directly propels your revenue upwards.

 

Conclusion


"Getting Ahead with HubSpot Lead Scoring."

Understanding HubSpot lead scoring isn't just about improving sales, it brings another level to your B2B engagement. It's about aligning your teams, prioritizing customer outreach, predicting leads, and enhancing communication - all of which lead to the real goal: meaningful relationship-building with your clients.

Don't let the benefits sit idle. Download the HubSpot Lead Scoring guide, share it with your team, start prioritizing your leads, and watch your customer relationships blossom. 

Now, take a moment to think: how can HubSpot lead scoring positively reshape your business interaction?

"Because knowledge isn’t power; it’s potential power. Execution on that knowledge is power." So, get executing!

Your journey starts here. Dive in, score those leads, and let HubSpot open doors to deeper customer engagement.


avatar

Ash Roy

Ash Roy has spent over 15 years working in the corporate world as a financial and strategic analyst and advisor to large multinational banks and telecommunications companies. He suffered through a CPA in 1997 and completed it despite not liking it at all because he believed it was a valuable skill to have. He sacrificed his personality in the process. In 2004 he finished his MBA (Masters In Business Administration) from the Australian Graduate School of Management and loved it! He scored a distinction (average) and got his personality back too!

RELATED ARTICLES