If you’re swimming in demo requests but half your “leads” are nowhere near ready to buy, you know the pain of bad lead scoring. For B2B and SaaS teams, Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) are gold—people who’ve actually used your product, not just downloaded an ebook. But scoring PQLs usually means duct-taping together forms, analytics, and sales tools. It’s messy.
Enter Formsort, a form builder designed for folks who want more than the usual “contact us” box. This guide is for anyone who wants to use Formsort to actually separate tire-kickers from buyers, without turning your sign-up flow into a Rube Goldberg machine. We’ll cover what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid overthinking it.
What Is Product Qualified Lead (PQL) Scoring, Really?
Let’s get this straight: PQL scoring is about finding people who’ve done something with your product that shows they might buy. Forget fluffy metrics like “ebook downloads.” You want actions like:
- Signed up for a trial
- Hit a key usage milestone (e.g., sent first email, invited a teammate)
- Integrated with another tool
The trick is turning these actions into a score you can use. That’s where a tool like Formsort comes in—it lets you ask the right questions and track the right events, all in your sign-up or onboarding flows.
Step 1: Map Out What Makes a Good PQL for Your Product
Don’t start building anything yet. First, figure out what “qualified” actually means for your product. This will save you hours of guesswork later.
Ask yourself: - What actions do our best customers take early on? - How long does it usually take them to reach those actions? - Are there “red flag” actions (e.g., people who only poke around and bounce)?
Common PQL actions: - Completing onboarding or a core workflow - Connecting their own data (not just playing with a demo) - Hitting a usage threshold (e.g., sent 10 messages, uploaded a file)
Pro Tip: Don’t get too fancy. Start with 2-3 signals you can actually measure. You can always add more later.
Step 2: Build a Form That Captures Key Signals (Without Scaring People Off)
Here’s where Formsort shines: you can build dynamic, multi-step forms that collect just enough info to score a lead—without asking for their life story upfront.
What to include: - Basic info: Email, company name, maybe job role. Keep it minimal. - Product questions: Ask about their goals, challenges, or what brought them to you. Phrase these as dropdowns or multiple choice—they’re faster to answer and easier to score. - Trigger questions: Slip in a question or two that ties directly to your PQL definition. Example: “How soon do you want to get started?” or “Do you plan to invite teammates right away?”
What NOT to do: - Don’t ask for a phone number unless you really need it. It’s a conversion killer. - Avoid open-ended questions unless you plan to actually read them. - Skip the “How did you hear about us?” unless you’ll act on that info.
Formsort Tips: - Use conditional logic to show/hide questions based on earlier answers. - Keep the form under 2 minutes to complete. - Show progress (e.g., “Step 2 of 4”) so people know you’re not wasting their time.
Step 3: Assign Scores to Responses and Actions
Now, give each answer or action a score. This is where the magic happens—and where most people overcomplicate things.
Keep it simple: - Assign points for each answer that matches your “ideal” lead (e.g., “Plans to invite 3+ teammates” = +2 points). - Assign zero or negative points for weak signals (“Just exploring” = 0 or -1). - Don’t try to create a 100-point system unless you have a massive sales team. A scale of 0-5 or 0-10 is usually plenty.
In Formsort: - Use calculated variables or hidden fields to add up scores as users progress. - Pipe answers to your CRM or a spreadsheet for tracking.
Example scoring: | Question | Answer | Points | |-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------| | How soon do you plan to use our product?| “This week” | +2 | | | “This quarter” | +1 | | | “Just exploring” | 0 | | Will you invite teammates? | “Yes, 3+ people” | +2 | | | “Just me for now” | 0 |
Pro Tip: Make your scoring rules visible to your sales team so they can spot edge cases or obvious flaws.
Step 4: Connect Formsort to the Rest of Your Stack
Collecting scores is useless if no one sees them. Good news: Formsort integrates with most CRMs, marketing tools, and data warehouses (either natively or via Zapier, webhooks, or API).
Set up: - Push form data (including scores) into your CRM (like HubSpot, Salesforce, or even Google Sheets). - Set up alerts for high-scoring leads—don’t let good ones rot in your inbox. - If you have product analytics, map Formsort responses to in-app events (e.g., “This user said they’d invite teammates, and then actually did”).
What to ignore: - Don’t bother with integrations you’re not ready to use. Focus on the bare minimum: send scores to your sales or growth team. - Avoid real-time alerts for every lead—your team will start ignoring them. Only alert on the ones who cross your scoring threshold.
Got developers? Use Formsort’s webhooks to trigger custom workflows, like auto-assigning leads or kicking off personalized onboarding.
Step 5: Test, Review, and Keep It Real
Most lead scoring systems fall apart because no one checks if they’re working. Don’t set it and forget it.
What to do: - Review a handful of scored leads every week: Did high-scorers actually buy? Did any low-scorers surprise you? - Tweak questions and scoring rules based on what you see. Don’t be afraid to drop questions that aren’t predictive. - Ask your sales or success team if the scores feel right. Gut checks matter.
Common mistakes: - Overfitting: Don’t tweak to the point where only a handful of leads ever qualify. - Ignoring feedback: If sales keeps complaining, listen. There’s probably a pattern. - Analysis paralysis: Don’t wait for perfect data. Ship something, then improve.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
Works well: - Short, focused forms with 3-5 qualifying questions - Using conditional logic to keep forms relevant - Simple scoring rules that are easy to explain
So-so: - Long forms with lots of required fields (drop-off will spike) - Open-ended questions (hard to score automatically) - Relying only on self-reported data—mix in actual product usage if you can
Ignore (for now): - Fancy AI scoring models (unless you have tons of data) - Tracking every possible user action—stick to the big signals - Over-automating follow-up—personal touch still wins for high-value leads
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Trust Your Gut
Formsort gives you a ton of flexibility, but don’t fall into the trap of building a lead scoring monster. Start with a scrappy form, a handful of signals, and a basic scoring rule. Ship it, see what happens, and tweak as you go.
You’ll never have a perfectly “qualified” lead list—but with a little discipline, you’ll waste less time on bad fits and spot the real buyers faster. That’s the whole point.