If you looked at the E10 Lead Scoring Model before and decided not to use it, it is now time to take another look...
My First Impression of the E10 Lead Scoring Model:
One of Eloqua10's new and appealing offerings is a module dedicated to Lead Scoring that allows an Eloqua user to create "Lead Scoring Models" using a sliding-bar "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) declarative interface. A question I considered when upgrading from Eloqua9-to-Eloqua10 was, "Is E10's Lead Scoring Model enterprise-ready?" I typically work with enterprise-level corporations, so due diligence would be necessary to make an informed decision. Honestly though, my initial thoughts without investigating the E10 Scoring Model was that it was likely a gimmicky module to try and take a complex process, like lead scoring, and simplify it just enough to provide it as a sales pitch offering that would allow Eloqua to stay competitive with lesser marketing automation vendors that boast the same functionality and that it was probably suitable only for Small-Medium Businesses (SMB's).
Define Enterprise-Ready for Lead Scoring?
My definition of "enterprise-ready" for lead scoring means the existing E9 version that was built-out using Program Builder utilizes Custom Data Objects (CDO's) also known as "data cards", handles Contact records in the millions and has multiple scoring programs for multiple business units and/or products. For a larger company, storing metadata on data cards instead of the Contact Table is critical for keeping the database clean, avoiding field-limitations and for querying data non-essential to other business units sharing the same install of Eloqua. It adds a bit of complexity to lead scoring and other areas of Eloqua, but is something smaller companies in the SMB market can avoid using, if they so desire.
My Initial Recommendations ...then:
When I first evaluated the new E10 Lead Scoring Module, Eloqua version 10 was starting to roll out to customers that opt-in to the upgrade process. I determined that for some customers I was working with that it was not enterprise-ready for them because it did not offer a solution for scoring on custom data objects/data cards and recommended those customers retain their old-fashioned Eloqua9-style Lead Scoring program(s) built within Program Builder, prior to the upgrade. For other costumers that did not utilize data cards, converting to the E10 Lead Scoring model was possible, but I couldn't justify the switch because the effort seemed to be more of a lateral move because the benefits other than a clean interface weren't abundantly clear. I knew of other consultants and vendors that felt this way and made similar recommendations.
The "Ah-ha!" Moment--It's Ready for All!
It wasn't until I attended the instructor-led "E10: Lead Scoring" online course in the Conversion Tenet of the Modern Marketing Luminary track that made me really rethink and re-evaluate my position on the Lead Scoring Model provided in Eloqua10. I learned quite a bit about the benefits: the speed of development by comparison of the older program builder method, the new features added-on (including custom object/data card and shared lists query capability!) and also how much more efficiently the E10 Lead Scoring Model operates over Program Builder. It was because of the Eloqua University training courses that I was able to change my position on the E10 Lead Scoring Model object and determine that not only is it enterprise-ready, every business, whether they are big or small should be using it!
Comparison of E9 Program Builder Lead Scoring vs. E10 Lead Scoring Models:
- Fast Model Development! Let's face it, building a lead scoring program in Program Builder is a long and tedious task. If you are using one of the older Best Practice templates, the lead scoring process is 3 programs that feed each other: "Explicit", "Implicit" and "Apply Rating"--these programs running in bulk mode each take 2 hours! If your company has a newer version, they are all commingled into one massive program that runs in bulk mode in 2 hours. A Lead Scoring Program I had developed in Program Builder/E9 previously was several pages long and had countless branches that scrolled off-screen; however, within the E10 Lead Scoring Model interface--I was able to replicate all of this in under an hour and replace in Production!
- Simple Interface! Program Builder is not for everyone. Literally, many users are blocked from it as a best practice to mitigate risk. The new E10 Lead Scoring Model doesn't require heavy Program Builder knowledge like the old methods do. This means more intermediate-level Eloqua Users can easily make changes or create new models without requiring a vendor or high level admin. More users can share this responsibility.
- Easily Support Multiple Business Units and Product-Level Scoring! As you saw in my bullet point above, you can definitely create a robust scoring model fast. The E10 Lead Scoring Model supports the use of many scoring models for many different purposes like accommodating rules that are unique to business units and/or creating scoring models per product!
- Efficient and Intelligent Processing! With the older Program Builder method, a Contact modified for reasons outside of Lead Scoring (legitimate marketing automation uses unique to the business rule/process) would qualify that Contact to enter the Program Builder's Lead Scoring program feeder. This is not efficient to have a constant loop of Contacts not intended to go through the scoring process doing so and it clogs up program's evaluation speed and ability to score necessary Contacts--thus significantly delaying net-new Contact entry and updating of existing leads into the CRM. The new E10 Lead Scoring Model scores Contacts with no activity once every 24 hours. This allows ONLY the Contacts that are stagnant to decay their Lead Score and only those Contacts are evaluated. The one-time 24 hour scoring cycle only applies to Contacts that did not have any activity since the last re-score. Contacts that do perform an activity are placed in a separate queue for immediate re-score and their Lead Score is updated. The CRM will only receive new scores for Contacts that had entered the CRM Update programs.
- No more looping! Program Builder's Lead Scoring method makes a modification to the Lead Score field on the Contact Record and triggers a change to the "Date Modified" field which, in turn, qualifies a Contact to enter into other Programs outside of Lead Scoring for further marketing automation via Program Feeder logic, thus creating a vicious cycle. The E10 Lead Scoring Model and it's field that retains the final score value is on a completely separate table from the Contact Table and does not modify a Contact Record or its "Modified Date" field--as it is a linked Object, instead. This resolves this age looping old problem!
- E10 Lead Scoring Models score much quicker than Program Builder! E10 Lead Scoring Models have their own dedicated processing engine not governed by Program Builder's evaluation limitations.
- Spare Contact Table Fields! Due to the fact that the E10 Lead Scoring Model is a separate engine and uses a separate, but related table, the many Contact fields that were once necessary for the E9 Program Builder to render a Lead Score are no longer needed and can be removed thus making more room for important Contact fields unique to your corporation. It is quite easy to fill up the allocated number of fields allowed on the Contact Table, so here is some relief for you: each E10 Lead Scoring Model you create and it's final score value field does not count against your allocated field amount!
Build the Business Case to Transition from Program Builder to E10 Lead Scoring Models:
Question:"How can I present this to management? Change tends to make people nervous, especially when you intend on changing a process with heavy impact and visibility like lead scoring that is already working to an Executive's expectations..."
- Highlight the benefits mentioned above that are critical for your marketing automation and lead delivery process.
- Outline the goals and set to achieve them. (This hint tends to get the approvals you need: E10 Lead Scoring will get Leads Scored faster and entered into the CRM quicker for Salesperson follow-up.)
- Demonstrate the success in an Eloqua Sandbox environment or in a carefully built Eloqua Production environment.
Should you Abandon your E9 Lead Scoring in Program Builder for the E10 Lead Scoring Model?
From what I have learned about the E10 Lead Scoring Models through Eloqua University courses, Topliners posts, Eloqua Support tickets and my own development, I would highly recommend looking into converting your E9 Program Builder Lead Scoring Programs, which is a stark difference of what my original recommendation when E10 first rolled out. If you are an experienced Eloqua User, Consultant or Vendor/Partner that ruled out the E10 Lead Scoring Model previously, I think you would be doing your employer or customer a disservice by not re-evaluating the positive business impact made by transitioning to this module.