Nexa Lab Blog – When you are looking for sales, it’s important to make every effort to gain attention towards your service. Learn more about what a HubSpot lead scoring is and can it be integrated to another system?
Some might just view your website and leave without taking any action; some might come and ask more about your service.
Those who asked about your service are something that is called “Leads.”
However, not every lead is the same, and this is where lead scoring comes into play.
Lead scoring is a methodology used by both Sales and Marketing to rank prospects against a scale that represents the perceived value each lead holds for the organization.
That basically means it’s about prioritizing leads on their likelihood to become customers.
One of the things that makes HubSpot really powerful in regard to lead scoring is its flexible and data-driven approach to this important task.
But how does it work, and more so, how are you powering up the selling process of your MSP with it? Let’s dive in.
What is HubSpot Lead Scoring?
HubSpot lead scoring is a feature that allows you to assign positive and negative points to leads based on various attributes and behaviours. These could include demographic information, company details, online behaviour, email engagement, and more.
The system aggregates these points to give each lead a total score.
This score serves as a numerical representation of how well the lead fits your ideal customer profile and how interested they are in your services.
With HubSpot lead scoring, you can:
- Automatically prioritise leads for your sales team
- Identify which leads are ready for direct sales outreach
- Determine which leads need more nurturing
- Improve the efficiency of your sales process
- Increase your conversion rates
It’s like having a digital assistant that’s constantly evaluating and ranking your leads, allowing your team to focus their efforts where they’re most likely to pay off.
The beauty of HubSpot’s system is its flexibility.
You’re not locked into a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, you can customize your scoring model to reflect the unique characteristics of your ideal MSP client.
This means you can fine-tune your lead scoring over time, making it more accurate and effective as you gather more data about what makes a lead likely to convert.
More in Nexalab’s blog: HubSpot CRM vs Salesforce: Choosing the Right CRM for Your Business
6 Types of Lead Scoring Models
HubSpot allows you to create sophisticated lead scoring models based on various factors. However, HubSpot mentioned in their blog post that there are at least 6 basic types that you can try on your sales and marketing strategy.
Here’s the breakdown.
1. Demographic Information
This includes factors like job title, industry, and location. For example, you might assign higher scores to C-level executives or to leads from industries you specialise in serving.
Consider the following scenario: if your MSP primarily serves healthcare providers, you might assign a higher score to leads with job titles like “Healthcare IT Director” or “Hospital CIO”.
Similarly, if you specialise in serving businesses in a particular geographic area, leads from that region could receive bonus points.
2. Company Information
Company size, annual revenue, and technology stack can be crucial indicators of a good fit for your MSP.
You could allocate more points to companies within your ideal customer profile.
For example, if your MSP is geared towards serving mid-sized businesses, you might assign higher scores to companies with 50-250 employees.
Or, if you specialise in supporting businesses that use specific technologies (like Microsoft Azure or Cisco networking equipment), leads from companies using these technologies could receive extra points.
3. Online Behaviour
How leads interact with your website can reveal a lot about their interest level. You might award points for actions like:
- Visiting high-value pages (like your pricing or services pages)
- Downloading whitepapers or case studies
- Watching product demo videos
For instance, a lead who visits your “Managed Security Services” page multiple times and then downloads a whitepaper on cybersecurity best practices is likely showing a strong interest in your offerings.
This behaviour could warrant a significant boost to their lead score.
4. Email Engagement
Email interactions can be strong indicators of interest. Consider scoring based on:
- Email opens
- Click-throughs
- Replies to sales emails
A lead who consistently opens your emails, clicks on the links within, and responds to your sales team’s messages is demonstrating a high level of engagement. This behaviour suggests they’re more likely to be receptive to your offerings, and thus, should receive a higher score.
5. Social Engagement
Interactions with your social media content can signal interest. You could assign points for:
- Following your company on LinkedIn
- Engaging with your posts on Twitter
- Sharing your content on social platforms
For example, a lead who follows your company page on LinkedIn, regularly likes your posts, and shares your content with their network is showing a clear interest in your brand. This level of social engagement could be a valuable indicator of their potential as a customer.
6. Spam Detection
It’s also important to identify and filter out low-quality leads. Negative scoring can be applied for:
- Using generic or free email domains
- Submitting forms with obviously fake information
- Exhibiting bot-like behaviour
For instance, if a lead submits a form with a clearly fictitious name (like “Mickey Mouse”) or uses a free email service that’s often associated with spam (like a temporary email address), you might want to deduct points from their score. This helps ensure that your sales team doesn’t waste time on leads that are unlikely to convert.
How to Setup HubSpot Lead Scoring
Setting up lead scoring in HubSpot is quite straightforward. Here’s how according to HubSpot official documentation:
- Navigate to your HubSpot account’s settings
- Click on ‘Properties’ under the ‘Contacts’ section
- Find the ‘HubSpot Score’ property and click to edit
- Add your scoring criteria, assigning positive or negative points for each attribute or action
- Save your changes and let HubSpot start scoring your leads
Remember, your lead scoring model should be unique to your MSP business.
Consider what traits and behaviours truly indicate a quality lead for your specific services and target market.
So it’s important to have a criteria identification such as engagement and fit criteria.
You can divide your criteria into engagement (e.g., form submissions, email clicks) and fit (e.g., job title, industry) to ensure a comprehensive view of a lead’s potential value.
After that, assign positive and negative criteria for that. Positive criteria add points, while negative criteria subtract points.
Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that the lead scoring strategy is a running process.
This means you need to regularly review and refine your scoring model.
As you gather more data about which leads actually convert into customers, you can adjust your scoring criteria to make it more accurate.
This might involve increasing the points awarded for certain high-value actions, or reducing points for behaviours that you’ve found don’t correlate strongly with conversions.
Can You Integrate HubSpot Lead Scoring with PSA Software?
While HubSpot itself is strong software for sales and marketing, professional software automation (PSA) can be considered more common for managed service provider businesses.
However, if you are thinking of using HubSpot, you don’t need to worry about the siloed process.
One of the strengths of HubSpot is its ability to integrate with other essential business tools. This includes Professional Services Automation (PSA) software commonly used by MSPs.
While the specifics can vary depending on your PSA software, some ways you might integrate HubSpot lead scoring with your PSA are:
- Automatically create new opportunities in your PSA when a lead reaches a certain score in HubSpot
- Sync lead scores to your PSA to inform service prioritisation
- Use PSA data to influence lead scores in HubSpot (e.g., score based on current services used)
- Trigger automated workflows in your PSA based on HubSpot lead score changes
These integrations often require some setup, possibly involving middleware like Zapier or custom API integrations. However, the resulting seamless flow of data between your marketing, sales, and service delivery systems can significantly enhance your overall operational efficiency.
If you feel overwhelmed about setting up these integrations, consider reaching out to a professional consultant or service provider who specialises in integrating software systems like Nexalab.
With the help of professional assistance, you can streamline the process and ensure that your systems are working together effectively to maximise your business performance.
More in Nexalab’s blog: What Is HubSpot Workflows? Examples and Integration Capability
Conclusion
HubSpot lead scoring is a powerful tool that can transform your MSP’s approach to sales and marketing. Regularly review and adjust your scoring criteria based on which leads actually convert to customers. With time and tuning, your HubSpot lead scoring model will become an invaluable asset in your sales arsenal.
Investing in CRM software like HubSpot is a smart move for any business looking to improve sales, marketing, and customer service.
But to get the most out of your CRM, it needs to work with your other tools.
Nexalab’s App Integration Services can help you integrate HubSpot CRM with other essential platforms, like PSA software, for example. This means you get a complete view of your customer data, automate repetitive tasks, and personalise your customer interactions. It’s a solution that helps you get the most out of your CRM investment. Contact Nexalab today to explore how App Fusion can drive your business forward.
