What is Frequency in Lead Scoring?

DEFINITION
In lead scoring, frequency assesses the value of a lead’s action based on how often the specific action was taken. Users taking certain actions more often are given slightly higher scores.

💡Understanding the Role Frequency Plays in Lead Scoring

Frequency is a vital part of lead scoring that’s often ignored or neglected by many conventional lead scoring models. Many conventional models look either at firmographic fit or activity, but not both… and even those that look at both (which any good lead scoring model should) may only be looking at static data. 

All activity data should be weighed against two metrics: recency and frequency. Recency gives more value to leads who have taken actions recently, and frequency looks at how often specific actions are being taken by an individual user. 

Some actions may only be taken a single time, like signing up for a free trial. Others, however, can be taken multiple times by a single user, and the more a single action is taken, the more valuable the lead becomes.

If a single lead visits a single product page multiple times, they’re more likely to be heavily considering it than someone who only visits once. And if they’re opening multiple onboarding emails instead of just one, they’re much more engaged. 

High-performing lead-scoring models don’t necessarily need a lot of data points, but they do need accurate data points. Frequency helps you get a much more accurate understanding of how different actions (and how often they’re taken) can identify higher-value leads. 

🖋 Takeaway

Frequency is often completely overlooked in many lead scoring models, which is a fatal flaw in many of those systems.

Lead scoring models can be incredibly effective when it comes to helping your sales team identify great, high-intent, and high-value opportunities, but only when they’re getting information that they actually need.

Frequency is an important part of that equation. 

Someone who has engaged every day for a week with a trial should be pursued more aggressively than someone who signed up and logged out almost at once to never touch it again. Without frequency, however, the lead scoring model would give the daily logins the same value as a single login and fail to help your sales team identify which user was primed to close on a deal. 

Here at Breadcrumbs, our models always account for frequency and can be customized to align with your standard customer journeys. You can set minimum and maximum frequencies in your scoring models and test how different limits impact the end result. 

What Is Frequency In Lead Scoring?

When customizing your lead scoring models to assess how frequency should play a part, consider:

  • Which actions are often taken more than once (like engaging with certain features) and which may only be taken once (such as booking a demo)
  • Which high-frequency actions indicate intent (opening emails) and which may not (ongoing correspondence on a help ticket)
  • Which high-frequency activities may be a negative instead of a positive (users continually filing help tickets, for example, may indicate a risk of churn)

What is frequency and recency in lead scoring?

Frequency and recency are two distinct signals that assess when and how often a specific action was taken. Users who have taken certain actions more recently and/or more often indicate higher intent, which should increase a lead’s score. 

What is frequency scoring? 

Frequency scoring can increase or decrease a lead’s score based on how often certain actions were taken within a set time frame. 

Why is frequency important in lead scoring? 

Frequency is crucial in lead scoring because it helps you determine which users are most engaged, especially regarding high-value actions like SaaS product usage or ongoing communication with a sales rep. 

What’s an example of frequency? 

Some actions indicate higher intent when taken more often. Examples of actions that indicate higher intent when taken more often include:

  • Contacting the sales team and/or inquiring about new products
  • Opening branded or onboarding emails
  • Engaging with a SaaS product or a specific feature
  • Viewing specific product pages 

What is lead scoring RFM? 

Lead scoring RFM assess a contact’s value by assessing the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value of purchases made by a single customer (or the monetary value of a purchase they’re considering). 

RFM analysis is an important aspect of lead scoring, which is why those are all metrics our lead scoring models consider, but true lead scoring should go beyond that; you also need to be looking at lead fit and the specific activity of different contacts to get a solid idea of where each lead’s potential is.