Customers are the most important link in all business processes, so all marketing activities must rely on their expectations, needs, and individual preferences. To identify the most valuable customers, it is worth using the lead scoring method, which makes it possible to turn “cold” leads into loyal customers.
Learn about your customers’ motivations
Today, consumers are demanding and increasingly aware of marketing techniques. The internet is an invaluable source of knowledge on products and services, so nothing prevents them from comparing companies’ offers and opting for the most favourable one. It is not only price that matters, but also customer experience, service, or store reviews. In order to always be one step ahead of the customer and encourage them to use the offer, it is necessary to find out at what stage of the shopping path they are located and offer them the best solutions at the right time. Lead scoring, a marketing method that allows for extracting potential, most prone-to-buy customers, will help.
One of the tools that support evaluating the user by means of lead scoring is marketing automation. The system gives the opportunity to create custom campaigns, automatically sending educational or promotional content to individual, selected users, thanks to lead scoring. To establish and maintain contact with a customer, it is worth sending to the given segment personalised push notifications that effectively engage leads at every stage of the sales funnel.
Various approaches to lead scoring
Lead scoring is about assigning points to contacts based on specific behaviours and characteristics. Owing to this, we can assess the degree of users’ interest in the company offering and take appropriate actions to encourage them to buy. There is no single way of attributing score to potential customers; however, most frequently actions taken on the website are evaluated – e.g., 1 point for visiting a site, 2 points for viewing a given product, and 5 points for adding a product to a shopping cart. This method determines the primary level of the lead’s interest. Nonetheless, it is possible to consider the frequency of visits to the site or subtract points for inactivity for a certain period of time. Awarding points can also refer to the user’s feedback – just put a form on the page asking for feedback. This gives a chance to get to know the potential customer’s attitude or preferences.
What user behaviours should be taken into consideration?
Marketing automation tools help you assess user readiness to purchase based on the information collected. These include data on the number of visits to the site, products added to the shopping cart, time spent on the site or frequency of visits. You should also assess the lead’s value based on the action taken when contacting the advertising message – these can be both push notifications, remarketing, or email marketing. However, it’s also a good idea to consider other things that might be relevant to lead scoring, such as downloading a file, searching the site, submitting a form, completing a survey, and more. However, for more detailed information, you should determine whether the user matches the customer profile and only on this basis assess their value and readiness to purchase.
What to do with “cold” leads?
Abandoned shopping carts are the bane of all marketers; however, only a few percent of users are determined to buy during their first visit to the site. To encourage consumers to shop, special attention should be paid to the customer’s life cycle, focusing on their needs, expectations, and satisfaction. The so-called “cold” leads, i.e. contacts that do not show interest in products, are worth gradually moving down the sales funnel, building brand awareness, presenting a personalised offer and maintaining interest, so that all activities end up finalising the transaction. The final stage of the customer’s life cycle is retention, namely building loyalty and creating relationships with the customer. It’s not worth skipping any stage, it’s much better to gradually heat the “cold” leads, slowly engaging the customer in subsequent interactions.
