Lead Scoring Setup

Identify which leads are ready to buy based on their engagement behavior. This guide walks you through setting up scoring rules, threshold-based automation, and team assignment based on lead quality.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• Admin access to your GoHighLevel sub-account
• A clear understanding of which actions signal strong engagement (form submissions, email opens, appointment bookings)
• Point values decided for each action (high-intent actions like payments get more points than email opens)
• Threshold values that define hot, warm, and cold leads (example: 50+ points = hot, 20-49 = warm, 0-19 = cold)

Access Lead Scoring Settings

Navigate to the scoring configuration area.

1. Click Settings in the left sidebar
2. Scroll down and click Manage Scoring
3. You’ll see the Scoring Rules Table with any existing rules
4. Note the Draft and Publish toggle in the top-right corner

Start in Draft mode to test rules without affecting live contact data.

Create Positive Scoring Rules

Add points for engagement actions that signal interest and intent.

1. From the Manage Scoring page, click + Add New Rule
2. Select an action type from the dropdown:
   • Email Opened (recommended: +5 points)
   • Link Clicked (recommended: +10 points)
   • Form Submitted (recommended: +20 points)
   • Appointment Booked (recommended: +30 points)
   • Payment Received (recommended: +100 points)
3. Enter the Calculation (point value) for this action
4. Click Save
5. Repeat for all key engagement actions

Recommended starting rules:

• Email Opened: +5
• Link Clicked: +10
• Form Submitted: +20
• Appointment Booked: +30
• Appointment Status Changed (confirmed): +10
• Contact Replied: +15
• Order Placed: +50
• Payment Received: +100

Create Negative Scoring Rules

Subtract points for disengagement actions that signal lost interest or bad data.

1. Click + Add New Rule
2. Select a negative action type:
   • Email Bounced (recommended: -10 points)
   • Unsubscribed (recommended: -30 points)
   • Appointment Status Changed to Canceled (recommended: -15 points)
3. Enter the Calculation as a negative number (example: -10)
4. Click Save
5. Repeat for all disengagement actions

Recommended negative rules:

• Email Bounced: -10
• Unsubscribed: -30
• Appointment Canceled: -15

Publish Your Scoring Rules

Activate scoring so contact scores update in real-time.

1. Review all rules in the Scoring Rules Table
2. Verify point values make sense (high-intent actions should have more points than low-intent actions)
3. Toggle from Draft to Publish in the top-right corner
4. Click Confirm when prompted

Scoring is now active. Every contact interaction immediately updates their engagement score.

Set Up High-Score Lead Alerts

Notify your team when a contact reaches a sales-ready score.

1. Go to Automation → Workflows
2. Click Create Workflow → Start from Scratch
3. Add trigger: Contact Score Changed
4. Set condition: Score is greater than or equal to 50
5. Click Save Trigger
6. Add action: Send Internal Notification
7. Enter subject: “Hot Lead Alert”
8. Enter message: “Contact {{contact.name}} has reached a score of {{contact.score}}. Follow up immediately.”
9. Select team members to notify
10. Click Save Action
11. Add action: Add Tag
12. Enter tag name: “Sales Ready”
13. Click Save Action
14. Add action: Create Task
15. Enter task title: “Follow up with hot lead”
16. Assign to the appropriate sales rep
17. Set due date: Today
18. Click Save Action
19. Toggle Draft → Publish

Your team now receives instant alerts when leads cross the 50-point threshold.

Set Up Low-Score Re-Engagement

Automatically nurture cold leads back into engagement.

1. Go to Automation → Workflows
2. Click Create Workflow → Start from Scratch
3. Add trigger: Contact Score Changed
4. Set condition: Score is less than 10
5. Add filter: Last Activity Date is more than 60 days ago
6. Click Save Trigger
7. Add action: Send Email
8. Select a re-engagement email template (value-driven content, not sales pitches)
9. Click Save Action
10. Add action: Wait for 7 days
11. Add filter: Contact Score is still less than 15
12. Add action: Add Tag
13. Enter tag name: “Cold Lead - Needs Nurturing”
14. Click Save Action
15. Toggle Draft → Publish

Cold leads automatically enter a nurture sequence to re-engage them without manual sorting.

Configure Score-Based Assignment

Route high-score leads to sales reps automatically.

1. Go to Automation → Workflows
2. Click Create Workflow → Start from Scratch
3. Add trigger: Contact Score Changed
4. Set condition: Score is greater than or equal to 50
5. Click Save Trigger
6. Add action: Assign Contact to User
7. Select the sales rep or team from the dropdown
8. Toggle Round Robin if you want to distribute leads evenly across multiple reps
9. Click Save Action
10. Add action: Create Opportunity
11. Select the pipeline (example: “Sales Pipeline”)
12. Select the stage (example: “Qualified Lead”)
13. Set status to Open
14. Click Save Action
15. Toggle Draft → Publish

High-score leads automatically get assigned and added to the pipeline without manual intervention.

Test Your Setup

Verify scoring rules and automation trigger correctly.

1. Create a test contact or use an existing one
2. Navigate to Contacts and open the test contact
3. Scroll to Contact Engagement Score in the right panel
4. Note the current score
5. Send a test email to the contact using Conversations → Email
6. Open the email from the contact’s email client
7. Return to the contact record in GoHighLevel
8. Refresh the page and verify the score increased by 5 points
9. Book a test appointment using Calendars
10. Verify the score increased by 30 points
11. Check if the contact now shows a “Sales Ready” tag (if score exceeded 50)
12. Verify your team received a notification (if score exceeded 50)

If the score didn’t update, verify scoring rules are published and not in Draft mode.

Next Steps

With lead scoring active, refine your engagement strategy:

• Review the Lead Scoring guide for advanced segmentation and score decay strategies
• Create tiered workflows for different score ranges (0-20, 21-49, 50+)
• Add Custom Fields to track score changes over time
• Build Dashboard widgets to monitor average lead score by source
• Export contact lists sorted by engagement score to prioritize outreach
• Review scoring rules quarterly and adjust point values based on actual conversion data