Long sales cycles and complex purchase decisions make automation essential to score prospects. While many companies have used automation to good effect, the move is fraught with challenges. Here is a quick look at some of the crucial factors that determine the success of your lead scoring automation.
The Algorithm:
The success of lead scoring automation depends on the algorithm. While the general idea is to assign scores to activities, the challenge is to make sure the algorithm recognizes desirable activities. For instance, to determine whether a lead qualifies, it may become essential to look into the job title, industry and revenues. The automated software may recognize “VP”, “Content”, “Digital”, “Media” or “Production” but for effectiveness, it needs to understand that “VP of Digital Content and Media Production” counts most.
Again, automated programs require constant tweaks based on feedback from sales. Good systems allow marketers the flexibility of making changes to attributes, weights and scoring patters without overhauling the system.
The Time Factor:
Time affects the lead score. The relevance of the prospect’s actions and the actions themselves may change over time. An action done a year ago may not have the same relevance of the same action done a week ago. It then becomes imperative to manage profiles and modify scores on an ongoing basis and also factor in the time component to the score. The true benefit of automation comes when lead ranking reflects real time status.
The System:
Automated lead scoring systems passes on the prospect to sales when the score says “sales-ready.” But for effectiveness, the lead scoring system has to go beyond this basic function. Many prospects investigate potential purchases early, thus the system should provide tools that automate prospect communications aimed at nurturing or incubating such leads not yet ready to buy.
The system also has to deliver content that clearly targets prospects and proposes the next step in clear cut terms so that sales and marketing can move forward.
What factors are you considering?
