When marketers rank leads to determine the lead's sales-readiness, they use a method called lead scoring. Two types of lead scoring: explicit (fit) and implicit (interest) scoring are particularly important for most marketers.
Explicit scoring data is created from observable or collected information via an online form. This type of scoring takes into account demographic, firmographic, and BANT (budget, authority, need, and time) scoring criteria that you determined with sales early on in your lead-generation process. Depending on the importance of each factor, you can establish varying scores for each criterion.
Here are some common explicit score changers to think about for a lead:
Title and role
Role in the decision process
Years of experience
Degrees received
Company
Number of employees
Revenue growth
Location
Industry
Budget
Timeframe
Implicit scoring consists of tracking various behaviors to determine buying intent. Implicit scoring can also consist of inferred data such as IP addresses and so on. With implicit scores, you want to score the activity based on the value it has to purchasing.
Here are some common implicit score changers to think about for a lead:
Attended a tradeshow
Attended a webinar
Downloaded an ebook or content asset
Subscribed to the blog or email list
Visited a product/service page
Visited a pricing page
Filled out a form
Searched for company name
Liked or followed your company on a social channel