When it comes to numbers, quality counts.
Twenty-three years ago, the world was whipped into a Y2K frenzy. An estimated $100 billion exchanged hands for fear that computers would interpret the “00” in 2000 as 1900 and thwart power grids, infrastructures, and economies around the world.
All because of two bad numbers.
Today, many of the revenue leaders that come to us at 6sense have realized it’s time to embrace better, smarter numbers. They’re tired of basing their massively important lead scoring and orchestration efforts on subjective “finger to the wind” data points that quickly become outdated.
They want more dynamic and proven calculations that can give them greater confidence when:
- Rolling out new products and services
- Breaking into new verticals and territories
- Running effective content strategies
The clarity of their strategy and effectiveness of their sales and marketing programs hinge on magic numbers, some of which are simply more magical than others.
There are two standout numerical scores within the 6sense platform that overcome shortcomings seen elsewhere to offer customers a competitive edge:
- Intent Scores
- Account Engagement Scores
Curious to dive in deep? Read our Guide to Intent Data: The Secret to Sales and Marketing Success.
What is 6sense’s Intent Score?
6 Intent Score is a 1-100 measure of an account’s readiness to buy. This dynamic number is the culmination of the way multiple members of an account consume and interact with your content and team. For most 6sense users, this data point serves as the north star guiding their marketing strategy and decisions.
The intent score maps directly with the 6sense platform’s pre-defined buying stages:
- Target Stage — For scores less than 20
- Awareness Stage — For scores between 20 and 49
- Consideration Stage — For scores between 50 and 69
- Decision Stage — For scores between 70 and 84
- Purchase Stage — For scores 85 and greater
What Makes It Special?
Different account management and marketing automation platforms offer their unique take on lead scoring, but these scores often have two big drawbacks:
Industry Scoring Problem 1: Arbitrary Metrics
Standard platforms require revenue teams to input rules and points according to their best guesses for which actions might be most consequential to a purchase. The scores prove faulty because the arithmetic was designed by biased, limited humans and based on moment-in-time assumptions that are no longer accurate — or were never accurate in the first place.
The 6sense Solution
AI and machine learning constantly track which transactions and interactions matter most to opportunities as they progress down the funnel. The technology does the hard, never-ending work, calibrating to changes 24/7, eliminating the prospect of human error and exposing ripe opportunities.
Industry Scoring Problem 2: Anonymity
Most platforms can only score known leads, which means that the throngs of prospects who anonymously consume your content don’t factor into the equation.
The 6sense Solution
6sense’s special ability to expose anonymous intent data from the Dark Funnel fuels its Intent Score. By matching traffic and keywords from unique sources like IP addresses and device IDs to relevant accounts, it draws from a larger reservoir of information to suggest when and how an account is moving closer to a buying decision. Learn more in our Guide to Intent Data: The Secret to Sales and Marketing Success.
What is 6sense’s Contact Engagement Score?
Users can turn to 6sense’s Contact Engagement Scores to zero in on which contacts within a target account have engaged with your content and are likely to champion your solution within the larger buying team.
This scoring, also presented as a single number between 1-100, ignores the Dark Funnel intent data mentioned above to focus exclusively on owned content. In addition to helping your sales team prioritize outreach, the Contact Engagement Score empowers your marketing team to inspect which content is leading to revenue opportunities so they can double-down on what’s working or tweak what’s not.
What Makes It Special?
Here again, the average account engagement or marketing automation platform has some noticeable shortcomings that 6sense has addressed.
Industry Scoring Problem 1: It’s Jerry-Rigged
The engagement scores seen in standard platforms require lots of initial input, frequent adjustments — and yet are still often inept at predicting which content consumption activities predict readiness to purchase.
The 6sense Solution
6sense’s metric is based on historical precedents of past behavior – not front-end conjecture on the part of the seller. It’s more relevant because it’s modeled after the activities that actually led to other opened opportunities and closed deals.
Industry Scoring Problem 2: Bad Timing
Standard programs often misread the contact’s readiness for a sale, prompting a business development professional to act too early or too late.
The 6sense Solution
Because 6sense’s Engagement Score is subservient to its Intent Score, organizations can interpret a contact’s consumption habits and interests in light of the account’s overall buying interest. This framing helps to serve up content that matches both the buyer persona (often based on job role) and the account’s overall buyer journey.
Conclusion
Many RevOps programs suffer because of data points that are subjective, static, and offer limited visibility. There’s no reason for guesswork.
These weak numbers can be replaced with dynamic algorithms that constantly process massive datasets and learn based on what matters most to revenue teams — how deals are won.
Intent data can reveal which companies are ready to buy and what’s driving their interest. Here’s how you can turn these insights into revenue breakthroughs. Learn more in our Guide to Intent Data: The Secret to Sales and Marketing Success.
