Lead Scoring
GLOSSARY
Definition
Lead scoring assigns a numerical value to each prospect based on their likelihood to buy. Points accumulate for demographic fit (job title, company size) and behavioral signals (page visits, email opens, content downloads). Sales prioritizes the highest scores.
Why it matters
Traditional lead scoring was a rules engine: +10 for visiting the pricing page, +5 for opening an email, -20 for unsubscribing. AI-based scoring replaced the hand-tuned rules with models trained on historical conversion data. The improvement is real but modest. The bigger issue is that most scoring models are trained on whatever data the CRM has, which is usually incomplete and biased toward the leads sales already liked.
Tools in this space
Related terms
CRM · Marketing automation · Deliverability · MQL / SQL · ABM