Score Decay and Lifecycle

Lead scores have a lifecycle — they increase with engagement, peak at the moment of highest intent, and decay as activity stops. A scoring system without lifecycle management treats a lead who was active 6 months ago the same as one who was active yesterday. Lifecycle management ensures that scores reflect current reality, not historical peak.

1. Engagement Half-Life Apply exponential decay to engagement scores: every 30 days without new engagement, the engagement component loses 50% of its value. A lead who scored 80 on engagement 60 days ago with no new activity now scores 20. The decay function ensures stale leads naturally deprioritize without manual intervention.
2. Intent Signal Expiry Intent signals have a shorter shelf life — a company researching your category 3 months ago may have already made a decision. Apply a 14-day decay to intent scores with full expiry at 45 days. If new intent signals arrive, the score refreshes. If they do not, the intent dimension decays to zero and the composite score adjusts.
3. Fit Score Stability Fit scores change only when the company's attributes change — an acquisition, a new technology adoption, or a market expansion. Fit does not decay on a schedule. It is refreshed during enrichment cycles (quarterly). This stability means fit provides the baseline while engagement and intent fluctuate around it.