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Glossary Attract more customers 2 min read

What is a marketing qualified lead (MQL)?

Sarah Impey Marketing Director and Consultant

Short answer

A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is someone who's shown enough interest, and looks enough like a good customer, that it's worth passing them to sales. They might have downloaded a guide or visited your pricing page a few times. They're interested, but not quite ready to buy yet.

Also known as: MQL, MQLs

Contents

Why it matters

Not every lead is equal. Someone who opened one email isn't in the same place as someone who's read three case studies and checked your prices. Treating them the same wastes everyone's time.

An MQL is a way of drawing a line. It's the point where marketing says, "This one looks promising, over to you." That helps sales focus on the people most likely to buy, instead of chasing every name on a list.

You'll mostly hear this term from agencies and bigger companies with separate marketing and sales teams. If you're a smaller business where the same few people do both, you might not need the label. The thinking behind it is still useful, though.

Common mistakes

  • Counting MQLs instead of customers.

    A big MQL number looks great in a report. What matters is how many turn into paying clients.

  • Setting the bar too low.

    If one email open counts as an MQL, your sales team will soon stop trusting the list.

  • Not agreeing on what counts.

    Marketing and sales need to agree on the definition. Otherwise you'll end up arguing about lead quality instead of selling.

  • Handing over and forgetting.

    If an MQL isn't ready to talk yet, keep in touch. Don't let them disappear.

How to get started

  • Look at your recent customers. What did they do before they got in touch? Which pages did they visit, and what did they download?
  • Pick a few signals that suggest real interest. Things like asking for a quote or visiting your pricing page more than once.
  • Check they're a fit. Interest is good, but they should also match your ideal customer profile.
  • Write your definition down. Agree it with whoever handles sales, so everyone knows when a lead gets handed over.
  • Review it every few months. If lots of MQLs never become customers, tighten the definition.

FAQs

What's the difference between an MQL and an SQL?

An MQL is a lead marketing thinks is promising. A sales qualified lead (SQL) is one that sales has spoken to and confirmed is a real opportunity. MQLs come first, and the good ones become SQLs.

Do small businesses need to track MQLs?

Not by name, necessarily. But it's still worth knowing which kinds of interest tend to turn into sales, so you can spend your time on the right people.

What's lead scoring?

It's a way of giving leads points for things they do, like opening emails or visiting certain pages. Once someone hits a set score, they become an MQL. Many email and CRM tools can do this for you.

How many MQLs should become customers?

It varies a lot by industry and how you define an MQL. Rather than chasing a benchmark, track your own rate over time and work on improving it.

Related terms