Create and manage leads

 

Applies To: Dynamics Marketing

Important

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing has been discontinued and is no longer available. All customer data related to this product has been permanently deleted from all Microsoft servers and is no longer available for extraction. This documentation is being provided for historical purposes only.

Lead records identify a possible future sale and collect all of the various elements related to that sale, including the contact or company that represents the potential customer plus all of the marking initiatives that contributed to it. All leads are furthermore scored and graded based on customer interactions and behavior tracking records. This topic explains how to work directly with lead records. For general information about how the lead system works, see also Overview: Working with Leads.

Prerequisites

To work with lead records, you must have Edit/View Lead Management privileges. More information: Work with user accounts and staff contacts

View and manage leads

To work with lead records, go to Marketing Execution > Lead Management > Leads. This brings you to the Leads list page, from which you can inspect, create and edit all leads.

Work with the Leads list page

The Leads list page provides many of the standard controls for searching, sorting, filtering, adding, removing and viewing items in the list, plus other common features. For details about how to use these common controls, see Learn how to work and get around in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing. In addition to these common controls, Microsoft Dynamics Marketing provides several special toolbar and list-column controls that are specialized for working with leads, as detailed in the following table.

Toolbar or list-column icon	Description
Mass Update	Changes the details of several leads at once. Mark the checkbox for each lead you wish to change and then choose this button to open a pop-up window in which you can specify which fields you wish to change for all of the selected records; fields left blank will retain their current settings.
Re-assign Using Rules	Re-runs the lead-assignment rules on found or selected leads. You will probably do this after editing/creating new assignment rules. Do one of the following: To reassign found leads, start by establishing search and filter criteria until the displayed list includes only those leads you wish to reassign and then choose this button. A pop-up opens; choose All leads that meet the filter criteria and then Submit. To reassign selected leads, start by selecting the check box for each lead that you wish to reassign and then choose this button. Choose All selected (checked) leads and then Submit. More information: Set up automatic lead assignment
Email	Opens a blank email message pre-addressed to the contact associated with each currently selected lead.
Send Lead	Opens an email message pre-addresses the mail to the client or staff contact to whom the lead is currently assigned. The body will also be prefilled with basic details about the selected lead.
Note	Adds a new note for the selected lead. Once added, your note will be visible under the Notes related-information tab for the selected lead, and also (together with all notes) under Projects > Notes> Notes. More information:  Notes
Promote to Opportunity	Creates a new opportunity based on, and associated with, the selected lead. Once created, your new opportunity will be linked under the Opportunities related-information tab for the selected lead. The new opportunity will likewise be linked back to the lead on its Leads related-information tab. More information: Create and manage opportunities
Mark as Read/Unread	Toggles the read/unread status of all selected leads. Unread leads are shown in bold, while read leads are shown in standard weight.
Import	Imports leads from an external file. More information: Prepare and import data
Score	Scores/rescores all of your leads based on your current lead-scoring models and all of the latest behavior-tracking, contact-interaction and other data. More information: Set up automatic lead scoring
Mark as Read/Unread (list-column button)	Toggles the read/unread status of the lead shown in the same row as the column button. Unread leads are shown in bold, while read leads are shown in standard weight.
Rescore (Maintenance page only)	Rescores the current lead according to the latest rules and relevant interaction data (only available on the Lead maintenance page for a given record). Tip Admins can configure Dynamics Marketing to rescore any given lead automatically each time you open or save its maintenance page. More information: Configure site settings
Other toolbar buttons	The remaining toolbar buttons are common for many areas of Dynamics Marketing. For details about the new, copy, delete, show-my/show-all, Excel, print, show/hide inactive and customize-column commands, see Learn how to work and get around in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing.

Tip

All functions that act on selected leads affect only those rows whose checkbox is marked. When you use these functions, all of your selected leads must be listed on the same page (you cannot make selections across several pages of results).

Lead settings, relations, and metadata

Whenever you create or edit a lead record, the settings listed in the following table are provided on the Lead maintenance page for establishing settings, relations and metadata.

Field or Section	Description
Name	Enter a short but descriptive name. This value will identify the current record in list views, type-ahead fields, drop-down lists, and other areas of Dynamics Marketing. Choose a value that you and all other users are likely to recognize in the future.
Priority	Assign a priority for the lead. This value can be useful for sorting and filtering your records and for supporting internal processes or policies. Your admin can customize the values available here; see Create custom drop-down values and folders for details about how to customize drop-down values. (Category type = Lead Priority.) This value can be assigned automatically by a lead-assignment rule. More information: Set up automatic lead assignment
Status	Assign a status for the lead. This value can be useful for sorting and filtering your records and for supporting internal processes or policies. Your admin can customize the values available here; see Create custom drop-down values and folders for details about how to customize drop-down values. (Category type = Lead Status.) Important The Status drop-down list includes a few permanent entries that cannot be removed by editing its category (though they can be renamed). Of special note is the “Deleted” status, which marks the lead as deleted (so it will no longer appear in list views and other parts of Dynamics Marketing), but still keeps the lead in your database in case you need it later. Use the show/hide inactive   button in the list-view toolbar to show or hide leads marked with a Status of “Deleted”. This value can be assigned automatically by a lead-assignment rule. More information: Set up automatic lead assignment
Contact and Company	Specifies the marketing contact and/or company associated with the current lead. Each of these is a Type-ahead field and must refer to a record that already exists in the database. You must fill out either one or both of these values as follows: Contact only: associates the lead with one individual contact who is not currently associated with a marketing company in the database. This is typical for a B2C scenario. The lead will be scored based on this individual’s actions only. Contact and company: associates the lead with one individual who is associated with a marketing company in the database. Dynamics Marketing automatically adds this value when you specify a Contact with a known marketing company. This is typical for B2B scenarios but might also be B2C. The lead will be scored based on this individual’s actions only. Company only: associates the lead with a marketing company and treats it as an account, which means that the lead score will accumulate based on relevant actions made by all marketing contacts also associated with that company.
Belongs To	Enter the name of the company that the current record belongs to. The company must already exist in the database; type-ahead assistance is provided (or enter “%%” as a wildcard to scroll through all companies). The current record is only available for use with other relevant entities that are also associated with this same company. For example, a marketing message associated with the company Woodgrove Bank can only be sent to contacts belonging to Woodgrove Bank and included in campaigns associated with Woodgrove Bank.
Due Date	Establishes a date by which the lead should be followed up on or reevaluated by a salesperson.
Date	Initially, this is set to the date on which the lead was created, though you can also edit this afterwards.
Phone, Email and Address	When a Contact is set, these values are read-only and are drawn from the related contact record. When only a marketing Company is set, you can specify a Phone and Email for contacting that company in connection with the current lead.
Assigned To	Specify the contract record for the salesperson assigned to follow up on the current lead. This is a Type-ahead field and must refer to a record that already exists in the database. This value can be assigned automatically by a lead-assignment rule. More information: Set up automatic lead assignment
Assigned By	Initially shows the name of the contact that created the lead record, but you can edit it at any time. This is a Type-ahead field and must refer to a record that already exists in the database.
Territory	Specifies the territory into which the lead falls. This value can be useful for sorting and filtering your records and for supporting internal processes or policies. Your admin can customize the values available here; see Create custom drop-down values and folders for details about how to customize drop-down values. (Category type = Territory.) This will often affect which salesperson becomes assigned to the lead, and may also be assigned as a result of a lead-assignment rule. More information: Set up automatic lead assignment
Details	Expand the Details heading to view and add further metadata and associations for the lead. Use Program, Campaign, Event, Job, Media and Source Code to associate the lead with any of these various records. This can help you track which marketing initiatives helped generate and nurture the lead. Each of these is a Type-ahead field and must refer to a record that already exists in the database. Use Type and Sales Rating to further categorize your lead for purposes of sorting, filtering, and supporting processes in place at your organization. Your admin can customize the values available here; see Create custom drop-down values and folders for details about how to customize drop-down values. (Category type = Lead Type or Lead Rating, respectively.) Use Placement/List to associate the lead with a specific media expenditure. The values available here represent purchase orders and media expenses with line items associated with the Media and Belongs To company configured for the lead. The Program and/or Campaign specified here (and the Belongs To company for the lead) can each have a lead-scoring model assigned to them, one of which may then be inherited by the lead itself. For details about the rules for choosing which of these scoring models will actually apply to the lead, see Overview: Working with Leads. See also the following section.

Important

Many of the values listed in the preceding table may be assigned automatically by lead-scoring or lead-assignment rules. Also, many of the fields mentioned above can be used to affect the lead’s score. More information: Set up automatic lead scoring and Set up automatic lead assignment

Read and interpret the lead score

Each lead is assigned a score, which is generated by a lead-scoring model that defines the following:

• A collection of scoring rules, which define what to score and by how much (plus sometimes a depreciation schedule by which the lead score falls over time)

• A set of score thresholds by which grades can be assigned to the lead based on its score

• A sales-ready grade, which is the score above which the lead is considered ready to be contacted by a salesperson

You can define as many lead-scoring models as you need; the model that applies to a given lead is defined by the belongs-to company, campaign or program most closely associated with the lead. For an overview of the modeling, scoring and grading system, see Overview: Working with Leads; or for complete details, see Set up automatic lead scoring.

On the Lead list page, you can view, filter and/or sort your leads by score. To see complete details of a given lead’s score, open its Lead maintenance page, where you can see the following:

• Score dial: Displayed in the upper-left corner, the dial resembles a car speedometer and shows the current lead score both numerically and graphically. It also indicates each grade threshold via the multi-colored bar wrapped around its rim.

• Grade name: The lead’s current grade is shown as text in parenthesis next to the lead name at the top of the page.

• Scoring graph and table: Expand the Scoring section to see a graph of how the lead’s score has changed over time and a table of each lead-scoring rule that applies to the current lead. Both the graph and table of scores are calculated according to the data currently stored in the system and the lead-scoring model currently set for the lead; if the scoring model or its rules are changed, then both the graph and the table will follow as needed (including scores based on past events). Hover your mouse pointer over the line to read the exact Y value at any location, or click on the line itself to view a larger version of the graph and table. (You can also see the name of the lead-scoring model that applies for the current lead; choose the Lead Scoring Model field label to view and edit the model itself.)

Important

The Lead Scoring Model (shown in the Scoring section) is inherited from the Campaign, Program or Belongs-To company associated with the lead and cannot be set manually on the lead itself. See Overview: Working with Leads for a complete description of the rules by which this setting is derived for each lead.

Tip

If you edit the model, lead settings, or lead interactions and would like to see how your new settings will affect the score for your current lead, choose the Rescore   button in the toolbar.

Related-information tabs

After you have saved your record at least once, you’ll see related-information tabs below the dotted line. Use the drop-down list at the top of this area to change the tab. Each tab shows a specific type of information that’s related to your current record. Usually the tabs are views into other areas of the site (such as jobs, invoices, or leads) and work the same way here as they do on the main list and maintenance pages for the relevant features, except that here they are filtered to only show records that are related to the current record.

The available related-information tabs are summarized in the following table.

Tab	Description
Email	Use this tab to send and view emails related to the current record. Note that only mails sent using this tab will be shown here; any replies will go to your standard inbox and won’t appear in Dynamics Marketing. More information: Manage emails.
Files	Opens the file-browser window, which enables you to view and add files related to the current lead. It is similar to the standard file browser, except that it only shows the folder created for the current lead (Files/Microsoft Dynamics Marketing/Lead Management/<Lead_ID>/). Any files that you add using the control here will likewise be stored in this folder. More information: Find, organize, and upload files in the file browser
Interactions	Lists all lead-interaction records associated with the current lead, and provides tools that let you create, edit, and work with these records. Any scoring rules triggered by lead interactions are listed in the table under the Scoring graph. More information: Lead interaction records
Notes	Use this tab to add, view, and reply to notes related to the current record. More information: Notes.
Opportunities	Lists opportunities associated with the current lead and provides tools that let you create, edit, and work with these opportunities. More information: Create and manage opportunities

See Also

Walkthrough 3: Behavior analysis and campaign automation
Walkthrough 4: Lead scoring
Manage leads
Overview: Working with Leads
Create and customize landing pages
Lead interaction records
Set up automatic lead assignment
Set up automatic lead scoring
Create and manage opportunities