Build lead scores to qualify contacts, companies, and deals

To qualify the contacts, companies, and deals in your CRM by their attributes and behavior, create lead scores. Lead scores assign numerical scores to records based on property values and event actions important to you, which can help you determine which records in your database are the best fit or the most engaged.

For example, you could create scores for the following use cases:

• Your business sells to medium-sized hospitality companies in the northeastern United States. Create a company fit score that looks at the Region, Company size, and Industry properties and scores a company highly if their values are Northeast, 50-200 employees, and Hospitality.
• You want your sales team to reach out to contacts if they've engaged often with your marketing campaigns. Create a contact engagement score that scores contacts highly if they've interacted with a campaign more than five times.
• You're building a forecast and want to score deals that are likely to close this quarter. Create a deal score to mark deals as likely to close if the associated company is in the correct industry and if associated contacts are decision makers who've recently attended meetings with your sales team.

Please note: the types and number of scores you can create depend on your HubSpot subscription.

Learn more about the lead scoring tool and how scores are calculated.

Create a lead score

To create a new lead score:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Marketing > Lead Scoring.
2. Click Create score.
3. Choose the object for which you want to score records:
   • To create a contact-based score (Marketing Hub only), click Contacts.
   • To create a company-based score, click Companies.
   • To create a deal-based score (Sales Hub only), click Deals.
4. Select the type of score to create. Deal scores are combined scores by default, meaning they can include both criteria based on property values and events.
   • To score contacts or companies based on property values, click [Contact/Company] fit score.
   • To score contacts or companies based on events, click [Contact/Company] engagement score.
   • To score contacts, companies based on both property values and events, click [Contact/company] combined score.
   • To score deals based on property values and/or events, click Deal score.
5. Click Create score to continue.
6. At the top of the editor, enter a name for the score.
7. Set up the scoring criteria and points.
8. Set up inclusion lists to determine which records will be scored.
9. Set up the score's associated properties and thresholds.
10. Review and turn on the score.

Set up score criteria and points

To qualify your contacts, companies, or deals using a lead score, set up criteria to add or subtract points for each record. The criteria options available depend on the type of score you've created.

1. To customize the maximum score (Enterprise only), click the Score limit dropdown menu and select a maximum, with options ranging from 100 to 500 points in intervals of 100.
2. To start building the score, click + Add event group or + Add property group.
   • For engagement scores, you'll only have the option to add event groups. In an event group, you'll add event rules that will determine the score. You can combine related events in a group and set a limit to the points those events can add to the score.
   • For fit scores, you'll only have the option to add property groups. In a property group, you'll add property rules that will determine the score.
   • For combined scores or deal scores, you can add both event groups and property groups.
3. To set a name for the group, click the edit edit icon, then enter a name.
4. To set a maximum number of points for the group, enter a number. The default maximum for each score is 100 points, but if your account has an Enterprise subscription, you can set a custom maximum up to 500 points. 
   
   
5. Set up the rules for the group. Learn how to set up engagement criteria based on events or fit criteria based on property values.
6. To add another group, below the existing group, click + Add event group or + Add property group, then set up the rules for that group. This group's criteria will be separate from the first group and have its own group limit, but will contribute to the total score. 
   
   
7. To clone or delete a group, click the three vertical dots icon in the top right, then select Clone group or Delete group.

Set up engagement criteria based on events

If you've created an event group for an engagement score, combined score, or deal score, set up your event criteria. For contacts, engagement evaluates a contact's actions. For companies and deals, engagement evaluates associated contacts' actions.

1. To add an event rule:
   • Click + Add event criteria.
   • Select the event type (e.g., Meetings). For company scores, events are pulled from associated contacts. Learn how to customize settings for scoring based on associations. Note that the score calculation for call events only includes calls initiated through HubSpot's calling.
   • Click Filter event, then select an event property (e.g., Meeting outcome change or Meeting booked). Click Add timeframe, then select the timeframe within which to include events.
   • Click Add frequency, then specify the number of times an event should occur to be scored (e.g., viewing an email Between 1 and 3 times adds two points and 4 or more times adds five points). You can use the operators Exactly, Between, or At least to set frequency ranges.
   • Select an operator (e.g., is equal to any of).
   • Select or enter event property values based on the selected operator. Learn how to score multiple values individually or together.
   • Select whether the rule will add or subtract points.
   • Enter the number of points that'll be added to or subtracted from the score by the event.
2. If you're building a company or deal score, to select which associated contact to score and how the scores will be added, click Association settings. In the dialog box, customize the settings:
   • To select associated contacts based on their association label, click the Any contact dropdown menu, then select the label.
   • To select records based on other criteria, click + Add filter, then set your criteria.
   • To choose how the associated contact points will be aggregated into the company record's score, click the Aggregation dropdown menu. Select an option:
     
     • Sum: includes the total points from each associated contact that meets the criteria in the score.
     • Average: includes the total points from each associated contact that meets the criteria, divided by the number of contacts that meet the criteria in the score.
     • Min: include the lowest value of the associated contact that meets the criteria in the score.
     • Max: includes the highest value of the associated contact that meets the criteria in the score.
   • To apply the settings, click Confirm.
3. If you've selected multiple event property values (e.g., Contact Us and Newsletter forms), you can choose to Score individually or Score together.
   
   • To score each option separately, click Score individually. This means the score will be updated for each option met, rather than once for any options met. Enter the number of points that'll be added to or subtracted from the score by the event. For example, you want to score based on submissions to your Contact Us form, worth 5 points, and Newsletter form, worth 2 points. If the Contact Us form was submitted, the score will add 5 points. If both the Contact Us and Newsletter forms were submitted, the score will add 7 total points because the submission events are scored individually, then added together.
   • Score together is the default behavior. If you previously clicked Score individually, click Score together to revert back to the default. This means the score will be updated once when any of the values are met. Enter a number of points that’ll be added to or subtracted from the score by the event for any of the options. For example, you want to add 5 points if any of the Contact Us or Newsletter forms are submitted. If the Contact Us form was submitted, the score will add 5 points. If both the Contact Us and Newsletter forms were submitted, the score will still add 5 points because the score updates only once when any of the selected forms are submitted.
4. To set up score decay, which automatically reduces a score based on how long ago a scored event occurred, toggle the Decay scores switch on. Select the percentage to reduce the score by, and the period of time that must pass to reduce the score. Learn more about how score decay works. 
   
   
5. To add another rule for the same event type (e.g., two rules for Meetings), click + Add event criteria, select the event, then set criteria and how the score will be impacted.
6. By default, a contact or company will be scored every time a selected event type occurs. To limit how many points the score can reach for that event, click Score every time, then select Limit to and enter a number of points. For example, a contact may submit a form worth one point five separate times, but if you've limited the rule to two points, only the first two times will be counted.
7. To clone the rules for an event type (e.g.,. all rules for Meetings), click the duplicate clone icon. The cloned version will be automatically added to the bottom of the group.
8. To delete all rules for an event type (e.g., all rules for Meetings), click the delete delete icon.
9. To clone or delete an individual event rule (e.g., Meeting booked rule), click the three vertical dots icon next to the points, then select Clone or Delete.
10. To add other events to the group, click + Add more events, then select the type, event, and how the score will be impacted.

Set up fit criteria based on property values

If you've created a property group for a fit score, combined score, or deal score:

1. To add a property rule:
   • Click + Add property criteria, then select [Contact/Company] to choose a contact or company property or Associated [object] to choose a property for an associated record. Learn how to customize settings when scoring based on associations.
   • Select a property (e.g., State/Region).
   • Select an operator (e.g., is equal to any of).
   • Select values based on the selected operator. Learn how to score multiple values individually or together.
   • Select whether the rule will add or subtract points.
   • Enter the number of points that'll be added to or subtracted from the score by the event.
2. If you selected Associated [object], to select which associated record to score and how the scores will be added, click Association settings. In the dialog box, customize the settings:
   • To select records based on their association label, click the Any [object] dropdown menu, then select the label.
   • To select records based on other criteria, click + Add filter, then set your criteria.
     To choose how the associated record's points will be aggregated into the original record's score, click the Aggregation dropdown menu. Select an option:
     
     • Sum: includes the total points from each associated record that meets the criteria in the score.
     • Average: includes the total points from each associated record that meets the criteria, divided by the number of records that meet the criteria in the score.
     • Min: include the lowest value of the associated record that meets the criteria in the score.
     • Max: includes the highest value of the associated record that meets the criteria in the score.
   • To apply the settings, click Confirm.
3. If you've selected multiple values (e.g., Northeast, Midwest, Southeast) for a property (e.g., State/Region), you can choose to Score individually or Score together.
   
   • To score each option separately, click Score individually. This means the score will be updated for each value met, rather than once for any values met. Enter the number of points that'll be added to or subtracted from the score by each value. For example, you want to score companies based on the State/Region property. You choose to add 15 points for Northeast, 10 points for Midwest, 8 points for Southeast. If a company is only in the Northeast, the score will add 15 points. If a company has locations in both the Northeast and Midwest, 25 total points will be added to the score because the values are scored individually, then added together.
   • Score together is the default behavior. If you previously clicked Score individually, click Score together to revert back to the default. This means the score will be updated once when any of the values are met. Enter the number of points that’ll be added to or subtracted from the score when any of the values are met. For example, you want to score companies based on the State/Region property. You choose to add 15 points if the company is located in any of Northeast, Midwest, or Southeast. If a company is only in the Northeast, the score will add 15 points. If a company has locations in both the Northeast and Midwest, the score will still add 15 points because the score updates once when the company matches any of the values.
4. To add a rule based on list membership:
   
   • Click + Add list membership criteria.
   • Select an operator.
   • Select the lists based on the selected operator.
   • Select whether the rule will add or subtract points.
   • Enter the number of points that'll be added to or subtracted from the score by the event.
5. To add other criteria from the selected object, click + Add property criteria or + Add list membership criteria. 
6. To add properties from associated objects to the group, click + Add object, then select the object. These criteria will apply to the same group.
7. To clone the rules for a property section, click the duplicate clone icon. The cloned version will be automatically added to the bottom of the group.
8. To delete all rules for a property section, click the delete delete icon.
9. To clone or delete an individual property rule, click the three vertical dots icon, then select Clone or Delete.

Choose which records are scored

To determine which records are included when scoring:

1. Navigate to the [Companies/Contacts/Deals] tab.
2. To decide which companies, contacts, or deals receive scores, select an option:
   • Score all [companies/contacts/deals]: all of your companies/contacts/deals will receive scores. To exclude certain records, click the dropdown menu and select lists with the records you don't want scored.
   • Score specific [companies/contacts/deals]: score companies/contacts/deals only if they're members of certain lists. Click the dropdown menu and select the lists containing the records you want to be scored.

Set up the score properties and thresholds

When you create a lead score, properties are automatically created to store the score values and threshold categories based on those values. To set up the properties:

1. To set up the score settings, navigate to the Settings tab.
2. To set up the properties where scores will be stored, in the Score value section, edit the properties' labels, internal names, descriptions, and property groups. For combined scores, there are three score properties which will show the following values:
   • Total score value: the total value for the engagement and fit points combined.
   • Fit score value: the value of the score's fit points.
   • Engagement score value: the value of the score's engagement points.
3. To set color-coded score categories, click Score thresholds in the left sidebar menu. An additional property will be created that labels a contact's score from A (high-fit) to C (low-fit) and 1 (high-engagement) to 3 (low-engagement) based on the thresholds you set. For example, a low-fit but highly engaged contact would have a value of C1.
   • Edit the property's label, internal name, description, and property group.
   • Set the threshold values that decide the color and label a company or contact will have based on their score. For combined scores, you set values for the fit criteria and values for the engagement criteria.

Review and turn on the score

Once you're finished creating your score, to turn it on:

1. To test records before turning on the score, click Actions, then select Test a [contact/company/deal].
2. To view score distribution insights for multiple records, click Actions, then select Preview distribution.
3. Once you're done building the score, click Review and turn on.
4. Review the score's details, what will happen when the score is turned on, then click Turn on. If you exit the score builder without turning the score on, it will be saved as a draft you can revisit.

Once the score is turned on, the score for each contact, company, or deal will appear in the corresponding score properties. Learn how to view a record's score history.