Lead qualification software

How lead qualification software works

A prospect answers a short set of questions, each answer carries a score you set, categories are weighted against each other, and the total is compared to a threshold that decides what qualified means.

Nothing in that chain is clever on its own. What makes it useful is that the judgement happens at submission time instead of in somebody's inbox, which is what lets routing, prioritisation and disqualification be automatic rather than a daily chore nobody has time for.

• Points per answer, so a near-miss and a dealbreaker are not treated alike
• Weights per category, so the thing that predicts a good customer counts for more
• A threshold, so qualified has a definition rather than a feeling
• A result for the respondent, so the questions buy them something too

Filtering unqualified leads before they enter the pipeline

The strongest version of this does not score the wrong-fit enquiry at all — it screens them out at the door, before a lead record exists.

Scoring everyone and ignoring the low scores still means storing them, counting them and looking at them. Screening first means a visitor who fails a hard criterion — wrong role, wrong region, no budget — is routed to an exit page and never becomes a lead at all. Your pipeline then contains only people who cleared the bar, and your reporting stops averaging in the noise.

It also changes what the number at the top of your dashboard means. Conversion rate on qualified enquiries is a figure you can act on; conversion rate on everything who touched a form is a figure that moves when your traffic mix changes.

What to check before you choose one

Look at who defines the criteria, what happens to the people who fail them, and whether the tool can report qualification back to wherever your traffic comes from.

Most tools in this category can ask questions and add up numbers. The differences that matter in practice show up after the score exists: whether a disqualified visitor costs you anything, whether the result is something the respondent values, and whether your ad platform ever learns which leads were any good.

• Can you weight categories, or only score individual answers?
• Does a disqualified visitor count against your plan's limits?
• Can qualification be reported back to your ad platform as a conversion?
• Does the respondent get a result worth the time they spent?

Common questions

What is lead qualification software?

Lead qualification software scores each incoming enquiry against your own fit criteria and tells you which ones are worth a sales conversation, before anyone picks up the phone. Read more →

What is the difference between a form and a scorecard?

A form collects answers and hands them to you unread, while a scorecard evaluates those same answers against your criteria and returns a score, a verdict and a next step. Read more →

Why do my ads produce unqualified leads?

Because the ad platform optimises for whatever you tell it counts as a conversion, and if a submitted form counts, it will reliably find you people who submit forms rather than people who buy. Read more →