What is a donor lead scoring system?
A simple explanation
If you’re familiar with the way that businesses and sales teams operate then you know that lead scoring is essential to a business’s marketing and sales. But often I talk to teams in nonprofits that aren’t familiar with this concept, so I want to explain what it is and how much it could support your fundraising.
A simple explanation: A donor lead scoring system is a process by which a potential donor who enters your donation funnel is given a specific internal label to indicate how likely they are to convert to a donor.
When you have this type of scoring system setup, it will help you collect data and plan better for the future. At the very least, it will help you set a baseline metric for your conversion rate from donor leads to donations.
Here is one way that your donor lead scoring system could look:
MQL: Marketing Qualified Lead
DQL: Donor Qualified Lead
Donation
How can you track this?
You can track this in various different ways. The most efficient and common way is through a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) like Hubspot or other CRMs we’ve listed here. But if you don’t have a robust CRM, don’t let that stop you from tracking lead scoring for your donor funnel. A simple Google Sheet could get the job done in the short term while you get your CRM setup.
The next question you may be asking is, “How do I fill my donor lead funnel?” We’re so glad you asked. I’ll go into more detail soon in an upcoming post about how to set up a digital marketing funnel that fills this donation funnel.
Do you currently do any type of lead scoring for your donor leads?
If not, what has been keeping you from starting?
If so, what has been the biggest benefit for your organization?
Leave a comment below…
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