If you’re drowning in a sea of leads but can’t tell who’s worth your time, you’re not alone. Automated lead scoring promises to help, but getting it right takes more than flipping a switch. This guide is for folks who want to set up lead scoring in Vocal without the hand-waving and hype—whether you’re in sales, marketing, or just trying to keep your pipeline sane.
Let’s cut through the noise. Here’s how to actually get automated lead scoring working for you in Vocal, step by step.
Step 1: Get Clear on What a Good Lead Looks Like
Before you even log into Vocal, take a beat. Automated lead scoring is only as good as the rules you feed it. If you’re not clear on what a “good” lead is for your business, you’ll just end up automating busywork.
Do this: - Talk to your sales team (or whoever closes deals) about what makes a lead likely to buy. - Write down the characteristics of your best customers: industry, company size, job title, website activity, etc. - List the warning signs of a dud: fake emails, student addresses, companies way outside your target market.
Pro tip:
Don’t overthink this. You can (and should) tweak your scoring later. Start with what you know.
Step 2: Audit Your Data in Vocal
Now, open up Vocal and look at the data you’re actually collecting. Automated scoring is only as smart as your inputs.
Check: - What information do you get from lead forms? (Email, company, phone, etc.) - Do you track website visits, downloads, email opens, or other behaviors? - Are there gaps or junk fields that never get filled in? - Is your data clean, or full of typos and duplicates?
What to ignore:
Don’t bother scoring on data you barely collect. If 90% of your leads don’t provide a phone number, don’t make it a central part of your scoring.
Step 3: Map Your Funnel Stages (Don’t Skip This)
Vocal’s lead scoring works best when you’re clear about the stages in your funnel—otherwise, you’ll end up rewarding tire-kickers and missing the real buyers.
Action steps: - Sketch out your lead journey: e.g., New Lead → Marketing Qualified (MQL) → Sales Qualified (SQL) → Customer. - Define what actions or traits move a lead from one stage to the next. (Example: “MQL if they download a pricing sheet and work at a company with 50+ employees.”)
Why this matters:
This isn’t just busywork—your scoring rules will be tied to these stages. Get specific.
Step 4: Set Up Lead Scoring Criteria in Vocal
Head to Vocal’s admin or automation settings and find the “Lead Scoring” section. (Vocal isn’t as flashy as some tools, but it’s clear once you’re in.)
You’ll see options to add scoring rules based on: - Demographics: (e.g., job title, industry, company size) - Behavior: (e.g., email opens, link clicks, website visits) - Custom fields: (e.g., “Requested a demo,” “Attended webinar”)
How to set up your first rules:
1. Assign positive points for good signals.
Example: +10 for “VP” job title, +5 for “visited pricing page.”
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Assign negative points for bad signals.
Example: -10 for “gmail.com” email, -15 if company is on your exclusion list. -
Set thresholds for each stage.
Example: 25+ points = MQL, 50+ points = SQL.
Pro tip:
Keep it simple. Three to five main signals is plenty for your first pass. You can always get fancy later.
Step 5: Automate the Scoring—Don’t Try to Manually Keep Up
Vocal can automatically update scores as new data comes in. Make sure you’ve set this up:
- Enable automatic scoring updates in the lead scoring settings. This means new form fills, email clicks, and site visits update the score in real time.
- Double-check your field mappings. If you’ve got custom fields, make sure Vocal knows how to read them.
- Test it. Create a test lead and watch the score update as you trigger different actions (e.g., open emails, click links).
Honest take:
Manual scoring is a waste of time—either automate it or don’t bother.
Step 6: Build Alerts and Hand-Offs
Scoring is pointless if nobody acts on it. Set up automatic alerts or hand-offs in Vocal so leads with high scores actually get routed to sales.
Set up: - Notifications: Trigger an alert (email, Slack, etc.) when a lead crosses your MQL/SQL threshold. - Assignment rules: Automatically assign high-scoring leads to specific reps or queues. - CRM sync: If you’re syncing to another CRM, make sure lead scores come across.
What to ignore:
Don’t set up so many alerts that everyone gets alert fatigue. Focus on the stages that really matter.
Step 7: Monitor, Review, and Tweak Your Scoring
Don’t “set it and forget it.” Automated lead scoring is trial and error—expect your first version to be off.
Routines to build: - Check monthly: Are high-scoring leads actually converting? Are you missing good leads, or flagging too many duds? - Get feedback: Ask sales if the leads they get are improving. - Adjust your rules: Don’t be afraid to lower thresholds, change point values, or remove signals that aren’t predictive.
Pro tip:
If you’re not sure what’s working, pull a list of closed deals and see what their scores looked like as leads. Look for patterns.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Watch Out For
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Works: Simple, clear rules based on real customer behavior. Automating hand-offs so nothing falls through the cracks.
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Doesn’t work: Over-complicated scoring, adding points for every tiny action, or trying to automate away all human judgment.
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Ignore: Fancy “AI-powered” scoring (unless you’ve got huge volumes and clean data—most don’t). You’ll get better results with simple, transparent rules.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Lead scoring in Vocal isn’t magic, but it can save you hours and help you focus on the right leads—if you keep it simple and review your setup regularly. Don’t stress about getting it perfect on day one. Set up your basic rules, see what shakes out, and tweak as you go. That’s how the pros do it—and now, so can you.