Lead scoring is one of the most effective ways to prioritize your leads and identify high-value opportunities. If you’re not sure where to start with your lead scoring, here’s a list of common lead score criteria we see used in HubSpot score building.

Positive Scoring Factors

Positive scoring is all about identifying behaviors and attributes that indicate a strong quality. This may include:

• Engagement Metrics:
  • Opens marketing emails 
  • Clicks on CTAs in emails or blogs 
  • Visits key landing pages or Pricing page 
  • Engagement recency - activities taken recently can get extra bonus points, and then decay over time
  • Webinar attendance

• Form Submissions:
  • Downloads an eBook or whitepaper 
  • Requests a demo

• Profile Matching:
  • Matches your target persona 
  • Decision-maker title (e.g., CEO, VP) 
    
    
• Company Attributes:
  • Fits target industry 
  • Business size matches your criteria 
    
    
• Associations with Other Objects
  
  • Contact has ever had a sales call or deal

Negative Scoring Factors

Some behaviors or attributes may indicate a lead isn’t the right fit. For example:

• Unsubscribes or Opts Out:
  • Unsubscribes from emails 
  • Bounced emails

• Low Engagement:
  • No activity in the past 90 days 

• Profile Matching:
  • Job title or role unrelated to your sales process (is an intern or student, for example)  
  • Located outside of target area
  • Is using a free email domain (often a poor fit indicator for B2B services)
  • Company size or image doesn’t fit your target buyer profile

• Form Submissions
  • Filled out Job Seeker forms or other forms that indicate they’re not a sales lead

• Associations with Other Objects
  
  • No associated company (if B2B)
  • Closed Lost > Disqualified Deals

Building HubSpot Lead Scoring Properties

1. Define Your Criteria

Collaborate with your sales and marketing teams to identify the key behaviors and attributes that indicate a high-value lead, as guided above.

2. Assign Point Values to each Criteria

Use a scale that fits your sales process, such as -100 to +100 based on the value of that criteria. It can often take a few tries to get the weighting right.

3. Update in HubSpot

Navigate to Settings > Properties in HubSpot, then select “Lead Scoring.” Start adding your positive and negative attributes and their associated scores.

4. Test and Refine

Monitor your results and adjust the scoring over time. If leads with high scores aren’t converting, reevaluate the weight assigned to certain behaviors or attributes.

5. Use it!

Lead scoring is pointless if you’re not putting it to work. Some ways you can leverage your new business intelligence are:

• Send notifications to the contact owner when their lead hits a scoring threshold
• Auto-assign contacts based on score
• Enroll contacts at different thresholds into nurture workflows
• Include lead scoring in reports to identify if your scoring aligns with your expected buyer’s journey
• Trigger other CRM updates based on scoring thresholds

Best Practices for Effective Lead Scoring

Building a lead scoring system is one thing, but maintaining an effective and impactful model requires strategy, alignment, and ongoing effort. Below are three key practices to ensure your lead scoring system continues to deliver results.

Keep It Simple

The temptation to include every possible metric or data point in your lead scoring system can be strong, but simplicity is key. Focus on the top actions and attributes that are directly tied to conversions. For example, prioritize high-impact actions like requesting a demo, downloading a lead magnet, or visiting high-value pages over less significant actions such as general blog browsing.

A cluttered model with too many criteria can dilute your scores and make it difficult to pinpoint high-quality leads. Stick to the essentials to create a scoring system that’s both clear and actionable.

Align with Your Sales Team

Your sales team is on the front lines, interacting with leads and understanding what drives conversions. To create an effective scoring model, you must align with their insights and needs. Collaborate regularly to ensure the attributes you’re scoring (e.g., job title, company size, engagement levels) match the characteristics of leads that typically convert into customers.

Consider hosting regular meetings to review the scoring system, adjust criteria as needed, and ensure alignment between sales and marketing. A shared understanding of what makes a lead “sales-ready” will help both teams work more efficiently.

Monitor and Adjust Continuously

Lead scoring is not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process. As your business evolves, so will your understanding of what constitutes a high-quality lead. Regularly analyze the performance of your scoring system by tracking metrics like conversion rates, lead quality, and feedback from your sales team.

If high-scoring leads aren’t converting or low-scoring leads are slipping through the cracks, it’s a signal that your scoring criteria need to be adjusted. Use HubSpot’s analytics tools to evaluate the effectiveness of your lead scoring system and make data-driven tweaks over time.

By following these best practices, you’ll create a lead scoring system that not only streamlines your sales process but also helps you focus on the leads most likely to convert.

If you’re interested in learning more, contact us at CRO:NYX Digital. We're here to help you navigate HubSpot's sales tools and optimize your pipeline.