1. Apollo
  2. Engage
  3. Scores

Create a Custom Score

Article author
Apollo Team
Updated

Overview

Scores help you rank prospects according to the attributes that define your ideal customers. Apollo generates highly accurate auto-scores without any manual setup. However, you can also create custom scores to define and control the signals that rank prospects. Custom scores can be built manually, or with the AI assistant — just describe what kind of prospects you want to target, and the assistant helps you build a score unique to your outreach.

 
It's in the Plan

The number of scores you can create depends on your Apollo plan. If you need to create additional scores, upgrade your plan. If you have questions about upgrading, reach out to the Apollo sales team.

Check out the following sections to create a custom score.

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Create a Custom Score

 
Permission Please

To create a custom score, you need permission to edit and delete team-managed scoring models.

To create a custom score:

  1. Launch Apollo and click Settings > Ideal customer profile > Scoring.
  2. Click Create new score.
  3. Choose whether to create a score with the AI assistant, or create a score manually.
 
First Things First

Before you use the AI assistant, your company should configure the AI context center so Apollo AI understands your business and product or service.

  1. Select to create a score for people or companies.
  2. Next, use natural language to describe your goal or the type of prospects you want to prioritize. For example:
Create a score for B2B SaaS companies with 50-500 employees that have raised funding in the last 2 years.
Build a score for marketing leaders at ecommerce companies with high growth signals.
Can you create a score for a B2C company targeting repeat buyers with strong buying intent signals?
  1. Click Create score.
  2. The assistant generates a scoring model based on your request. Review the criteria and adjust any filters or weighting before saving.

You have now created a new score. Ask the assistant to set the score as your primary score, then you can use the score to prospect in Apollo.

 
Need an Undo?

To edit a score, navigate to Settings > Ideal customer profile > Scoring. Click . . . beside the score, then click Edit or Delete to remove it.

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  1. Select to create a score for people or companies.
  2. Give your score a name, then click Next.
Sample score name and next button highlighted
  1. Next, add filters and signals to set the score's criteria. Select a filter like # employees, or click Signals to select a signal.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. Select a value for the filter or signal like 51-100.
  2. Add an impact from Very important to Not important.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. (Optional) Alternatively, toggle Numeric scoring to use a numeric impact from 0 to 20, with 20 being the most impact.
 
Keeping Score

If you select multiple values on certain filters or signals, like # employees, Apollo only matches the prospect to one criterion. For example, if you add criteria where "51-200 employees" = 10 points and "201-500 employees" = 15 points, then a company with 75 employees only matches "51-200 employees" and receives 10 points.

Other filters or signals, like job title, aren't mutually exclusive and can match to more than one criterion. For example, if you add criteria where job title "Product" = 10 points and "Manager" = 15 points, then a prospect with a "Product Manager" title receives 25 points.

  1. (Optional) Click Add more values to assign additional values to the filter.
  2. Select to add additional filters and signals to build the score criteria.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. Click Refresh, and Apollo shows how prospects stack up against your score configuration.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. Click Saved people to see the score distribution for all people instead.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. If necessary, edit filters and signals to improve your score distribution.
 
Score Strategies

Is your ranking too restrictive? If you aren't seeing many excellent or good ranked prospects, you may need to edit the score to be less restrictive. Avoid being overly specific with too many filters that can bottleneck your score distribution.

  1. (Optional) Click Settings to adjust the score distribution.
Add signals to score is highlighted on left
  1. When finished, click Save.

You have now created a new score. Set the score as your primary score, then use the score to prospect in Apollo.

 
Need an Undo?

To edit a score, navigate to Settings > Ideal customer profile > Scoring. Click . . . beside the score, then click Edit or Delete to remove it.

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Set a Primary Score

 
Permission Required

You need to be an admin on Apollo to set your organization's primary score. If you don't have permission, reach out to an Apollo admin for help.

When you create a score, you must set one primary people score and one primary company score. These scores replace auto-scores as the default when your teams search for people or companies.

To set your primary score:

  1. Launch Apollo and click Settings > Ideal customer profile > Scoring.
  2. Click ... beside the score > Set score as primary.
Active Model
  1. Click Confirm.

You have now set a primary score. You're ready to use the score to prospect.

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Next Steps

Once your custom score is live, these next steps help you put it to work across prospecting, permissions, and day-to-day workflows.

Scores Overview Ground your team on how scoring works end to end by comparing auto-scores and custom scores to understand what actually drives ranking and prioritization.
Use Scores Turn your new model into action by applying scores in searches and filters to focus outreach on the prospects most likely to convert.
Create and Assign Permission Profiles Make sure the right people can manage scoring by assigning admin permissions so updates to primary scores don't get bottlenecked.

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