Lead Liaison

How Customer Engagement Data Can Fuel Lead Scoring

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How customer engagement data can fuel lead scoringLead scoring is a systematic, data-based approach to understanding where a lead is at in their buying process. This is done so marketers will have a great knowledge of how to nurture a lead with the right content until they are ready to commit to a purchase. Once the lead is ready to make a decision, marketing can give the lead and their scoring profile to the sales department to complete the process. Learn how customer data can fuel lead scoring.

The key is engaging the customer in order to extract useful information for scoring. The concept of lead scoring is simple enough, but the practicality of implementing it can be complicated and overwhelming without the necessary technology and engagement tactics to support it. Every lead leaves a trail of information about their buying process on the internet, but without marketing automation and customer engagement it is nearly impossible to absorb all the demographic and behavioral characteristics that describe the potential consumer’s thought process.

One popular approach to use is interactive multimedia to connect with the lead. It engages prospects on a more personal level and it is an extended experience that captures incremental information. This priceless information is necessary to build a more detailed customer profile for lead scoring. Marketing automation enables you to collect data at multiple points throughout the experience, including interactive and passive responses.

It is also possible to collect user-supplied demographic information such as job function, buying authority, budget, or purchasing influences through registration forms, but you can go beyond that by utilizing interactive polling, Q & A and click data. This information is a vital part of the registrant’s profile which can be scored to assess their readiness to make a purchase.

Customer engagement data is easier to collect when a lead has willingly interacted with either the main website or various social networking platforms for a given business. The key is giving them a reason to participate. Ask questions that will spark responses or make potential customers offers that will inspire them to get involved with a specific business.

Another technique is providing them with helpful and relevant content that needs to be downloaded. If a customer has taken the time to download an article or tutorial, it is a good sign they are sincerely interested in a product or service. They feel appreciation for the business that provided them with free information and at the same time, it gives the company promoting the content a better look into their lead’s buying process.

The goal of engagement marketing is to create relationships that are beneficial to both the customer and business that is promoting it. By giving potential leads the chance to interact, it will help build brand loyalty and provide a business with valuable customer engagement data for lead scoring. Strong content and perceived leadership aligned with the willingness to listen can also strengthen a company’s credibility. The more a company can engage a lead prior to their purchase, the more likely they will become a loyal customer for years to come.

Lead Liaison

Five Steps to Creating an Effective Customer Profile for Lead Scoring

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Five steps to creating an effective customer profile for lead scoringLead scoring can save a company significant time and money if scoring is done based on an accurate and effective customer profile. The first step in every lead scoring initiative is to create a profile that captures your ideal lead. This is the benchmark all future leads will be ranked against.

These are six simple steps to creating an effective customer profile for lead scoring:

1.       Create a detailed description of existing customers

Hopefully there is already a detailed account of your existing customer’s characteristics, but if not there should be. Describe their demographics, personality, and behavior as it relates to your products or services.

2.       Locate your customers online

This is where you analyze exactly which websites and pages customers have visited in search of information about your business, product, or services. Determine the kinds of searches (keywords and keyword phrases) they are using, as well as what types of articles they are reading to gain further insight into their purchases.

3.       Define their purchasing process

There is a different purchasing process for every product or service. Expensive or complicated purchases usually involve significantly more research, quotes, and time before a commitment is made. Put yourself in the shoes of a typical buyer who is in need of your product or service. Record the steps they would take before you feel confident in making an informed decision. These steps would all be considered strong criteria for an effective customer profile.

4.       Survey current customers

Existing customers are invaluable resources. There is a specific reason why they chose to deal with a particular business and it is important to understand the thought process that brought them to that point. Ask current customers why they first bought and why they continue to buy.

5.       Develop a customer profile and corresponding criteria

Using the information gathered in step 1-4 to create a list of the characteristics that make up an ideal customer. What is the demographic background of a typical customer, what steps did they first take in their buying process, and what inspired them to make a purchase. Include everything that could possible impact their decision.

6.       Rank each criteria based on relevance

Some factors in the customer profile will have more weight than others. If a potential lead has downloaded a relevant tutorial on a product or service, it will have more significance then just clicking on the home page. A lead who attends a local event in person would most likely have a higher ranking than both of the previous criteria. Ranking should be aimed at discovering which leads have invested the most time and effort into researching a product or service.

Contact Lead Liaison to learn more about our unparalleled lead qualification capabilities including lead scoring, lead grading, a hot lead dashboard – called Briefcase, and more!

An effective customer profile is the basis for reliable lead scoring. By following the six steps outlined in this article, the end result should be an accurate and detailed description that captures your ideal lead.  That priceless information can help the marketing team develop more personalize content, prioritize leads for the sales department, and nurture a stronger relationships with new customers.

Lead Liaison

Lead Scoring Attributes: Hidden Information That May Not be Included

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Lead Scoring Attributes: Hidden Information That May Not be IncludedWhen you use a lead ranking system like the one in our Lead Management Automation™ platform, you’ll find that leads are prioritized according to fit and behavior. Lead scoring combines a grade for explicit attributes, which indicates fit, with a score for implicit attributes, which indicates an interest level. While implicit attributes measure digital body language, such as website visits or email click-throughs, explicit attributes rank how well a prospect meets an optimal lead profile.

Grading leads according to fit seems straightforward; each grading category will include easily definable attributes which help determine a good or poor fit. Scoring leads according to interest may also seem simple enough; online body language can be easily captured to show whether there is enough interest to justify pursuit. However, there are usually non-apparent factors which may not show up in a “standard” lead scoring matrix. Here are a few examples of critical information that may not be reflected in a standardized lead scoring matrix, these lead scoring attributes should be included.

Revenues

Annual revenue figures can be easily defined and included in a lead form, but the figures may be misleading. A company representative may either not have that information or be reluctant to select a revenue amount when filling out a form. Usually providing a set of amount ranges to choose from may be effective. For example, $0 to $500K, $500K to $1MM, etc. may be appropriate.

Also, current revenue figures don’t reflect future earnings. A lead that earned $750K last year may not rank highly in your matrix, but if revenues rise to $1MM, its rank may rise accordingly. In this case, it’s important to avoid discarding a lead because of its low current revenues grade. (It may be effective to include a revenue projection category in your lead form.)

Number of employees

Company size is an important determinant to a lead’s fit. But employee numbers only tell a part of the story. The number of employees, like revenue figures, is a dynamic characteristic. For instance, the company may have just completed a downsizing or may have merged with another company. These actions won’t be easily captured in a lead form.

Another factor that isn’t usually reflected in a lead scoring matrix is: what are the possibilities for growth for a lead? Certainly, if a lead employs 500 workers then it may qualify for a high score in your matrix, but where will that lead be in a year or two? Is the industry growing? Are there more competitors entering the space? While it should be easy to collect and score the current company size, potential growth may be a more subjective score to determine.

Website product pages visited

Many lead scoring matrices include negative scores which decrements a lead’s overall rank. One scoring example would be a lack of page views about products. It may be difficult to capture through a standard lead form why a prospect visited your site but viewed no product pages. The reason could be due to a lack of need or incorrect timing. If a contact has only visited certain pages, such as investor relations, careers or about us, the reason for the site visit may not be a product purchase. Some visits to management pages may be part of a company review in anticipation of a purchase; however, visits to those pages should accompany product views if a lead is to be scored high.

For more thoughts on effective lead scoring, connect with our revenue generation blog regularly and learn how Lead Liaison can drive revenue through marketing automation.

Lead Liaison

Why Businesses Need Lead Grading and Lead Scoring

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Why Businesses Need Lead Grading and Lead ScoringEvery lead that comes in contact with a given website has the potential to be converted into a sale at some point or another. In fact, 98% of all website visitors never submit a form, which means they could go completely undetected. That is why marketing automation has become so vital to the success of modern marketing campaigns. Marketing automation captures these potential leads for further marketing and nurturing that is more customized to the individual lead. Let’s have a look at why businesses need lead grading and lead scoring.

Marketing Automation Needs to Prioritize Leads

Lead grading and lead scoring are vital to any marketing organization. Marketing automation brings in an abundance of leads, however, today’s marketing departments still need to solve the problem of determining a lead’s potential and how long it will take before a lead is ready for sales. The sales department does not have time to pursue every individual who comes in contact with a related website. Lead grading and lead scoring prioritize each lead making the entire process more efficient. It also assists the marketing department in making their content more relevant to each unique lead. That is exactly why businesses need lead grading and lead scoring.

Lead Scoring

Scoring specifically refers to the interest level of the individual lead. A lead score may be calculated based on a number of parameters such as email clicks, web form submissions, number of visits, page views, clicks on links, and file downloads. The more someone clicks on your emails and visits your site, the more interested they probably are in your products or services. Unfortunately their level of interest doesn’t always mean they are a good fit for your business. That is where grading becomes necessary.

Lead Grading

Grades are based on explicit factors such as industry, company size, budget, or job title. Where lead scoring dives into their behavior and interests, grading explores a prospect’s demographic profile. Leads are ranked based on how close the prospect is to a predetermined ideal customer profile. Matching demographics is not a guarantee for sales, but it does improve the likelihood.

The Need for Both

Judging a lead based only on their demographic profile won’t work well on its own, since it doesn’t indicate their interest in a product or service. That is why it takes a combination of both to generate more sales-ready leads. Lead score must access their behavioral attributes based on their activity, while lead grading cross-references their potential compared to predetermined demographic characteristics.

Lead grading and scoring work together to give you an in depth look into a prospect’s likelihood of becoming a sale. This powerful combination is the most effective way to qualify and prioritize leads for marketing automation. Once leads have been graded and scored, the chance of conversion will be significantly higher.

Lead Liaison is one of the few companies in the industry that provides a professional and easy to use implementation of both lead grading and lead scoring. Let us know if you’d like to learn more!

Lead Liaison

How Lead Scoring Makes Your Sales and Marketing Department More Efficient

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Lead Scoring Makes Your Sales and Marketing Department More EfficientLearn how lead scoring makes your sales and marketing department more efficient. Marketing automation has quickly became the hottest trend in B2B sales and marketing due to its ability to produce high quality leads that generate revenue while saving valuable resources like money, time, and energy. Lead scoring is an essential component of the marketing automation process. As leads are gathered and nurtured, lead scoring assesses their potential for conversion using pre-established criteria.

Lead scoring qualifies and quantifies a lead’s individual likelihood of purchasing based on their online profile. Every lead leaves a trail of evidence or insight into their character that can be beneficial to your sales and marketing team. It evaluates and prioritizes leads based on pre-determined demographic and behavioral factors that are unique to purchasing certain products or services. By profile unique to your target customers and then ranking new leads against it, marketing can determine how well each lead matches to the ideal customer profile.

Once leads are ranked, marketing will only passes on sales-ready leads for the sales team to pursue further. This way the sales department is only contacting potential consumers who are seriously interested in making a purchase. That is probably the most obvious way it will make your sales and marketing department more efficient, but it is not the only benefit.

Lead scoring quantifies each lead, plus it acts as an effective barometer to quantify current lead generation methods. For example, if your lead generation method is consistently generating low quality leads that are not ready, then you may be you are focusing on the wrong market segment. It could be that the marketing message that is being sent out is not in line with the products or services that are being offered. It also could be targeting buyers who are still in the initial stages of research. Regardless of the reason, a constant generation of low quality leads is a sign that the lead generation method and overall marketing strategy needs to be reviewed and revamped.

Lead scoring improves efficiency by providing the marketing automation department with a reliable and powerful source of feedback. By giving clear, concise and measurable information, such as what stage the current lead is at, or what are the chances this lead is ready to be converted into a customer, or even what methods of interaction that have been successful so far, lead scoring can be used to enhance lead nurturing efforts and further engage the potential consumer with additional relevant content.

Also, lead scoring works well because it brings in more loyal customers. Customers obtain during the marketing automation process are obtain by developing a strong and meaningful relationship. Leads that convert will feel a connection with the company based on appreciation for educational or helpful content. This increased loyalty will save your marketing department the time and expense of securing new customers when others fail to come back.

Marketing automation is designed by nature to improve inefficiencies and lead scoring is vital in that process. Generating sales-ready leads, evaluating current lead generation methods, providing useful information for lead nurturing, and developing more loyal consumers are all ways that lead nurturing can improve the efficiency of your sales and marketing department.

Lead Liaison

Building Your Lead Scoring Matrix: What to Include

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Building Your Lead Scoring MatrixInclude key items when building your lead scoring matrix. Before you can determine a lead score for a marketing contact, it is important to determine the criteria that will be used to calculate that score. A typical lead scoring matrix will rank leads according to explicit (demographic) and implicit (activity) criteria. Explicit scoring criteria define who has been contacted and provide fundamental data that reveals whether the contact is relevant to your business. In many lead scoring programs, explicit criteria is assigned a grade, such as A, B, C, etc. Types of demographic grading criteria should include:

  • Company Name
  • Location
  • Revenue
  • Industry
  • Title
  • Number of Employees
  • Products Purchased
  • Competitors
  • Relationship
  • Lead Source
  • Partners
  • Timeframe
  • Environment Technologies (CRM, ERP, etc)
  • Email Type (personal, professional)

Implicit criteria are used to score activities which a lead has performed that are relevant to your business. Most lead scoring programs will assign points for implicit criteria, such as 0-10 points. A lead scoring matrix should include:

  • Website traffic – Frequency of website visits, which pages have been viewed, and the duration of each visit/view.
  • Phone calls – Number of phone contacts with representatives and duration of conversations.
  • Press release views – Number of views, article type, and article sharing activity.
  • Books/eBooks requests – Publications viewed, ordered or downloaded.
  • Content requests – White papers, infographics or product manuals viewed or downloaded.
  • Content subscriptions – Requests for newsletters, updates, news or other ongoing content.
  • Video views – Viewing frequency, video tag searches, and duration of viewing.
  • Webinars attended – Number of webinars attended, duration of attendance, and most recent event attended.

Negative criteria should also be included. Typically, decremented scoring adjusts a lead’s rating for factors that make a lead less desirable, such as a lack of response to marketing messages. Negative scoring criteria include:

  • Unsubscribing from an email list
  • Lack of website product pages visited
  • Request to be added to Do Not Contact list
  • Inactivity period

There are many other factors that can be included in a scoring matrix. One model may not fit all companies, but it is important to include essential scoring criteria that can clearly differentiate a hot lead from a cold one. To learn how our lead scoring software can help prioritize your leads, contact Lead Liaison for more information.

Lead Liaison

Three Key Rules for Developing Lead Forms

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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

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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

Lead Liaison Posts Record Results

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ALLEN, TX – Lead Liaison posts record results. Lead Liaison, an innovative revenue generation software provider announced today that sales improved 104% from Q3 to Q4 2012. During the same period the company doubled its customer base through a series of successful product integrations.

Lead Liaison develops marketing automation applications which target small to medium-sized businesses. The company’s flagship software solutions, Lead Management Automation™ (LMA), and Streamer™ contributed to the company’s best quarter since opening in 2008. These two solutions benefit sales and marketing departments in three key ways: 1) allows sales staff to be more effective at closing sales and become more efficient with lead prioritization; 2) allows marketing staff to measure campaign results more accurately; and 3) aligns both departments by sharing information that helps build more effective marketing campaigns and shorter sales cycles.

One of the company’s advantages stems from its integration with Salesforce.com, one of the industry’s leading customer relations management (CRM) providers. The LMA platform integrates with Salesforce.com’s Sales Cloud application. A lead’s activity profile is captured through the LMA application and populated into the Sales Cloud providing essential information for sales effectiveness.[/one_half][one_half_last]Lead Liaison’s Streamer provides a real-time activity monitor that is displayed within a customer’s web browser or via a desktop application. The product integrates with popular browsers, such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer®, and Mozilla Firefox® and runs on personal computers (PCs) Users can view a rich set of information about a marketing lead’s online activity, such as a website visit, as it happens.

Executives expect similar growth in Q1 2013, and are anticipating the release of additional marketing automation products throughout the year.

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Lead Liaison is an application development company that designs, develops, and sells cloud-based marketing and sales automation software. The company markets to small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, and focuses on creating the broadest and most user-friendly revenue generation software platform. Applications cover all phases of lead management automation including sales prospecting, lead generation, and marketing automation functions that directly influence revenue generation. It’s innovative and robust lead management platform combines unparalleled sales prospecting, lead capture, real-time lead tracking, lead qualification, lead distribution, database segmentation, lead nurturing and ROI reporting. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model delivers an effective user experience and integrated cloud computing capabilities. Lead Liaison’s Lead Management Automation product is a native application of Salesforce.com.

Alex Brown
VP Corporate Communications
Phone: +1-888-895-3237
abrown[at]leadliaison[dot]com
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Lead Liaison

Implicit Lead Scoring, What Really Matters

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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!