Agentic AI & AutomationMarketing Glossary

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is assigning numerical scores to leads based on firmographic fit and behavioral signals to prioritize follow-up. Demographic scoring: does the company match your ICP? Behavioral scoring: have they visited your pricing page, opened 5 emails, attended a webinar? Combined into a composite score that tells sales which leads to contact first. Scores above a threshold auto-qualify as MQLs; below-threshold leads enter nurture. Bad lead scoring (arbitrary weights, no validation) creates more noise than signal.

Real-World Example

For example, a lead scoring model might award 20 points for matching the ICP industry, 15 for the right job title, 10 for pricing page visit, 5 per email open — with 50+ points triggering MQL status and SDR assignment.

At Cactus

We build and calibrate lead scoring models for clients — validating scores against actual closed-won data to ensure high scores actually predict pipeline, not just engagement.

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