Hendrerit enim egestas hac eu aliquam mauris at viverra id mi eget faucibus sagittis, volutpat placerat viverra ut metus velit, velegestas pretium sollicitudin rhoncus ullamcorper ullamcorper venenatis sed vestibulum eu quam pellentesque aliquet tellus integer curabitur pharetra integer et ipsum nunc et facilisis etiam vulputate blandit ultrices est lectus eget urna, non sed lacus tortor etamet sed sagittis id porttitor parturient posuere.
Sollicitudin rhoncus ullamcorper ullamcorper venenatis sed vestibulum eu quam pellentesque aliquet tellus integer curabitur pharetra integer et ipsum nunc et facilisis etiam vulputate blandit ultrices est lectus vulputate eget urna, non sed lacus tortor etamet sed sagittis id porttitor parturient posuere.
Eget lorem dolor sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet bibendum felis donec et odio pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed egestas aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt augue interdum velit euismod eu tincidunt tortor aliquam nulla facilisi aenean sed adipiscing diam donec adipiscing ut lectus arcu bibendum at varius vel pharetra nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget.
“Eget lorem dolor sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet bibendum felis donec et odio pellentesque diam volutpat.”
Nisi quis eleifend quam adipiscing vitae aliquet bibendum enim facilisis gravida neque velit euismod in pellentesque massa placerat volutpat lacus laoreet non curabitur gravida odio aenean sed adipiscing diam donec adipiscing tristique risus amet est placerat in egestas erat imperdiet sed euismod nisi.
Eget lorem dolor sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet bibendum felis donec et odio pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed egestas aliquam sem fringilla ut morbi tincidunt augue interdum velit euismod eu tincidunt tortor aliquam nulla facilisi aenean sed adipiscing diam donec adipiscing ut lectus arcu bibendum at varius vel pharetra nibh venenatis cras sed felis eget.
HubSpot touts their predictive lead scoring as a key differentiator of their marketing platform.Â
By applying machine learning algorithms to your HubSpot data, the company claims it can accurately predict which leads are most likely to convert into customers.Â
However, there is one big issue with their model - it's a total black box.
What this means is that while HubSpot shows you the scores and predictions, they don't reveal anything about the weighting applied to each variable included in the predictive model.Â
As they state in their documentation:
"HubSpot uses blackbox machine learning to provide predictions. With blackbox machine learning, the input and outputs of the model are known, but it is unknown how the input is transformed into the output. For lead scoring, this means it's not possible to know exactly how each input contributes to a contact's score."
This lack of transparency into the underlying model can be highly problematic for a few reasons:
Without seeing the key variables and their respective weights, you have no way to truly understand if the model aligns with your business context or identify potential areas of improvement.
Essentially you need to take HubSpot's word for it that their one-size-fits-all model will work for your business.
You don't have any ability to specify the inputs that matter most to your sales process or business model.
Furthermore, you can't remove factors that may not be applicable or useful in predicting your customer conversions. The model is a fixed black box.
The model is limited to data within HubSpot only.Â
Many businesses are joining together data from various sources (product analytics, 3rd party intent data, etc..) and would benefit enormously from having this cross-cloud data incorporated into lead scoring predictions.Â
But HubSpot's walled garden approach prohibits this.
While machine learning should mean that predictive accuracy improves continuously over time, it's unclear whether HubSpot's model is really self-learning.Â
There is no visibility into whether past predictions and outcomes are used to refine the algorithm.
Clearly other predictive scoring solutions on the market have advantages over the black box limitations of HubSpot's approach:
So while lead scoring is an important innovation, buyers should be aware of HubSpot's limitations compared to alternative solutions.Â
No one wants their success metrics and forecasts to rely on a mysterious black box algorithm they can't control or even understand.
