Not every enquiry deserves the same effort. One visitor asks about the price of a specific service, gives a postcode you cover and wants Thursday. Another types 'just looking' and leaves an email address nobody will ever use. If you treat both alike, you waste time on the second or reply too slowly to the first. Lead scoring is the practice of giving each lead a rough priority so you know whom to contact first. Enterprise tools use complicated models, but a small business can do it well with a simple sheet, because the chat transcript already contains the signals: what they asked, how specific they were and what they did next. This guide explains what to score, how to build a simple points system, which signals matter for service businesses, which red flags to watch, what follow-up each score should trigger and how to check that your scoring reflects reality. Crescelo does not compute lead scores automatically; this is a manual or spreadsheet method that uses the leads and conversations the platform delivers.
Score what people did, not who they are
Be careful with assumptions about people. Scoring by their behaviour and stated needs is fair and reliable. Guessing from names, accents or other personal characteristics is neither, and in some places is unlawful discrimination. Use signals a visitor gave you deliberately.
Signals that suggest a ready-to-buy lead
| Signal | Why it matters | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Asked about a specific service or price | They know what they want | +2 |
| Gave a location you serve | They are in your area | +2 |
| Asked about dates or availability | They are thinking about timing | +3 |
| Wants it soon | Urgency | +3 |
| Booked, or started booking | Highest intent | +5 |
| Gave a phone number as well as an email | Willing to be contacted | +1 |
| Mentioned budget within your range | Fit | +2 |
| Returned for a second conversation | Persistent interest | +2 |
These numbers are examples. The point is the relative order: timing and booking signals matter more than general curiosity.
Signals that lower the priority
| Signal | Points |
|---|---|
| Very general question with no follow-up | -1 |
| Outside your service area | -3 |
| Asks for something you do not offer | -3 |
| Budget far below your minimum | -2 |
| Details look invalid (fake email, nonsense name) | -3 |
| Clearly a supplier or salesperson | -5 |
Do not delete these leads unread. A low score means 'reply later or with a template', not 'ignore'. People sometimes phrase things vaguely and turn out to be excellent customers.
Build a one-page scoring sheet
- List the six or eight signals that matter for your business, with points.
- Decide the bands, for example 6 or more is hot, 3 to 5 is warm, below 3 is cool.
- Add columns to your leads sheet: date, source, service, location, signals seen, score, band and follow-up owner.
- Score each new lead in under a minute by skimming the transcript, which Crescelo links to each lead.
- Review the bands weekly and adjust the points.
Keep the sheet short. If scoring takes longer than the reply, you will stop doing it.
Decide the follow-up for each band
| Band | Action | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Hot | Call or message personally, offer a specific time | Within the hour in opening hours |
| Warm | Personal email or message with an answer and a booking link | Same business day |
| Cool | Templated reply with useful links and an invitation to ask more | Within a day or two |
| Invalid or irrelevant | No reply, or a polite one where appropriate | Batch weekly |
This connects with getting a lead to the right person in minutes. Routing tells you who acts; scoring tells you how urgently.
Use the conversation for richer notes
- Note their exact words about the problem; quote them in your reply.
- Note objections raised, such as price or timing.
- Note which pages they came from, if you track it; see which channel brought a chat lead.
- Note questions the assistant could not answer; they show where to improve your documents.
Check your scoring against outcomes
A score is a hypothesis. After a couple of months, list the leads you won and lost and compare their scores.
| Finding | What to change |
|---|---|
| Many hot leads did not convert | Your reply is too slow or the signals are misleading; review the transcripts |
| Many cool leads converted | You are underrating some signal; add points for it |
| Nearly all wins were hot | Your scoring works; use it to protect your speed on hot leads |
| No pattern | Simplify, or collect more useful fields in the lead form |
Adjust the points every quarter. Simple and roughly right beats complicated and untested.
Collect the fields that make scoring easy
Crescelo lets you choose the lead form fields. Ask for the two or three that matter most to your scoring: service wanted, preferred timing and location or postcode. Mark them required where you can, without making the form long. Better fields mean less guesswork, and they also help routing.
Privacy and fairness
- Tell visitors how you use their information.
- Do not record sensitive attributes you do not need.
- Base scores on stated needs and behaviour.
- Keep scoring notes only as long as you need them.
- See the GDPR and CCPA guide for lead capture.
Common mistakes
- Building a complicated model before you have data.
- Ignoring low scores entirely.
- Scoring by personal characteristics.
- Never comparing scores with results.
- Spending longer scoring than replying.
- Expecting the platform to compute scores automatically.
A worked example
A cleaning company reviews three leads. Priya asked about a deep clean for a three-bedroom house, gave a postcode the company covers, asked about Thursday and started booking: 2 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 12, hot. Tom asked a general question about what cleaners do and left an email: score 0, cool. Alex asked for a price, but lives outside the area: 2 - 3 = -1, low. The owner phones Priya within the hour, sends Tom a helpful template with a booking link, and sends Alex a polite note explaining the service area. The whole scoring exercise took a couple of minutes and directed the owner's time where it counted.
| Lead | Signals | Score | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priya | Specific service, area, timing, booking | 12 | Hot |
| Tom | General question only | 0 | Cool |
| Alex | Price asked, outside area | -1 | Low |
Notice that nothing here required special software: a sheet, a few rules and the transcripts that Crescelo links to each lead.
Keep the human in the loop
Scores guide attention; they should never replace judgement. If a low-scoring lead mentions a large commercial contract, override the score. If a hot lead turns out to be a competitor gathering prices, note it and adjust. The best scoring systems are a quick first sort that a person can overrule in seconds.
Frequently asked questions
What is lead scoring?
Giving each lead a rough priority based on signals such as intent, timing and fit so you know whom to contact first.
Does Crescelo score leads automatically?
No. It delivers leads with their conversations and fields; a simple manual or spreadsheet scoring method works well on top.
What signals matter most?
Asking about dates or availability, wanting the service soon, being in your area and starting a booking.
Should I ignore low-scoring leads?
No. Reply with a template or later; do not discard them unread.
How do I know my scoring is right?
Compare scores with won and lost leads every quarter and adjust.
Is scoring fair?
It is when it is based on what visitors said and did, not on personal characteristics.
See the lead capture feature, try a sample chat in the playground and read spotting unhappy or ready-to-buy visitors from their messages.
Further reading
- Google Search Central: creating helpful, people-first content: What Google looks for in useful pages.
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