How Lead Scoring Works Within an Automation Funnel
An automation funnel uses workflows and triggers to nurture leads from the moment they engage with your brand until they’re ready to buy. Lead scoring enhances this by making sure high-quality leads get fast-tracked.
1. Lead Capture
Everything starts here. A user fills out a form, signs up for a newsletter, or downloads a whitepaper. The automation platform creates a lead profile.
Example: A digital marketing agency uses gated content to capture leads and instantly assigns 15 points for the download.
2. Behavioral Tracking
The system tracks actions: opening emails, revisiting landing pages, clicking CTAs, etc.
Example: A SaaS brand using ActiveCampaign increases scores for leads that visit the product tour page more than once within a week.
3. Scoring Thresholds & Triggered Actions
Once a lead score crosses a threshold (e.g., 70), it triggers specific actions—like handing off to sales, sending a high-intent email, or inviting them to a webinar.
Example: Slack’s sales team only steps in after a prospect signs up and engages with onboarding content—a clear buying signal.
Automation ensures these processes run without delay or manual oversight.
Want to dive deeper into how notifications tie into funnels? Explore our post on Using Notifications in Mobile Marketing.
Setting Up an Effective Lead Scoring System
Creating a lead scoring model requires collaboration between marketing and sales. Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:
Step 1: Define Your Ideal Lead
Start with customer personas. If you’re targeting small tech companies, then a CTO from a 50-person startup deserves more points than a student browsing casually.
Step 2: Assign Values to Actions
Not all actions are equal. Opening a newsletter might be worth 2 points, while scheduling a demo could be worth 25.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Opens email | +2 |
| Clicks on CTA | +5 |
| Downloads eBook | +10 |
| Visits pricing page | +15 |
| Requests demo | +25 |
| Unsubscribes | -10 |
Step 3: Use Negative Scoring
Not engaging with emails, inactivity for over 30 days, or unsubscribing can reduce scores to help disqualify cold leads.
Step 4: Set the Threshold
Decide on a score that marks a lead as “sales-ready.” Typically, this ranges between 60–100, depending on industry and funnel depth.
Want more insights on balancing logic and empathy in automation? Read our post Modernization Without Alienation.
Continue reading…
Coming up: Tools that make lead scoring easy, plus common pitfalls you’ll want to avoid as you build your scoring system.
