What is lead grading

Lead grading is a form of measurement that analyzes the leads of a given company or business in order to identify an ideal reference model.

What is important to know is that lead grading, as a unit of measurement, is concerned with measuring certain aspects of leads as consumers or purchasers.

The measurement mainly concerns demographic and geographic aspects, consumer preferences. It can also include more marginal elements such as educational qualifications.

The company will then assign letters as evaluation scores, where A represents the highest degree of adherence that a lead can have in relation to the model conceived by the company itself.

The further the lead is from the ideal profile, the further away their rating letter will be from A (B, C, D, etc...). The reference model is identified and determined by the company itself before starting this investigation.

For instance, let's consider a company that intends to sell a certain product to leads located in a specific territory, who are graduates and aged between 23 and 33 years old.

Naturally, all those leads who meet the listed criteria will receive an A rating. Other leads, who only partially meet the criteria (for example, those between 23 and 33 years old, but who are not graduates or not located in the target territory), will receive lower ratings.

Difference between lead grading and lead scoring

There is also another evaluation model, namely lead scoring. This model deals with measuring the lead's behavior.

By behavior, we generally refer to their online activities. For example, clicking a link in an email, visiting a particular website, registering on the site, etc...

Each of these activities corresponds to the assignment of a numerical score that has more or less, also in this case, the purpose of intercepting a certain type of lead rather than others.

So, summarizing, we can say that:

• Lead scoring: preferences of the lead;
• Lead grading: characteristics of the lead.

Using scoring and grading together

Naturally, companies can (and it is advisable that they do) use these two marketing tools in a combined manner.

From the intersection of these two metrics of evaluation, 4 types of results can emerge:

1. High Score and High Grade: these are the leads that are most ready to purchase the product, therefore the company should do nothing but pass these consumers onto its sales department;
2. High Score and Low Grade: the leads in this group show interest in the product but do not match the characteristics that the company is looking for;



3. Low Score and High Letter: these are the ideal leads for the company, but they have not yet shown much interest in the product. Therefore, the company must still work to get closer to them;
   
   
4. Low Score and Low Letter: those who make up this group do not meet the criteria sought by the company, and also show no interest in the product. Generally, the company discards these leads.

In conclusion, we can say that lead grading is one side of a coin, whose other side is represented by lead scoring.

The correct use of these two tools can represent a very valid support to a marketing strategy that aims to maximize the sale of its products.