How to Set Up Lead Scoring with WPForms

WPForms is one of the most popular WordPress form builders, powering millions of sites. But it has a blind spot: every submission looks the same. There's no built-in way to tell a $25,000 project inquiry from a spam submission. This guide fixes that.

You'll learn how to add AI-powered lead scoring to WPForms in under 5 minutes using FormRank WP. By the end, every form submission will be automatically scored, ranked, and ready for action.

The Problem: What WPForms Can't Do Alone

WPForms excels at building forms — drag-and-drop fields, conditional logic, payment integrations, multi-page layouts. But once someone hits Submit, WPForms treats every entry identically. You get the same email notification whether the lead has a $50,000 budget or typed "test" into every field.

There's no built-in way to:

• Score submissions based on how likely they are to convert
• Prioritize high-value leads over tire-kickers
• Trigger different notifications based on lead quality
• See a ranked list of leads sorted by potential value

WPForms collects the data. But it doesn't tell you what the data means. That's where lead scoring comes in. For a deeper look at what lead scoring is and why it matters, see our complete guide to WordPress lead scoring.

Before vs. After: What Changes with Scoring

Step 1: Install FormRank WP

FormRank WP installs like any WordPress plugin. Two options:

Option A: Install from WordPress.org

1. Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress admin
2. Search for "FormRank WP"
3. Click Install Now, then Activate

Option B: Upload manually

1. Download the ZIP from formrankwp.com
2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
3. Choose the ZIP file and click Install Now, then Activate

After activation, you'll see a new FormRank menu item in your WordPress sidebar.

Step 2: Connect to WPForms

FormRank WP auto-detects installed form plugins. Since you're running WPForms, it finds it immediately.

1. Navigate to FormRank → Settings
2. Under the Integrations tab, you'll see WPForms listed as "Detected"
3. Toggle the WPForms integration to Active
4. Select which forms to score (or choose "All Forms")
5. Click Save Changes

FormRank WP hooks into the wpforms_process_complete action — the same hook WPForms uses internally. No API keys to configure, no third-party accounts to create.

Step 3: Configure Your Scoring Rules

FormRank WP uses a two-layer system: AI scoring handles the heavy lifting, while business context tells the AI what a qualified lead looks like for your business.

Set Your Business Context

Navigate to FormRank → Settings → Scoring and fill in:

• Business type: What you sell (e.g., "Marketing agency specializing in B2B SaaS")
• Ideal customer: Who your best customers are (e.g., "SaaS companies, 20–200 employees, $5K–$25K budget")
• High-value signals: What indicates a hot lead (e.g., "Mentions specific services, has a timeline, provides a budget")
• Disqualifying signals: What indicates a bad fit (e.g., "Student projects, requests for free work")

Scoring Weights

The AI evaluates four factors with default weights you can adjust:

The AI reads all fields contextually. A lead who writes "We need this deployed by Q2" in a free-text field scores high on Intent even without a dedicated timeline dropdown.

Step 4: Set Up Notifications

This is where WPForms lead scoring becomes genuinely useful day-to-day. Instead of identical notifications for every submission, you configure alerts based on score.

Navigate to FormRank → Settings → Notifications:

Email Alerts

• Hot lead alert (80+): Immediate email with score, reasoning, and form data
• Daily digest: Summary of all leads from the past 24 hours, sorted by score

Webhook Notifications (Pro)

• Slack: Post hot leads to a #sales channel
• Zapier / Make / n8n: Trigger workflows based on score thresholds
• Custom webhook: Send scored data to any URL endpoint

WPForms' built-in notifications treat every submission identically. FormRank WP's notifications are score-aware — you only get interrupted when it matters.

Step 5: Test the Setup

Before going live, test the full flow:

1. Open your form on the front end (not the WPForms preview — the actual page)
2. Submit a "hot lead" test. Use a business email, specific budget, urgent timeline, detailed project description. Should score 80+.
3. Submit a "cold lead" test. Generic Gmail, leave optional fields blank, write "just browsing." Should score below 20.
4. Check the FormRank dashboard at FormRank → Leads. Both should appear with scores, labels, and AI reasoning.
5. Verify notifications. The hot test should have triggered an email alert. The cold one should not.

Step 6: View Scored Leads in Your Dashboard

Navigate to FormRank → Leads to see your scored pipeline:

• Ranked lead list — sorted by score, highest first
• Color-coded labels — Hot Warm Neutral Cool Cold
• AI reasoning — click any lead to see why it scored the way it did
• Filters — filter by score range, label, form, status, or date
• Status tracking — mark leads as New, Contacted, Qualified, or Archived

Real-World Example: Marketing Agency Quote Form

You run a marketing agency with a WPForms "Request a Quote" form that collects: Name, Email, Phone, Company, Services (checkboxes), Budget (dropdown), Timeline (dropdown), and Project Description (paragraph).

Here's how FormRank WP scores two real submissions:

Without scoring, both arrive in the same WPForms email notification with the same priority. With FormRank WP, Submission A triggers an instant alert while Submission B quietly enters the archive.

Cost Comparison: WPForms + Scoring Options

For a detailed cost breakdown, use the FormRank ROI calculator. You can also compare FormRank WP to other scoring solutions side by side.

WPForms gives you the forms. FormRank WP gives you the intelligence. Together, you stop wasting time on leads that will never convert and start responding to the ones that will — within minutes, not hours.

Get started with FormRank WP →