Every business needs a clear system to determine which leads are ready for sales and which ones need more nurturing. Without it, sales teams risk spending time on unqualified leads while missing out on high-value prospects.
With the sunset of the score properties in HubSpot, you have the choice of two main ways to approach lead qualification:
Workflows – Automated segmentation based on behaviors (e.g., email opens, downloads, or website visits).
Lead Scoring – A more advanced system that uses a combined score to assess both engagement and profile fit.
While workflows are helpful, HubSpot’s combined score method offers deeper insights and stronger sales alignment.
A combined score in HubSpot is the result of blending two scoring models:
Engagement Score (Behavioral Criteria): Points based on what a contact does—such as filling out forms, attending webinars, or visiting product pages.
Fit Score (Demographic/Company Criteria): Points based on who the contact is—such as their industry, revenue, country, or role.
By merging these two, businesses get a holistic picture of lead quality—not just who is interested, but also who is the right fit for the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Here’s how to create a Contact Combined Score step by step:
Allocate up to 50 points to engagement activities. For example:
Form submission = 15 points
Event registration = 10 points
Meeting booked = 10 points
Page visit = 10 points
Email open = 5 points
You can further refine this by assigning a higher weight to high-intent actions (e.g., visits to pricing or service pages).
The remaining 50 points should come from profile characteristics that align with your ICP, such as:
Industry
Company revenue
Country/region
Area of interest
This ensures you’re not just chasing engagement but also focusing on leads who match your ideal customer profile.
Once set up, you can group leads into categories:
High Engagers (60–100 points): Ready for sales campaigns.
Dormant Contacts (20–60 points): Need nurturing with webinars, case studies, or industry guides.
Low/Inactive (0–20 points): Require data enrichment or re-engagement campaigns.
For that, you can use the thresholders settings.
This helps interpret the results more visually. By segmenting contacts into groups, you gain a clear understanding of how your database is structured and what strategies are needed to improve it. You can then design specific strategies and campaigns tailored to each group. You can implement content campaigns, operations to enrich your data...
When the combined score is turned on, HubSpot creates three properties:
Lead Scoring (overall combined score)
Fit Score (profile-based score)
Engagement Score (behavioral score)
This allows you to segment leads into actionable groups:
A1 Leads: High fit + high engagement → Assign to sales immediately.
B2 Leads: Moderate fit + moderate engagement → Nurture campaigns.
C3 Leads: Low fit + low engagement → Re-engagement or removal.
By visualizing lead distribution, teams can quickly identify gaps—such as too many “C” contacts due to missing data—and create enrichment workflows to fill those gaps.
Demonstration of the contacts overview (low contacts because it was recreated in the Demo account)
Better Sales Alignment: Sales only receives leads that are both engaged and a strong fit.
Efficient Marketing Strategy: Marketing can nurture mid-funnel leads instead of sending everyone to sales too early.
Data-Driven Insights: The scoring system reveals where your database lacks quality information.
Improved Conversion Rates: High-quality leads mean shorter sales cycles and stronger ROI.
While workflows can segment leads, HubSpot’s combined score is the best solution for lead qualification. It not only measures how engaged a contact is but also how well they align with your ICP—giving you a complete picture of lead quality.
The key to successful lead scoring is a strategic, data-driven approach.
By implementing a combined score in HubSpot, you’ll improve sales efficiency, optimize marketing efforts, and build a scalable lead qualification strategy that truly works. We’ve done a deep dive into this topic and created the ebook to help you make the most of Lead Scoring in your HubSpot account. Download the ebook below for a roadmap to a more efficient and effective lead qualification process.
If you have any questions or need support, don't hesitate to reach out and schedule a call with Lisa Freitas. She'll be happy to help you to create marketing strategies that drive business growth.
Find more about our Lead Scoring services here.