Scoring vs Grading So now we start to get into the nitty-gritty! What are the differences Why use Pardot grading? between lead scoring and grading? As our Managing Director at MarCloud puts it: Have you ever spent weeks or even months chasing down a highly- engaged prospect to find out that they do not even qualify as a “Scoring tells us how interested a prospect is in us. Grading tells potential customer? us how interested we should be in the prospect. This bi-directional scoring system is a way of objectively qualifying leads.” By using a grading model, you’re giving your sales team the best Tom Ryan possible chance of maximising their time. It will mean it is less likely that they waste time on leads that won’t convert or aren’t a good fit Grading for your business. Pardot Grading is when we use the information we have about a prospect to assign them a grade from A+ Grading also: - F. The system is set out in thirds e.g. 1/3 to represent how much the • enables us to report only on the % of our database that is a target for lead nurture and conversion, prospect should increase or decrease. making reporting more accurate. For example, we may choose to increase by 1/3 so the prospect • helps us to identify content that attracts the wrong may go from a C- to a C and if we wanted to increase by 3/3, the types of prospects. prospect would go from a C- to a B- and increase a whole grade. • allows us to set up marketing campaigns only for the The better a prospect fits our lead criteria and outline of an ideal highest priority leads - something vital for account- customer, the higher the grade. based marketing strategies. Grading does not take into account the prospect’s engagement or behaviour at all, only their demographic data. marcloudconsulting.com 7