Not every lead is equal. Some people download everything you offer and never return. Others visit one page, disappear for a week and suddenly come back asking for a quote. Some fill in your contact form with genuine intent, while others are spam, competitors, job seekers or simple enquiries that will never turn into customers. Lead scoring helps you sort all of this out.
At WebStudio Marketing, lead scoring is at the heart of our nurturing system. It allows us to see who is engaged, who is curious and who is ready to speak to sales - long before a form is filled in. Without lead scoring, every lead looks the same. With it, you understand who is genuinely interested and who needs more time.
Why you shouldn’t treat every lead as sales-ready
Many businesses automatically treat every contact form submission as a high-intent, sales-ready enquiry. But in reality, this isn’t always the case. Contact forms can attract:
- spam submissions
- competitors checking prices
- people promoting their own services
- job seekers
- low-intent questions
- non-relevant enquiries
This is why lead scoring is essential. It allows you to separate genuine interest from noise, so your sales team focuses their time on real opportunities.
How lead scoring works
Lead scoring assigns points based on someone’s behaviour. Every interaction tells you something about their intent. The more relevant actions they take, the more confident you can be that they’re genuinely interested.
Your Bronze, Silver and Gold values fit perfectly into this. Instead of treating all conversions the same, you assign score increases based on the value of the action.
- Bronze actions (newsletter signup) → small score increase
- Silver actions (case study or guide download) → moderate score increase
- Gold actions (book a call, quote request) → high score increase
This lets you track intent across the whole journey, not just at the point of contact.
Adding and removing points based on behaviour
A good lead scoring system isn’t just about adding points - it’s about removing them too. Engagement works both ways.
You can:
- add points when someone downloads content or views key pages
- add points when they return to the website
- add points when they open or click emails
- remove points if they become inactive over time
- remove points if they ignore email sequences
- remove points if they only interact with low-intent content
This is how you separate someone who is browsing casually from someone who’s seriously considering working with you.
Using scoring to identify marketing qualified leads
Once a lead reaches a certain score, they become a marketing qualified lead (MQL). This means they’ve shown enough engagement to indicate they are ready for a conversation - or at least ready for a more direct nudge.
An MQL might be someone who:
- downloaded more than one piece of content
- visited your service pages multiple times
- returned to the website after a week or two
- opened most of your nurturing emails
- viewed pricing or case studies
Lead scoring removes guesswork. It gives you a clear, structured way of knowing who is worth passing to sales.
Why collaboration between marketing and sales matters
Lead scoring works best when marketing and sales support each other. Marketing identifies the MQLs. Sales confirm which ones were genuinely good leads and which ones weren’t. That feedback then improves the scoring system.
For example:
- if sales say low-quality leads keep reaching MQL status → increase scoring thresholds
- if sales say good leads aren’t being handed over soon enough → reduce thresholds
- if certain behaviours almost always lead to good outcomes → increase point values
- if certain behaviours look promising but lead nowhere → reduce their point values
This synergy makes the system stronger every month.
Preventing false-positive MQLs
Someone filling in a contact form is not always a true MQL. Without scoring, you risk:
- passing spam to sales
- passing irrelevant questions
- passing low-intent browsing
- passing non-buyer enquiries
With lead scoring, you combine form fills with behaviour. A genuine Gold lead almost always shows prior signs of interest - multiple visits, multiple page views, email engagement or a previous Silver-level download.
This protects your sales team’s time and ensures your pipeline stays healthy.
How to use lead scoring to decide who needs more nurturing
Not everyone will reach MQL status quickly. Some may take weeks or months. Lead scoring helps you see who needs more nurturing rather than a handover.
Someone who:
- visits only once
- downloads one item only
- doesn’t return
- ignores emails
…is not ready yet. They stay in the nurturing system until they show more intent. Email drips, retargeting, and ongoing helpful content keep them warm until they’re ready.
When a lead becomes sales qualified
Once a lead reaches the MQL stage and shows an action that indicates intent - such as requesting a quote - they become a sales qualified lead (SQL). This is where marketing hands them to sales with confidence.
Sales then take over the conversation, and marketing tracks what happens next to improve the scoring model further.
A simple lead scoring plan you can start today
To implement effective lead scoring, follow this structure:
- assign Bronze, Silver and Gold values to every conversion
- set a clear score threshold for MQL status
- add points for helpful behaviour (opens, clicks, revisits)
- remove points for inactivity
- align marketing and sales on what a “good” lead looks like
Lead scoring lets you filter out noise, protect your sales team’s time and focus on the people who are truly interested. And when your nurturing system works alongside scoring, the whole funnel becomes smoother and more predictable.
Next, we’ll look at how to move the right people from marketing qualified lead to sales ready.
