# How lead scoring works

URL: https://useembers.com/help/leads/how-scoring-works/
Category: Leads and scoring
Updated: 2026-10-27
Last verified: 2026-10-27

> What goes into an Embers lead score, how to tune signal weighting, what raises and lowers a score, and how grades and trend are set.

Every lead gets one [score](/help/getting-started/key-terms/#people-and-leads) from 0 to 100, built from public behaviour you can check on LinkedIn. It orders the leads list, fills the [Priority Queue](/help/leads/priority-queue/), decides which leads the [dashboard](/help/leads/dashboard/) chooses from, and decides who reaches your destinations.

## The four ingredients

The score multiplies four things:

### An engagement score

From 0 to 100, built from how the person engaged.

### An ICP multiplier

From how well they fit your [ideal customer profile](/help/getting-started/define-your-icp/): from 0.15 times for a confident non-match, through 1 times at the neutral middle, to 1.5 times for a confident match.

### A confidence factor

A 15 percent discount while the lead has not been classified, and a further 10 percent with fewer than three engagements.

### A company boost

When several people from one company engage: 1.15 times for two, rising to at most 1.5 times. Labels such as "Self-employed" or "Stealth" never count as a company.

The result is capped at 100 for display; an uncapped version keeps the order stable at the top.

## What the engagement score measures

Five sub-scores, each normalised against everyone else in the workspace, then weighted. People who did exactly the same thing get the same sub-score:

| Sub-score | Weight | What lifts it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Frequency | 25% | Weighted engagement volume relative to how much you published |
| Recency | 25% | Recent engagement, decayed with a 14-day half-life |
| Depth | 20% | Variety, comments, reposts, comment intent, and escalation over time |
| Consistency | 15% | The share of weeks in the window with any engagement |
| Responsiveness | 15% | A short gap between your post and their comment, up to 72 hours |

Not all engagement counts equally. A repost weighs most, then writing a post that matches a tracked keyword, then a comment, then reactions, with a plain like lowest, and the same action counts for less on a watched profile's content than on yours. Buying-intent comments and keyword posts asking for a solution weigh up to three times more. Escalating from likes to comments scores higher than staying flat, and engagement on a post far above your usual reach is discounted.

The [look-back window](/help/account-and-billing/workspace-settings/#set-the-lookback-window) is 90 days on Free and 365 days on Solo and above, unless you change it. When the plan changes, every lead is rescored against the new window without notifications, because nobody's behaviour changed.

## Tune signal weighting

You can change how much each kind of behaviour counts for your workspace. Solo and above; on Free the sliders are read-only.

### Open the ICP page

Choose **ICP** in the sidebar (`/icp`), headed "ICP & scoring", and find the **Signal weighting** card.

### Move a slider

Each row runs from 0 to 100. A row moved away from its default shows how far, for example "2×", or "off" at 0. **Reset** returns every row to its default.

### Save changes

Choose **Save changes**. A change to the sliders alone saves straight away without the review dialog, because it changes no ICP verdict, and every lead is rescored in the background.

| Row | Default |
| --- | --- |
| Reposted your post | 100 |
| Posted about a tracked keyword | 90 |
| Commented on your post or comment | 80 |
| Commented on a watched post | 75 |
| Reacted to your post or comment | 20 |
| Reacted to a watched post | 10 |

Each value multiplies that behaviour's base weight: moving a row from 20 to 40 makes it count twice as much. A post a comment sits on counts under **Posted about a tracked keyword**, because the lead wrote it: from your own comment at 0.9 of a keyword post, from a watched profile's comment at 0.6, since you did not engage with it yourself. Intent, recency, and ICP fit still apply on top.

## What raises and lowers a score

- **Raises it:** a confident ICP match (the largest single lever), comments that show purchase intent or name a pain you solve, a role started within about 90 days, engaging across several weeks rather than in one burst, and colleagues engaging too.
- **Lowers it:** a confirmed ICP non-match, which is suppressed far harder than uncertainty; thin data, such as fewer than three engagements or no classification yet; engagement only on a post that went unusually wide; and going quiet, because recency decays continuously.

Embers only sees public engagement with content it tracks, so a buyer you know well can still score low. A match decided from a headline alone is provisional until the profile is enriched, and ranks below matches Embers has checked. When the classifier misread someone's title or industry, [tag the lead](/help/leads/icp-matching-and-feedback/#correct-a-match): that overrides the verdict and rescores the lead at once.

## Grades, trend, and signals

The [CSV export](/help/integrations/csv-export/) carries a grade: A from 80, B from 60, C from 40, D from 20, and F below. Sixty is where the Priority Queue's new-signal band starts. Hot is a different line: it goes by ICP fit, not lead score, and starts above 70%.

Trend compares the latest score with the previous one. A rise of 15 percent or more is **rising**, a fall to half or less is **cooling**, anything between is **stable**. A new lead is stable until it has two scores, and so is every lead for one rescore after Embers changes how scores are calculated, so a formula change never reads as leads heating up or going cold.

Each lead also carries up to three plain-English signals, such as "Shows buying intent in comments". Read those before the number.

## Scores and destinations

A lead can only leave Embers when its score is above 0, **and** it matches your ICP or you marked it a lead by hand, **and** its company is not [blocked](/help/leads/company-blocklist/). That gate sits in front of Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, HeyReach, Instantly, Smartlead, Emelia, and signed webhooks. Each destination's [delivery rules](/help/integrations/delivery-rules/) can narrow it further, for example with a minimum score.

## Related

- [Read and correct an ICP match](/help/leads/icp-matching-and-feedback/): The half of the score you can correct.

- [Work the Priority Queue](/help/leads/priority-queue/): How the score turns into a day's work.

- [Delivery rules](/help/integrations/delivery-rules/): Set a minimum score per destination.

## Frequently asked questions

**Why is my score capped at 100?**

The internal ranking number is uncapped so ties break cleanly. The number you see is that value clipped to 100, which is why two leads can both show 100 and still sit in a fixed order.

**Does Embers score what a lead posts themselves?**

Only through keyword tracking. A person who publishes a post matching one of your keywords gets a strong signal for writing it. Every other agent measures how people engaged with content you track, not their own feed.

**How often do scores change?**

Leads are rescored after scans and in a sweep every six hours while at least one agent is running. Scores can move without anyone engaging, because older engagement decays.