How to Build Effective Lead Scoring Models in Dynamics 365 Marketing

You can make good lead scoring models in Dynamics 365 Marketing by looking at real engagement signals. Behavior metrics help you find leads who are ready for sales. For example, when someone opens emails, clicks links, visits your website, or joins events, their score goes up. The table below shows how each action changes sales readiness:

You can use a rule-based system and different scoring levels like hot, warm, or cold to sort leads. Think about your own sales steps and lead rules before you begin.

Key Takeaways

• Work with your sales team to pick your best customers. Make clear rules for scoring leads together.

• Use real actions like clicking emails or visiting websites. Also, use event attendance to score leads. This helps you find people who want to buy.

• Set up your lead scoring model in Dynamics 365 Marketing. Make rules, give points, and sort leads into hot, warm, or cold groups.

• Check your scoring model often and update it. This keeps it right and matches new customer actions and business goals.

• Use lead scores to help your sales team know what to do. Focus on high-scoring leads to close more deals faster.

Lead Criteria

Sales Alignment

You need strong teamwork between your sales and marketing teams to build an effective lead scoring model in Dynamics 365 Marketing. When both teams work together, you avoid problems like lost leads or mixed-up qualifications. Only a small number of companies have this tight alignment, but those that do see much better results. Here is how alignment helps your lead scoring process:

1. Both teams define the target audience together, so marketing can focus on the right people and sales can understand what buyers need.

2. You agree on what makes a lead “sales-ready.” This means you set clear rules and point values for actions like email clicks or event attendance.

3. You use a shared platform, such as Dynamics 365 Sales, to track leads and campaigns. This keeps everyone on the same page.

4. Automated workflows notify your sales team when a lead reaches the right score. This reduces delays and missed chances.

5. Real-time tools, like Microsoft Teams chat, help your teams talk quickly and make fast decisions.

6. Both teams can see dashboards that show lead progress and scoring results. This helps you improve your model over time.

Tip: When you align your teams, you create a smooth journey for your customers. You also increase your chances of winning more sales and keeping customers happy.

Customer Profile

You should define your ideal customer profile before you set up your lead scoring model. This profile helps you decide which leads deserve higher scores. Start by looking at your best customers. Ask yourself:

• What industry do they work in?

• What is their company size?

• Where are they located?

• What problems do they need to solve?

Make a list of these traits. Use them as filters in your lead scoring model. For example, you can give more points to leads from certain industries or regions. You can also lower scores for leads that do not match your ideal profile. This way, you focus your sales efforts on the leads most likely to buy.

Behavior Metrics

Key Actions

You have to watch the right actions to find good leads in Dynamics 365 Marketing. These actions show if someone cares about your products or services. When you look at these behaviors, you can see who needs more help from your sales team. Here are some important behavior metrics you should check:

• AI-powered lead scoring puts leads in order by how likely they are to buy.

• Real-time engagement tracking shows how leads act on different channels.

• Email open rates tell you if your content gets attention.

• Click-through rates show which messages make people interested.

• Conversion tracking checks if your campaigns turn leads into customers.

• Behavioral pattern analysis helps you spot trends and make your outreach better.

Tip: Use all these metrics together to see the whole story of each lead’s journey. This way, you can focus on leads who really care and might buy from you.

Metric Selection

Pick metrics that fit your marketing goals and the data you have. Start by thinking about what your business needs. Ask yourself what makes a lead important to your team. You can set up lead scoring in Dynamics 365 Marketing by going to Lead management and opening Lead scoring settings. Here, you can name your scoring model, turn on automatic promotion for sales-ready leads, and set rules to clean up old scores.

When you choose metrics, pick ones that show real interest. Some common choices are:

• Delivery rate

• Open rate

• Click rate

• Unique opens

• Unique clicks

These numbers help you know which leads pay attention to your messages. You can also check how leads move through your marketing journeys and set clear points for when a lead is sales-ready. By picking the right metrics, you help your lead scoring model work better for your business.

Dynamics 365 Marketing Setup

Access Scoring Models

You can start building your lead scoring model by finding the right place in Dynamics 365 Marketing. Follow these steps to access and manage your scoring models:

1. Open Dynamics 365 Marketing.

2. Go to Outbound marketing.

3. Select Lead management.

4. Click on Scoring models.

You will see a list of your current scoring models. You can view, edit, or create new models from this page. If you want to make a new model, select New. This setup helps you keep all your lead scoring work in one spot.

Note: Only leads linked to a contact or account can be scored. Make sure your marketing forms update both leads and contacts. You can also connect leads to contacts manually during the sales process.

Create Model

After you access the scoring models, you can create a new one. Dynamics 365 Marketing lets you design your model using a simple drag-and-drop system. Here is how you do it:

1. Click New to start a new scoring model.

2. Use the Design tab to build your model. You will see a canvas where you can drag tiles.

3. Drag Condition tiles onto the canvas. These tiles let you set rules, like “email opened” or “city is New York.”

4. Name each Condition tile and set the details. For example, you can filter leads by city or by actions they take.

5. Add child Condition tiles under a parent tile if you want to combine rules. This uses an AND operator, so both rules must be true.

6. Pick the right entity, such as Lead, to show where the rule applies.

7. Set up the logic using fields, operators, and values. For example, you can say “Industry equals Healthcare.”

You can create many rules to match your business needs. For example, you might want to give extra points to leads from a certain region or industry.

Add Rules

Now you can add rules that assign points based on lead actions. Dynamics 365 Marketing tracks many behaviors, such as:

To add rules:

1. Place Action tiles next to your Condition tiles. These tiles set how much to change the lead score when a rule is true.

2. For example, you can add 70 points if a lead attends an event or 40 points if a lead is from a target region.

3. Set up different rules for different actions. You can track email opens, form submissions, event registrations, and more.

4. Use the Grades tab to set score ranges. You can define what makes a lead “hot,” “warm,” or “cold.”

5. On the Summary tab, name your model, save it, check for errors, and activate it by selecting Go Live.

Tip: You can manage leads by creating new ones under Lead management. Fill in contact and company details, and make sure each lead links to a contact. Only then will the scoring model work.

Dynamics 365 Marketing gives you a flexible way to score leads based on real actions. You can track everything from email clicks to event attendance. This helps you find the best leads for your sales team.

Scoring Customization

Point Values

You can make your lead scoring model more accurate by assigning the right point values to each behavior. In Dynamics 365 Marketing, you decide how many points to give for actions like form submissions, email opens, link clicks, event registrations, and product browsing. For example, you might give 10 points for an email open, 20 points for a link click, and 50 points for an event registration. If a lead unsubscribes from your emails, you can subtract points to show less interest.

You should also think about using negative points. When someone unsubscribes or does not respond for a long time, you lower their score. This helps you focus on leads who still care about your business. You can change point values at any time. If you see that one action is more important than others, you can increase its score. This flexibility lets you adjust your model as your business changes.

Tip: Set up your scoring so that when a lead reaches a certain score, you trigger an automation. For example, you can create a sales task or send a notification to your sales team. This makes sure you never miss a hot lead.

Filters

Filters help you target the right leads in your scoring model. You can use filters to include or exclude leads based on details like industry, location, or company size. For example, you might want to give more points to leads from a certain region or industry. You can also filter out leads who do not match your ideal customer profile.

To set up filters in Dynamics 365 Marketing, use the condition tiles when you build your model. You can add rules like “Industry equals Healthcare” or “City is New York.” These filters make your scoring model smarter. You only give high scores to leads who fit your business goals.

You can also combine filters with behaviors. For example, you can give extra points to a lead who both visits your website and works in your target industry. This helps you find the best leads faster.

Tiered Scoring

Tiered scoring lets you sort leads into groups like hot, warm, or cold. You set score ranges for each group. For example, leads with scores above 80 are “hot,” scores between 50 and 79 are “warm,” and scores below 50 are “cold.” This system helps your sales team know which leads to contact first.

You can set up these score grades in Dynamics 365 Marketing by using the Grades tab in your scoring model. When a lead moves from one tier to another, you can trigger actions. For example, when a lead becomes “hot,” you can send an alert to your sales team.

A table can help you see how to set up your tiers:

You should also use time boundaries. Give more weight to recent actions. If a lead has not engaged in a while, lower their score. This keeps your model up to date and helps you focus on leads who are active now.

Note: Tiered scoring makes it easy for your team to see which leads are ready for sales. You can change the score ranges as you learn more about your leads.

Review and Optimize

Monitor Scores

You need to keep an eye on your lead scores to make sure your model works well. Dynamics 365 Marketing gives you tools to track scores in real time. You can see if a lead’s score goes up, down, or stays the same. This helps you spot trends and act quickly. For example, if a lead’s score keeps rising, you know they show more interest. If the score drops, you may need to change your approach.

Tip: Use the lead score widget to view the top reasons why a score changes. This widget shows both positive and negative factors. You can use this information to understand what drives engagement and what pushes leads away.

Sales Actions

Sales teams use lead scores to decide what to do next. You can use the score range (from 1 to 100) to see how likely a lead is to become a customer. Higher scores mean a lead is more ready for sales. You can also look at lead grades, like A to D, to focus on the best leads.

• Check the lead’s score trend. If it improves, reach out quickly.

• If the score drops, try to re-engage the lead with a new message or offer.

• Use the widget to see which actions helped or hurt the score. This helps you plan your next steps.

• Focus your time on leads with high grades and scores. These leads have the best chance to convert.

Note: When you act based on scores and trends, you help your sales team work smarter and close more deals.

Model Updates

You should review your lead scoring model often. Markets change, and so do your customers. Regular checks help you keep your model accurate. You can audit your model by looking at recent sales and seeing if the right leads get high scores.

• Review your model on a regular schedule, such as every quarter.

• Adjust point values if you see new trends in customer behavior.

• Update filters and rules to match your current business goals.

• Test changes and watch how they affect your lead quality.

Keeping your model fresh helps you stay ahead of changes and keeps your sales pipeline strong.

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You can make good lead scoring models in Dynamics 365 Marketing by using easy steps. Talk with your sales team and keep your rules simple. Look at your model settings often and change them to fit your goals. Do not make your rules too hard, or your team might get confused. This can also make your scores less correct. Check your lead scores a lot and change grades or limits when your business changes. If you update your model often, it will stay right and work well.

FAQ

How often should you update your lead scoring model?

You should review your model every few months. Look at your results and see if your scores match real sales. Update your rules when your business or customer behavior changes.

Can you use custom behaviors in your scoring model?

Yes, you can track custom actions like downloads or webinar sign-ups. Add these as rules in your model. This helps you score leads based on what matters most to your business.

What happens if a lead’s score drops?

If a lead’s score drops, check their recent activity. Try to re-engage them with new content or offers. You can also lower their priority for sales follow-up.

How do you know if your scoring model works?

• Check if high-scoring leads become customers.

• Ask your sales team for feedback.

• Watch your conversion rates.

If you see good results, your model works well. If not, adjust your rules.