Imagine having the ability to tell which website visitors are actively looking at your product versus those who are just browsing aimlessly. That would be pretty convenient, right? It would save you time, money, and a whole lot of sleepless nights wondering whether you’re marketing toward the right audience for your brand.
Well, what if we told you you could automate emails, direct customers to your best prospects, and determine the likelihood of those customers making a purchase, all without lifting a finger? Sure, you’d probably be skeptical at first… we get it. But lead scoring really can do all this and more, and we’re here to show you how.
WHAT IS LEAD SCORING?
Lead scoring is a common marketing practice that assigns a certain number of points, or scores, to specific actions completed by a possible marketing lead. For example, let’s say the lead (i.e. customer) opens a marketing email you sent and clicks on a link inside. This would earn the lead multiple “points,” which makes it easier for a company to determine the likelihood of that lead turning into a paying customer.
Leading scoring can do a lot for your business. The sheer fact that it can be used to rank and rate potential leads gives you countless options for determining what kinds of marketing campaigns to send out, how effective those campaigns are, and which kinds of potential customers are falling by the wayside in the process.
At Win at Ecommerce, we use Klaviyo integration to make sure our lead scoring process is as accurate and effective as possible, giving you the chance to focus on the important day-to-day tasks to keep your business running. So, why Klaviyo? And why hire someone to manage the lead-scoring process for you?
TYPES OF LEAD SCORING
To answer those questions, you need to know just a bit more about lead scoring. Firstly, there are two classes of lead scoring: explicit and implicit. Explicit lead scoring involves receiving data directly from the lead, which might include demographic and firmographic information like location, job title, company size, and more.
Implicit lead scoring, on the other hand, pays attention to a lead’s behavior by monitoring things like visits to your website, videos watched, or responses to marketing emails. This type of lead scoring is significantly more complex and requires experience to evaluate. That translates to a lot of time spent, even if you do it yourself. In short, lead scoring is totally worth it, but it can be time-consuming if you’re new to it – which is why Win at Ecommerce wants to do it for you!
HOW WIN AT ECOMMERCE CONDUCTS LEAD SCORING
We’ll start with an analysis of your business’s sales cycle to assess the actions and behaviors of past sales, paying special attention to the actions that have led to a sale. We’ll use this info to determine what kind of messaging your customers really seem to respond to. For example, if leads have reacted well to emails with discount codes in them, that’s obviously something you’d want to continue doing for future marketing campaigns.
Collecting this data upfront is the fasts way to identify campaigns that result in high lead scores and steer you away from strategies that detract from conversion rates. It also gives us a bar to use to set expectations for things like clicks, site visits, etc. From there, we can assign points to each desired action and kick off the lead-scoring process.
WHY SHOULD MY BUSINESS USE LEAD SCORING?
The biggest danger in not utilizing lead scoring is the resulting lack of understanding about your customers’ preferences. Not paying attention to a lead’s behavior can cause you to spend too much time on leads that are unlikely to convert into sales; resulting in diminished sales and wasted effort. Lead scoring is a simple way to cut marketing costs by limiting your efforts and budget to the tactics that are most effective for your business.
Another major advantage of lead scoring is its ability to be used to automate the early stages of a lead’s journey, giving your sales team more time to spend on promising leads instead of wasting time on those that aren’t. Simply put, lead scoring results in an overall increase in productivity for your sales teams and can help you identify and eliminate campaigns that just aren’t performing.
WHAT KINDS OF BUSINESSES CAN BENEFIT FROM LEAD SCORING?
Lead scoring can be used by a wide variety of companies, but it’s usually most beneficial for those that have sales teams and already utilize customer relationship management (CRM) technology. CRM software is typically used to compile and organize useful data such as customer interactions with your company, contact information, or even data about potential leads.
Lead scoring tends to work best in conjunction with a CRM program, but don’t feel left out if you haven’t established a CRM yet! Even businesses without a CRM, especially e-commerce businesses, can profit from lead scoring.
At Win at Ecommerce, we can gather data about your sales, maximize your profits, and cut costs for all kinds of businesses, even if you have a small sales team and no CRM. Ecommerce businesses especially can see their profits soar, simply by having us identify your customers’ marketing preferences and the actions they take leading up to a sale and replicating those tactics on a much larger scale.
TOOLS TO AUTOMATE THE LEAD SCORING PROCESS
At this point, you may be thinking, “Lead scoring sounds great, how do I get started?” Don’t worry, we’re almost there. But before we tackle that, let’s take a quick look at some of the CRMs that can help with the lead scoring process.
HUBSPOT
Hubspot’s CRM software, Sales Hub, is promoted as being capable of bringing all your sales tools and data into one singular, easy-to-use platform. Hubspot also incorporates many communications features, like email templates, email tracking, call tracking, conversation intelligence with AI-powered insights on how to improve, and much more. You can also use Hubpost to schedule meetings, conduct live chats, and even facilitate customer payments. For lead scoring service, Hubspot will run around $800/mo for their Marketing Hub Professional Plan.
MARKETO
Adobe Marketo Engage offers multiple options for streamlining and automating your marketing methods. AI is used heavily throughout Marketo’s software and can even deliver AI-generated conversations for your salespeople to use in meetings and communications with customers. Pricing for Marketo software varies depending on what features you need and the overall scale of your business. However, comprehensive lead-scoring services can start at $1,499 per month.
SALESFORCE
Salesforce is yet another company that strives to automate marketing campaigns like email and SMS communication. Their website asserts that the program will help to automate and reduce redundant admin tasks, keep track of customer interactions, and give you one platform to control your email, SMS, and live chats. Salesforce can take the data learned from your marketing campaigns and outline how to send targeted and optimal marketing communications to your customers. To use Salesforce for lead scoring, you will also need to purchase Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, which means you’re looking at more than $1,250 a month to set up lead scoring through Salesforce’s various products.
ADVANCED LEAD SCORING WITH KLAVIYO
You probably didn’t consider Klaviyo to be grouped with these other CRM tools, but Klaviyo does have a surprising number of high-end features, at a much more reasonable price point. But Klaviyo isn’t just a CRM. It’s also ideal for running lead-scoring processes and keeping tabs on each of your leads’ habits, including website visits, email clicks, scoring changes, and more.
Not only does it collect all this data, but it will identify and merge any duplicate data to keep your CRM from getting too cluttered. Klaviyo is basically the perfect tool for compiling a list of promising leads for your company, assuming you have the time to manage it. The best news is, if you’re too busy, the Win at Ecommerce team can run this entire process for you – and we do it for a one-time, flat rate.
Lead scoring and CRM tools are just a peek at what Klaviyo can really do for your business. In fact, Klaviyo has almost too many features to list. For example, since Klaviyo is heavily focused on promoting your ecommerce platform, you’ll find that it also has features like pre-built signup forms to capture customer info and add subscribers to your email list.
Kalviyo uses ecommerce automation to do things like prompting users to come back to their abandoned shopping cart or showing products they may be interested in. You can also manage all of your newsletters and email campaigns and take advantage of Klaviyo’s wide variety of pre-built templates. You can even automate not only your emails but also your SMS marketing through Klaviyo, according to your business’s and customers’ unique needs.
All this is to say that Klaviyo isn’t software to be overlooked. With a significantly better price, Klaviyo gives you all the same features that other products tout, plus more. The only real downside is that it does require business owners to put in some manual time and effort to get everything set up and configured. It also requires that you regularly audit your data to ensure that you are reaching your full potential.
Klaviyo is amazing – truly – but it’s not a miracle solution and will either require you, or someone else, to manage for lead scoring purposes.
HOW MUCH DOES LEAD SCORING COST?
Pricing can vary widely, from some companies offering free demos of their CRM products to those that charge $1,200 per month or more depending on what features you want and the size of your business. You just have to keep in mind that all of these products require a learning curve before you can use them proficiently. Ultimately, Klaviyo has a comprehensive list of features for the best price and makes for a perfect match for sales teams that have an ecommerce component to their business.
LEAD SCORING WINS WITHOUT THE EFFORT
If you’re ready to embark on the lead-scoring journey but just don’t have the time, we’re here for you. Here at Win at Ecommerce, we can implement a custom lead scoring process through Klaviyo for a flat rate, one-time cost. No monthly bills, no managing subscriptions, and no getting locked out of your account if you forget to pay. Just a one-time fee, and an entire team of professionals deeply invested in seeing your business succeed.
Lead scoring, in tandem with Klaviyo integration, can help you track customers’ email habits, observe their marketing preferences, and learn more about how your customers (and potential customers) like to interact with your brand. Get all the benefits of Klaviyo without committing to the time investment required to get it up and running and learn how you can rank, rate, and improve the quality of your leads by contacting Win at Ecommerce today for a free, no-obligation Discovery Call.