Lead scoring is usually described as a way of sorting through leads to find the ones you should focus on. This is absolutely true, but it’s also incomplete. You don’t just need lead scoring when you’re buried in a pile of potential leads and you need to know where to focus your attention. You need lead scoring even if you only have one lead a day. Here’s why:

1. Match your approach to the lead’s position on their ‘buyer’s journey.’

There’s so much competition online, that customers demand more and more out of their shopping experience. And as companies can automatically sort through massive amounts of data to provide that top tier experience at a lower cost, customers’ tolerance for bad approaches is shrinking.

When you’re marketing to your leads, you can’t miss the mark. Lead scoring doesn’t just measure if a lead is good or bad. It also measures if the lead is looking to make a purchase as soon as possible or if they’re in the information-gathering stage. Your content and email or pop-up overtures need to match what they’re trying to accomplish.

2. Figure out the steps before you try direct selling.

Very few people like salespeople, and they don’t like being sold at. So if you’re just starting your business and you’re looking for leads to immediately convert to customers, you’re going to lose a lot of them. Figure out a slower transition process that nurtures the leads and gives them more information. Many potential customers need information and to trust you as a reliable source, first.

3. Experiment now instead of wondering what went wrong later.

The sooner you start organizing your data, the sooner you can hone in on effective strategies. Even when the data pool is small, you can use it to start building content and email templates for different lead types.

Go to Predictive Response for the tools to start scoring your leads and sending them the right messages.