The Importance of Lead Scoring: Building a System from Scratch in Marketo

This article explores how they built a lead scoring system from scratch using Marketo and how it has transformed their lead management process.

Why Lead Scoring Matters

“When I arrived, we didn’t have any sort of lead scoring in place,” the Director of Marketing and Revenue Operations explained. 

This meant that all leads were treated equally, regardless of their level of engagement or fit with the company’s target customer profile. 

“We were wasting a lot of time and resources chasing leads that weren’t a good fit,” they said.

The introduction of lead scoring allowed the marketing team to prioritize high-value leads and focus their efforts on prospects that were most likely to convert. 

“It completely changed the way we approached lead management. We could finally focus on the leads that mattered most,” they shared.

Building the Lead Scoring Model in Marketo

The Director of Marketing and Revenue Operations started by building a scoring matrix that combined demographic and behavioral data. 

“We looked at factors like job title, company size, and industry for demographic scoring, while behavioral scoring tracked things like email opens, website visits, and content downloads,” they explained.

Marketo’s flexible scoring system allowed the team to assign point values to each action a lead took, giving them a dynamic way to measure a lead’s engagement level. 

“We set it up so that leads would automatically be marked as MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads) once they hit a certain score threshold,” they said. This made it easier for the sales team to prioritize follow-ups and focus on high-value opportunities.

The Impact of Lead Scoring on Sales Alignment

One of the major benefits of implementing lead scoring is the improved alignment between marketing and sales teams. Marketo consultants at Xgrid share this perspective, noting that a well-defined lead scoring system fosters better communication and collaboration between these departments. By clearly categorizing leads based on their engagement and readiness to buy, both teams can work towards common goals.

“Before lead scoring, there was a lot of frustration between marketing and sales because we weren’t handing over leads that were ready for follow-up,” the Director of Marketing and Revenue Operations explained.

With a clear scoring model in place, both teams had a shared understanding of what constituted a qualified lead. 

“It created a lot more transparency and trust between the teams. Sales knew that when they got a lead, it was ready to be worked,” they said.

Conclusion

Lead scoring has become an essential part of the company’s marketing strategy, allowing the team to prioritize leads effectively and improve collaboration with sales. By building a scoring model in Marketo, the Director of Marketing and Revenue Operations has helped the team focus on high-value opportunities, increasing both efficiency and conversion rates.