Contact scoring: how to prioritize prospects based on engagement
Every sales professional faces the same challenge: too many prospects, too little time. You could spend hours researching and reaching out to someone who has no interest, or you could focus your energy on prospects who are already showing signs of engagement.
This is where contact scoring transforms your sales process. By systematically measuring and ranking prospect engagement, you can ensure your best efforts go to your warmest leads.
The Problem with Traditional Lead Scoring
Traditional lead scoring relies heavily on demographic data—company size, industry, job title, and technology stack. While these factors matter, they only tell you whether someone could be a good fit, not whether they’re actually interested.
Consider this scenario:
You have two prospects:
- Prospect A: Perfect ICP match, right company size, ideal job title—but they’ve never interacted with your brand
- Prospect B: Slightly outside your core ICP, but they’ve liked 5 of your posts, commented twice, and viewed your profile 3 times this week
Who should you prioritize? Traditional scoring says Prospect A. But real-world experience tells us Prospect B is far more likely to respond and convert.
Understanding Engagement-Based Scoring
Engagement-based contact scoring assigns points based on actual interactions and behaviors. These signals indicate genuine interest and buying intent.
The Engagement Hierarchy
Not all engagement is equal. Here’s how to weight different interactions:
High-Value Signals (12-15 points each)
- Comments on your content with substantive thoughts
- Profile visits (especially multiple visits)
- Connection requests they initiate
- Direct messages
Medium-Value Signals (5-8 points each)
- Post likes
- Content shares
- Clicking links in your posts
- Following your company page
Low-Value Signals (1-3 points each)
- Viewing your stories or updates
- Passive connection acceptance
- Group membership overlap
Decay and Recency
Engagement from six months ago shouldn’t carry the same weight as engagement from yesterday. Implement a decay factor that reduces scores over time:
- Interactions within 7 days: Full value
- 8-30 days: 75% value
- 31-90 days: 50% value
- Beyond 90 days: 25% value or zero
This ensures your hottest leads are those showing current interest.
Building Your Scoring Model
Step 1: Define Your Score Thresholds
Create clear categories based on total scores:
- Hot (80-100 points): Ready for direct outreach
- Warm (50-79 points): Continue nurturing, prepare for outreach
- Engaged (25-49 points): Showing interest, needs more touchpoints
- Cold (0-24 points): Minimal engagement, focus elsewhere
Step 2: Identify Your Key Engagement Points
Map out every possible interaction a prospect can have with you:
Content Engagement
- Liking posts (which types resonate?)
- Commenting (what topics spark conversation?)
- Sharing (what’s valuable enough to share?)
Profile Engagement
- Profile views (frequency matters)
- Following you
- Connection requests
Direct Engagement
- Responding to your content
- Initiating conversations
- Asking questions
Step 3: Assign and Test Weights
Start with the hierarchy above, but adjust based on your specific context. If you find that profile views strongly correlate with eventual conversations, increase that weight. If likes seem random and don’t predict conversion, lower that score.
Accounting for Contact Characteristics
Engagement should be weighed against the prospect’s influence level. A comment from a C-suite executive carries different weight than one from an entry-level employee.
The Follower Adjustment
High-profile contacts with large followings engage differently. Someone with 50,000 followers who likes your post might just be doing routine engagement. The same action from someone with 500 followers likely indicates genuine interest.
Consider applying modifiers:
- Under 1,000 followers: 1.2x multiplier
- 1,000-10,000 followers: 1.0x multiplier
- 10,000-50,000 followers: 0.8x multiplier
- Over 50,000 followers: 0.6x multiplier
The Initiation Bonus
When prospects initiate engagement rather than responding to your outreach, that signal deserves extra weight. A contact who comments on your post unprompted is more valuable than one who responds to your comment on their post.
Apply a 1.5x multiplier to contact-initiated interactions.
Practical Implementation
Daily Workflow with Contact Scores
Structure your prospecting activities around score thresholds:
Morning (30 minutes): Hot Leads Review all contacts scoring 80+. These deserve personalized outreach today. Craft individual messages referencing their specific engagement.
Midday (45 minutes): Warm Leads Engage with content from prospects scoring 50-79. Your goal is to push them into the hot category through consistent touchpoints.
Afternoon (30 minutes): Building Pipeline Identify new prospects and begin the warming process. Focus on prospects showing initial engagement signs.
Automation Considerations
Manual tracking is unsustainable at scale. Look for tools that:
- Automatically track engagement across all touchpoints
- Apply scoring algorithms without manual data entry
- Update scores in real-time as new interactions occur
- Integrate with your CRM for unified prospect views
Beyond LinkedIn: Multi-Channel Scoring
While LinkedIn engagement is crucial for B2B, consider incorporating signals from other channels:
Website Behavior
- Page visits (especially pricing or demo pages)
- Content downloads
- Return visits
Email Engagement
- Open rates
- Click-through rates
- Reply rates
Other Social Platforms
- Twitter/X interactions
- YouTube engagement
- Podcast listens (if trackable)
A unified view of engagement across channels provides the most accurate picture of prospect interest.
Common Scoring Mistakes
Over-Weighting Single Actions
One comment shouldn’t catapult someone to the top of your list. Look for patterns of consistent engagement over time. A prospect who engages moderately but regularly is often warmer than one who engaged heavily once then disappeared.
Ignoring Negative Signals
Some behaviors should reduce scores:
- Ignoring multiple outreach attempts
- Unfollowing after connecting
- Negative comments or feedback
- Extended periods of zero engagement
Build in negative scoring to keep your list accurate.
Forgetting to Validate
Your scoring model is a hypothesis that needs testing. Track conversion rates by score tier:
- What percentage of “hot” leads actually convert?
- Are you missing good prospects with low scores?
- Are high-scoring leads responding as expected?
Refine your model based on real results, not assumptions.
The ROI of Smart Scoring
When implemented correctly, engagement-based scoring delivers measurable results:
Time Efficiency Sales reps spend 30-40% less time on unresponsive prospects, focusing energy where it matters.
Higher Response Rates Outreach to warm leads sees 3-5x higher response rates than cold outreach.
Shorter Sales Cycles Prospects who already engage with your content require less education and move faster through the funnel.
Better Forecasting Engagement trends help predict which deals are likely to close and which need intervention.
Getting Started Today
Begin building your scoring system with these steps:
- Audit your current prospects: Who’s engaged most in the past 30 days?
- Identify top performers: What engagement patterns do your best customers show?
- Set initial weights: Start with the hierarchy in this article and adjust
- Choose your tracking method: Spreadsheet for small scale, dedicated tool for growth
- Review weekly: Check if scores correlate with actual sales outcomes
Contact scoring isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. By focusing your limited time and energy on prospects who actually want to hear from you, you’ll close more deals with less effort.
Warmr automatically tracks engagement and scores your LinkedIn contacts based on real interactions. Stop guessing who’s interested and start focusing on your warmest leads. See how it works