Short answers is Yes!
4-5 years ago I came up with my own ways of scoring leads, but mine were macro focused rather then the micro techniques that are being advocated today. I think we all know that some type, and some people may know more specifically what type, of lead scoring needs to be implemented into your lead buying/marketing controls, but most have not implemented any type of real time scoring. For a few years now we have been validating data and in some eyes scoring leads prior to entering our databases, however now more efficient and scientific scoring services are being offered by companies like TargusInfo and eBureau that take into count a number of different data points to predict the likelihood of a lead reaching the point of sale.
In the past we discussed the question of who should be responsible for scoring the lead. Should the orginal generator score the lead and then possibly provide the leads at varied costs, similar to what LeadPoint has implemented or should the end buyer score their own lead. I guess the optimal answer would be that both the buyer and the seller should have a scoring system in place. Why? Because it is more then likely that the end buyers of the leads will have different results that will affect the future scores of the leads they receive. Not every buyer has the same results from a given lead. Additionally, the lead generator typically has a very difficult time receiving statistically relevant amounts of data from its buyers and therefore cannot fully optimize their scoring algorithm.
There are two key, and probably more, groups of data that can be used for scoring. First is the validation data prior to the lead entering the database. This requires the least amount of historical processing data and scores the data based on the likelihood of the lead being able to be contacted. The second is set is primarily focused on process data. (i.e. contacts, applications and closing data) Because lead sources have little process data most rely on the validation data, however the combination of the two sets can equal a very powerful tool that can take your business to the next level.
It has taken some time for lead scoring to find itself properly implemented into the lead generation industry and I don’t think it is quite where it needs to be yet, but in my opinion every lead seller and lead buyer should be scoring their leads.
What do you think?
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The problem with lead scoring as I see it is that is really only a verification process on the front end of the inquiry. By that I mean, it is effective in helping scrub out incorrect contact information. And it certainly lends itself to success in that, by increasing the number of contacts you will likely increase the number of applications, approvals, etc, on down the sales funnel. But that is not necessarily always the case.
What lead scoring does NOT do is anything with regard to the intent of the consumer. You can have a really high contact ratio off of leads generated via incentivized marketing. But that isn’t going to translate into a high pull through ratio because even though the contact information is valid, the intent to buy is not there, so the lead is virtually worthless. So, I am not convinced that lead scoring can effectively measure the intent to buy. Nor do I think that is something that can realistically be accomplished via a 3rd party company. To achieve this you need to be able to partner with a lead company that can take lead feedback and map your success to the marketing sources from which they originated the lead. If they can do that, and then direct to you more traffic specifically from those sources, then you have a scoring system – if you want to call it that – that can genuinely benefit you. Otherwise, I find the concept a little gimmicky, myself.
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In the case that lead scoring is used to further manage the quality the marketing firm ” lead seller”is sending to end buyers get tricky.
When a firm allows a buyer to score sellers quality. The seller then should start to get rewarded for the quality thus higher payout for their leads.
Where does the extra payout percentage come from that is payed out to the seller for driving quality leads and getting a high score from buyers?
From the lead exchange itself lowering their margins? not so sure that would happen.
Through this process if done on a lead exchange the higher quality leads soon become a higher price to buy to push higher payouts to quality sellers. Resulting in high quality sellers gaining the ability to out price others in paid search, display and other media forms with more revenue coming back from their work.
Eventually my though would be this.
Buyers become aware that the leads they score high start to get more expensive. It only takes a few weeks for the buyers to see this happen and then they suddenly stop scoring the leads of high quality to keep the price down on those ” good leads so they reap higher ROI ” not the seller.
Lead scoring is a great idea but I believe their is still to much control and manipulation there available to the buyers who score the leads and in the end are paying for them.
What’s your thoughts?
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A lead seller would never go off of data from a buyer. They would implement their own scoring methods if it affected price. It would have to be a combination of the sellers scoring methodologies and the buyers closed loop data.
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