The growth in marketing automation adoption rates in the B2B marketing industry helped many organisations finally carry out advanced lead scoring. The process of allocating a set number of points to leads depending on their behaviour and engagement allowed marketers to determine which leads were ‘warmest’ and which should be proactively contacted first. Given that a proportion of B2B marketers have not yet managed to implement lead scoring, should they now be concerned that it’s already being superseded by predictive lead scoring? No, this new development is an additional tool to help marketers generate more B2B leads, better quality leads, and ultimately, generate higher levels of ROI.

What is predictive lead scoring? 

90% of B2B organisations see more value with predictive lead scoring

Traditional lead scoring uses an element of estimation to determine a company’s hottest leads, but this is where predictive lead scoring differs. Predictive lead scoring is a process (enabled by additional software) which uses all of the information at its disposal to build a more comprehensive picture of your data and determine which B2B leads are both likely to purchase your product or service, and which are most valuable to your business.

Unlike traditional lead scoring, which uses behavioural reference points (such as downloading content) to determine how ‘hot’ a lead is, predictive lead scoring identifies common patterns of past customers by analysing CRM records, marketing automation data, and external data from the internet. With all this information at hand, the software then builds a ‘model’ which it uses to compare prospects and leads with your ideal customer. Whether it’s the latest industry news, buying patterns, or even geographical areas, predictive lead scoring software can identify the characteristics of your current customers, couple this with real-time data signals, and use this to determine a lead that is highly likely to want to buy your product or service and which will deliver the best financial gain to your company.

Best of both… 

Given that traditional lead scoring isn’t going anywhere, and predictive lead scoring is growing in popularity, can these two solutions work in harmony? The answer is yes, and by working together they can help your business grow at a never-before-seen rate.

The relationship between these two is simple. Predictive lead scoring is a piece of software that can help identify your most valuable prospective leads. While traditional lead scoring is a way to then determine the engagement levels of these leads once they are in the sales funnel.

So by using both of these innovative B2B marketing tools you can drive the most pre-qualified prospects into your sales funnel, where you can then measure their engagement to highlight the warmest and most valuable leads. The outcome is that not only is the quantity of leads increased, but so too is the quality. And of course, by approaching ‘hot’ and qualified leads, you are able to convert more of these people to customers and increase business revenue. 

To find out more about how marketing automation can improve your B2B marketing processes…