Lead scoring is the scoring process that determines which people are and which are not ready to make a purchase from your e-commerce company.
In other words, this method aims to find out which people are closest to the “Buying Decision” phase along the Buyer's Journey and, of course, try to close a deal with them.
LEAD SCORING AND THE BUYER JOURNEY IN E-COMMERCE
In e-commerce, the Buyer's Journey has 5 distinct phases, which are:
• Awareness:
This occurs when an individual makes their first formal contact with your e-commerce business, such as filling out a registration form on your online store. At that point, they cease to be a simple visitor and become a " lead ." They are learning about you.
• Weighting:
The lead, now a potential buyer, doesn't yet know if they will buy anything from your online store. They are receiving the email marketing messages you send them regularly. Because they are suspected of being a buyer, they are referred to as a "suspect".
• Decision:
A suspect contacts a seller via chat , email, or accesses a product page on their online store. They are looking for a specific product. They have already decided or are deciding what to buy. Here, they are called a "prospect".
• Affiliation:
After becoming aware of your online store, considering whether it is good or not, asking for help in making a decision, the then-prospect finally puts a product in the cart and makes the purchase. Now he is a "customer".
• Loyalty:
Your customer tries and loves the product. You follow up after the sale , that is, you call or message them and ask if they are satisfied. The customer likes this approach, this care you show them. That's when they become your "regular customer".
You can establish a score with which you will know how many people are in each phase of this Buyer's Journey and work (educate) each one of them (with content via blog, email, phone, etc.) as it is convenient for the good of your business and the buyers themselves.
How to work with Lead Scoring in the Buyer's Journey
As already mentioned, lead scoring allows you to create a score/rating and with it visualize which of the people (online visitors) who keep in touch with your e-commerce are closest to the “Buying decision” phase.
Knowing this, you can make more suitable offers via email, sponsored links for e-commerce , remarketing , or push notifications , for example, and sell the right product at the right time to the right person.
To create this score, you can use behavioral criteria, demographics and the actions people take throughout the Buyer's Journey, such as downloading an e-book, reading specific content on a blog, visiting a specific product page. , etc.
To create these scoring and ranking criteria, you can use marketing automation software such as RD Station , HubSpot, or others.
Also remember to work so that people who are in the “Awareness”, “Weighing” and “Decision” phases advance in the journey until they make their first purchase and to encourage those who are in the “Affiliation” and “Loyalty” phases to buy more often in your store. This is done with the so-called “Lead Nurturing”.
The importance of Lead Nurturing
Lead nurturing is the process of presenting content via e-commerce blogs , email marketing, ebooks, push notifications, and other media with the goal of educating people as they move through the stages of the Buyer's Journey until they reach the "Purchase Decision" phase.
It's important to maintain a constant flow of content to nurture people at different stages of their journey so that those who haven't purchased make their first purchase and those who have already purchased will come back for more.
Advantages of Lead Scoring and Completion
Lead scoring allows you to classify which purchase stages each of the people who keep in touch with your e-commerce are in and thus help you send the right content to each of them, which increases your chances of selling more and better. than just shooting in the dark.
So, study lead scoring and try to apply it to your e-commerce business.
Choose a good automation software that has the lead scoring feature and get to work!
