Generating leads is an essential aspect of successful online marketing. However, not all leads you are able to obtain will be the type of leads that will convert into sales for your business and help you grow. Lead scoring for your Onstream virtual event is important to improve your sales team and their level of knowledge so they know exactly who is interested in your company and which people are more likely to make a purchase. Your online events will provide you with detailed information on how your audience behaves, giving you insight on their interests. This insight is critical in creating more effective marketing automation and CRM systems and driving customers through the buying cycle. Follow these important lead scoring tips to obtain the best possible leads.
The Transfer and Accessibility of Data
If you can’t easily access or transfer your data, it is useless to you. You may be able to transfer data into your automated marketing software, but without seamless integration, you will spend too much time reformatting the information. This seamless integration will ensure all your leads are managed properly, allowing you to send follow-up emails to potential customers who have already shown an interest in your product. Without this aspect of lead scoring, you could send a first-contact email to someone who is already on the verge of purchasing a product, causing frustration for the customer and a potential lost sale for your business.
A Better Understanding of Your Buyers
After you establish the data fields you wish to follow, you need to use lead scoring best practices to create a model that weighs each field against buyer profiles. For example, if you wish to reach out to people who have a high potential of making a purchase, you must give much greater weight to behavioral data (80 percent, for instance) over basic demographics. Reaching out to specific types of buyers will require you to increase the weight on demographics instead. Lead scoring from your virtual event will offer the following information:
- Demographic – What does your ideal customer look like? This could include basic demographic information, such as race, age, gender and location, as well as information about job title, company size and industry. You control exactly which information you collect on your attendees.
- Behavioral – What do your prospective buyers act like online? For example, which websites do they visit, do they respond to email offers, do they complete online forms or do they download marketing materials regularly.
Consistency is Key
The data you collect should fall into one of five categories: demographic, interaction, sentiment, engagement or consumption. Once you establish the data fields within these categories, it is important to consistently use them throughout every virtual event for the best results. It is best to avoid free text entries that are difficult to categorize. With consistent data fields, you will be able to more accurately track behavior across multiple online events and build a profile of who your audience is and how they are most likely to interact with you.
Spending the time on creating the best possible lead scoring system will give you the best return on your time in generating the right leads to convert into sales. With the high levels of intelligence you are able to provide to your sales team, they will know exactly which buyers to focus on and how. Knowing who makes up your target audience and how they receive content from you will allow you to streamline the efforts of your sales team. Many companies ignore the best practices of lead scoring for virtual events and thus can’t maximize the results of these events. Don’t pass up this incredible opportunity to easily expand your business; follow these lead scoring tips to take full advantage of Onstream Media's industry-leading communication solutions.
