Contact Scoring
IMPORTANT: This is the help page of the latest version of Zoho Campaigns. Click here to access the corresponding help page if you're still in the older version.Contact Scoring is a feature that assigns a numeric score to every contact based on how they engage with your campaigns and how well they match your ideal customer profile. Instead of treating every contact the same, scoring gives you a quick, quantifiable way to tell which contacts are worth your immediate attention and which ones need to be nurtured further.
This guide covers what contact scoring is, who can set it up, how each score type is calculated and configured, and how to put those scores to work through filters, segments, workflows, and reporting.
What is contact scoring?
Contact scoring is a system that awards positive or negative points to a contact for specific activities — such as opening an email, clicking a WhatsApp message, or matching a job title you consider valuable — and rolls those points up into a set of scores you can act on.
Zoho Campaigns calculates six scores for every contact:
● Total Score — the overall value of a contact.
● Engagement Score — how actively a contact interacts with your campaigns.
● Email Score — engagement with email campaigns specifically.
● SMS Score — engagement with SMS campaigns specifically.
● WhatsApp Score — engagement with WhatsApp campaigns specifically.
● Fit Score — how closely a contact matches your ideal customer profile, based on attributes rather than behavior.
Every one of these six scores is available for use in filters, segments, and workflows, so you can build audiences around exactly the score that matters for a given campaign or automation.
Which plans include contact scoring?
Contact scoring is available on the Professional plan of Zoho Campaigns and on all Zoho bundle plans that include Zoho Campaigns. It isn't available on the Forever Free, Standard, or Pay-as-you-go plans.
Who can configure contact scoring?
Only users with the Admin role can configure contact scoring for an organization. This includes setting up Engagement Score and Fit Score rules, editing default point values, and resetting scores. Non-admin users can still view contact scores and use them in filters, segments, and workflows once an admin has configured them.
How do you enable contact scoring?
You turn on contact scoring from Settings, since it's an organization-wide configuration.
- Log in to Zoho Campaigns as an admin.
- Click the Settings icon, then go to Contacts & Customization.
- Select Contact Scoring.
- Click Enable Contact Scoring to turn the module on for your organization.
Once enabled, you'll land on the Engagement Score tab, where you can start configuring channel-based scoring rules. The Fit Score tab sits next to it.
Why use contact scoring?
Contact scoring turns raw activity data into a decision-making tool. Specifically, it helps you:
● Identify your most valuable contacts with a single Total Score instead of scanning multiple reports.
● Measure engagement separately across Email, SMS, and WhatsApp, so you know which channel a contact actually responds to.
● Prioritize contacts based on both how engaged they are and how well they fit your ideal customer profile.
● Keep scores current through time-based decay, so a contact who was active six months ago doesn't outrank someone active this week.
● Trigger automations the moment a contact crosses a score threshold, without manually reviewing lists.
● Build precise segments and filters for campaigns, instead of sending the same message to your entire list.
What are the different types of contact scores?
Zoho Campaigns groups its six scores into two configurable categories — Engagement Score and Fit Score — which together make up the Total Score.
Engagement Score
The Engagement Score measures how actively a contact interacts with your marketing communications. It's an aggregate of three channel-level scores:
● Email Score — based on email activities such as opens, clicks, replies, forwards, and bounces.
● SMS Score — based on SMS activities such as clicks and bounces.
● WhatsApp Score — based on WhatsApp activities such as reads, clicks, replies, and delivery failures.
You configure the scoring rules for each channel independently, so a business that relies heavily on WhatsApp can weight it more heavily than email, or vice versa.
Fit Score
The Fit Score measures how well a contact matches your ideal customer profile. Unlike Engagement Score, it isn't based on behavior — it's based on configurable rules built from contact attributes, custom field values, subscription details, or other profile information you define, such as industry, job title, country, or lead source.
Total Score
The Total Score is the overall value of a contact. It's the sum of a contact's Engagement Score and Fit Score, giving you one number that reflects both how engaged a contact is and how good a fit they are.
How is the total contact score calculated?
Zoho Campaigns calculates scores in two stages: first, the three channel scores are added together to form the Engagement Score; then the Engagement Score and Fit Score are added together to form the Total Score.
How do you configure Engagement Score?
To configure engagement score:
- Go to Settings (the Gear icon at the top-right).
- Under the Contacts & Customization click Contact Scoring, and stay on the Engagement Score tab. From here you can set the decay period and define scoring rules for Email, SMS, and WhatsApp.
Time-based score decay
Engagement naturally fades: a contact who clicked an email yesterday is more engaged than one who clicked six months ago.
Without decay, a contact who engaged heavily months ago keeps a high Engagement Score indefinitely, even if they've gone completely cold. So, your most-engaged segments and workflows fill up with stale contacts unnoticed, instead of genuinely active ones.
Decay keeps the score honest as a measure of current interest rather than lifetime history, which matters for a few reasons:
- Sales stays focused: Reps chase contacts who are engaged right now, not ones coasting on an old spike in activity.
- Re-engagement happens automatically: As a contact's score fades, they can drop into a win-back segment or workflow before you'd otherwise notice they'd gone quiet.
- Recent activity isn't drowned out: Someone actively engaging with you this week won't get outranked by a contact who was active once, a long time ago.
The Decay Scores setting controls this by defining how long an engagement activity stays relevant.
- On the Engagement Score tab, find the Decay Scores section at the top.
- Set Consider engagement relevant for to a period such as 2 months.
- Click Save.
Once set, activities older than this period gradually stop contributing to a contact's Engagement Score, so scores always reflect recent behavior rather than a contact's entire history.
Note: Decay applies only to Engagement Score — Fit Score is never affected by decay.Email based scoring
Email Based Scoring lets you assign scores to how contacts interact with your email campaigns. Each activity below can be added as its own rule with Add Rule, and each rule's score can be adjusted with the plus and minus controls or typed in directly.
Email activity | What it means | Default score |
Opened | The contact opened the email at least once. | 5 |
Open Count | The number of times the contact opened the email meets the condition you set. | 5 |
Opened Time within | The contact opened the email within a specific time window after it was sent. | 5 |
Opened Country | The contact opened the email from a specific country. | 0 |
Clicked | The contact clicked a link inside the email. | 10 |
Clicked link contains | The contact clicked a link whose URL contains specific text. | 10 |
Click Count | The number of times the contact clicked meets the condition you set. | 10 |
Clicked Time within | The contact clicked a link within a specific time window after the email was sent. | 10 |
Clicked Country | The contact clicked a link from a specific country. | 0 |
Replied | The contact replied to the email. | 10 |
Reply Count | The number of times the contact replied meets the condition you set. | 12 |
Positive Reply Count | The number of positive replies from the contact meets the condition you set. | 10 |
Received a positive reply | The contact's reply was identified as positive in sentiment. | 15 |
Received a neutral reply | The contact's reply was identified as neutral in sentiment. | 0 |
Received a negative reply | The contact's reply was identified as negative in sentiment. | -15 |
Received a reply of unknown sentiment | The contact's reply couldn't be classified as positive, neutral, or negative. | 0 |
Forwarded | The contact forwarded the email to someone else. | 15 |
Forward Count | The number of times the contact forwarded the email meets the condition you set. | 10 |
Soft Bounced | The email temporarily failed to deliver — for example, the recipient's inbox was full. | -20 |
Hard Bounced | The email permanently failed to deliver — for example, the address doesn't exist. | -50 |
Marked as Spam | The contact marked the email as spam. | -100 |
When you set up email based scoring, the below activities will be pre-configured for you by default (along with their score):
- Opened
- Opened Count
- Clicked
- Clicked Count
- Received a Positive Reply
- Received a Negative Reply
- Forwarded
- Soft Bounced
- Hard Bounced
- Marked as Spam
If needed, you can change the default score and also include other activities per your business requirements.
WhatsApp based scoring
WhatsApp Based Scoring assigns scores to WhatsApp campaign activities. Similarly, if WhatsApp isn't connected to your account yet, you'll see a Connect WhatsApp link in place of the scoring rules, and you'll need to connect it first.
WhatsApp activity | What it means | Default score |
Read | The contact opened, or read, the WhatsApp message. | 5 |
Clicked | The contact clicked a link or button inside the WhatsApp message. | 10 |
Click Count | The number of times the contact clicked meets the condition you set. | — |
Clicked Time within | The contact clicked within a specific time window after the message was sent. | — |
Clicked Country | The contact clicked from a specific country. | — |
Replied | The contact replied to the WhatsApp message. | 15 |
Reply Count | The number of times the contact replied meets the condition you set. | — |
Reply Sentiment is Unknown | The contact's reply couldn't be classified as positive, neutral, or negative. | — |
Received a Positive Reply | The contact's reply was identified as positive in sentiment. | 10 |
Received a Neutral Reply | The contact's reply was identified as neutral in sentiment. | — |
Received a Negative Reply | The contact's reply was identified as negative in sentiment. | — |
Message delivery failed (permanent failure, invalid number, or blocked by user) | The message couldn't be delivered — the number was invalid, undeliverable, or the contact blocked your business on WhatsApp. | -100 |
Just like email based scoring, when you set up WhatsApp based scoring, the below activities will be pre-configured for you by default (along with their score):
- Read
- Clicked
- Replied
- Received a Positive Reply
- Message Delivery Failed
If needed, you can change the default score and also include other activities per your business requirements.
SMS based scoring
SMS Based Scoring works the same way as email scoring, but for SMS campaigns. If your organization hasn't set up an SMS gateway yet, this section shows a Setup SMS Gateway link instead of scoring rules — you'll need to complete that setup before you can assign SMS-based scores.
SMS activity | What it means | Default score |
Clicked | The contact clicked a link inside the SMS. | 10 |
Clicked link contains | The contact clicked a link whose URL contains specific text. | — |
Click Count is | The number of times the contact clicked meets the condition you set. | 10 |
Clicked Time within | The contact clicked a link within a specific time window after the SMS was sent. | — |
Clicked Country | The contact clicked a link from a specific country. | — |
Soft Bounced | The SMS temporarily failed to deliver. | -10 |
Hard Bounced | The SMS permanently failed to deliver — for example, an invalid number. | -100 |
Just like WhatsApp based scoring, when you set up SMS based scoring, the below activities will be pre-configured for you by default (along with their score):
- Clicked
- Clicked Count
- Soft Bounced
- Hard Bounced
If needed, you can change the default score and also include other activities per your business requirements.
A dash (—) means Zoho Campaigns doesn't pre-assign a score for that activity — it's still available to use, but you set the value yourself when you add the rule.
For each channel, click Save after adding or editing rules. Scores start applying to contacts as soon as you save, there's no separate activation step.
How do you configure Fit Score?
Note: The Fit Score tab stays greyed out until you've configured Engagement Score at least once. Set up Engagement Score first, then come back to configure Fit Score.Fit Score is configured through property based scoring — a set of custom rules that award points when a contact's attributes match criteria you define.
Creating a fit rule
- Go to Settings → Contacts & Customization → Contact Scoring, and click the Fit Score tab at the top.
- Click Add New to create a rule.
- Give the rule a name, set the score to assign, and define the matching criteria using contact attributes, custom fields, or other supported properties.
- Click Save.
Every rule you create appears in a list showing its Rule Name, Score, and Last Modified details, and you can keep adding rules with Add New to build out your qualification model — for example, separate rules for job title, industry, country, or lead source, each contributing its own points to the Fit Score.
Editing a fit rule
- On the Fit Score tab, find the rule you want to change in the list.
- Click the More Actions button (⋯) next to that rule.
- Click Edit.
- Update the rule's name, score, or criteria as needed, then click Save.
Important: Changes to a Fit Score rule only apply to contacts who become newly eligible after the change. Contacts who already matched the rule keep the score they were already awarded — they won't be re-scored, even if they still meet the updated criteria.Deleting a fit rule
- On the Fit Score tab, find the rule you want to remove in the list.
- Click the options (⋯) menu next to that rule.
- Click Delete, and confirm when prompted.
Deleting a rule removes it from your configuration going forward, but it doesn't retroactively subtract points it already awarded — to reset contacts to zero and start over, use the All contact fit scores reset option instead.
What are the minimum and maximum score values?
Each contact score — Engagement Score, Fit Score, and by extension Total Score — is capped between -999 and 999. A contact's score can't go lower or higher than these limits, no matter how many activities or rules apply to them.
How do you reset contact scores?
A Reset button is available in the top-right corner of both the Engagement Score and Fit Score tabs.
It opens a dropdown with three distinct reset options — choose carefully, since two of them permanently affect your contacts' actual scores.
Reset option | What it does |
Engagement scoring configuration | Restores the decay period and all channel-based scoring rules (Email, SMS, WhatsApp) to their default values. Any custom scoring changes you've made are permanently removed. Contacts are reclassified using the restored default configuration. |
All contact engagement scores | Resets the Engagement Score of every contact to 0 and reclassifies them accordingly. This action cannot be undone. |
All contact fit scores | Resets the Fit Score of every contact to 0 and reclassifies them accordingly. This action cannot be undone. |
The first option only resets your scoring setup — the rules and point values — not your contacts' actual scores. The second and third options reset contacts' actual scores to zero, but leave your rules and point values untouched.
Where can you view a contact's score?
You can check a contact's score from both the list view and the detailed view under Audience → Contacts.
In contacts list view
Navigate to Audience → Contacts → All Contacts. The Contact Score column shows each contact's Total Score, and you can sort the list by this column to quickly surface your highest- or lowest-scoring contacts.
In a contact's detail view
Click a contact's email address to open their detailed view. Under the Overview tab, you'll see the Score (Total Score) alongside its two components — Engagement Score and Fit Score — with a tooltip that breaks the Engagement Score down further by channel: Email, SMS, and WhatsApp.
How do you filter contacts using scoring attributes?
Scoring shows up as its own category inside the contacts filter, alongside categories like Account Attributes, Email Engagements, and Form Attributes.
- Go to Audience → Contacts.
- Click the filter icon at the top-right to open Filter Contacts.
- Expand Scoring Attributes or search score in the search bar to list the scoring attributes.
- Select one or more score types:
- Total Score
- Contact Fit Score
- Engagement Score
- Email Engagement Score
- SMS Engagement Score
- WhatsApp Engagement Score
- Set the condition and value for each score you select, then click Apply.
Filtering this way is useful for a one-off list — for example, quickly pulling every contact with a Total Score above a certain number before exporting or reviewing them manually.
How do you segment contacts using scoring attributes?
Unlike a filter, a segment stays live — contacts move in and out of it automatically as their scores change, which makes scoring attributes especially useful for segmentation.
- Go to Audience → Segments and create a new segment.
- In Group 1, search for and choose a scoring field:
- Total Score
Contact Fit Score
Engagement Score
Email Engagement Score
SMS Engagement Score- WhatsApp Engagement Score
- Choose a modifier:
- equal
isn't equal to
less than
less than or equal to
greater than
greater than or equal to- is between.
- Enter the value (or range, for is between), and add more groups if needed.
- Click Preview & Save.
A few sample segment criteria to get you started:
● Sales-ready leads — Total Score is greater than 80.
● High-fit, low-engagement prospects — Contact Fit Score is greater than 50 AND Engagement Score is less than 20 (useful for a targeted re-engagement campaign to contacts who match your ideal profile but haven't responded yet).
● WhatsApp-first contacts — WhatsApp Engagement Score is greater than 30 AND Email Engagement Score is less than 10 (contacts who respond on WhatsApp but not email, worth shifting to a WhatsApp-led nurture sequence).
● Contacts to re-engage — Engagement Score is between 1 and 15 (contacts who show some activity but have gone quiet).
How does contact scoring work with workflows?
Contact scoring is fully integrated with Workflows, so scores can both trigger automations and be changed by them.
Score-based triggers
A workflow can start when a contact's Total Score:
● Becomes greater than a set value — for example, greater than 80.
● Drops below a set value — for example, below 40.
● Changes at all.
● Enters a specific range.
Score-based triggers let you automatically notify sales when a contact becomes highly engaged, or drop a declining contact into a re-engagement sequence, without checking scores manually.
Score action
Inside a workflow, the Score action lets you increase or decrease a contact's Fit Score based on events in the automated journey — for example:
● Increase Fit Score after a contact attends a webinar.
● Increase Fit Score after a contact requests a product demo.
● Decrease Fit Score when a contact no longer meets your qualification criteria.
Every score change made through a workflow is logged, and it also shows up in the contact's Timeline as a Score updated activity, noting the old value, the new value, and the workflow action that caused it.
Where can you see scoring activity for a specific contact?
Every score change for a contact — from campaign activity, a Fit Score rule, or a workflow action — is recorded in that contact's Timeline, and you can filter the timeline to show only scoring-related entries.
- Go to Audience → Contacts, and click the contact you want to check.
- Open the Timeline tab.
- Click the filter button above the activity list.
- Tick the Score checkbox, uncheck every other option.
- If needed, choose the date range in the date filter button beside the filter button.
The timeline now shows only score-related activity for that contact, such as a specific rule firing or a workflow action adjusting their score, each with the value before and after the change.
What are some real-world use cases for contact scoring?
A few ways marketing teams put contact scoring to work:
● Sales handoff — Segment contacts with a Total Score above a set threshold and route them to sales, so reps spend time on the leads most likely to convert instead of working through a cold list.
● Re-engagement campaigns — Use a declining or low Engagement Score to trigger a workflow that sends a win-back offer before a contact goes fully inactive.
● VIP targeting — Combine a high Fit Score with a high Engagement Score to identify your best-matched, most active customers for early access, loyalty offers, or upsell campaigns.
● Channel optimization — Compare a contact's Email, SMS, and WhatsApp scores to see which channel they actually respond to, then shift future campaigns to that channel instead of guessing.
● Event-driven qualification — Use the workflow Score action to bump a contact's Fit Score the moment they attend a webinar or request a demo, so your qualification model reflects real intent, not just form fields filled in at signup.
● List hygiene — Let negative scoring from spam complaints and hard bounces naturally
push unengaged or risky contacts out of your active segments, protecting
your sender reputation.
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