What Is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)?

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a potential buyer identified by the sales team who meets the criteria to be passed on to the sales department. This is part of a prospecting strategy.

What is a marketing qualified lead and what do they do?

Potential buyers have shown interest in making a purchase. They are open to sales and take the first step to engage with your Business, but not necessarily to buy. While marketing efforts can attract leads, it’s buyer behavior that prompts marketers to consider an MQL. Customers seek initial contact to get a first impression of what you offer.

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Example MQL actions:

• Download the free app or e-book
• Use software instructions
• Fill out the online form
• Provide an email address to receive newsletters or subscriptions
• Add an item to favorites or a list
• Add a product to the cart
• Visit your site repeatedly or spend more time on it
• Click ads to find your site
• Contact you for more information

These are the most common actions, but the list isn’t exhaustive. The best way to determine which customers are right for your Business depends on many factors, such as lead scoring, analytics, product delivery, and demographics. However, this is just the start of finding sales-ready customers and filtering out those unlikely to buy.

How to identify marketing qualified leads:

One of the most common ways to spot marketing-ready leads is by analyzing the profiles and behaviors of your current customers.

It’s important to define what this means for your Business, as not all qualified leads are the same, even within the same industry. To determine your specific MQL criteria, study the habits of your existing and potential buyers.

• This can include reviewing demographics such as company or organization, location, job title, and company size. Buyer habits are also useful indicators, and you may want to see how MQLs interact with your marketing resources.
• Analyze their behavior compared to other leads who became good customers.
• Look at historical behavior. What did customers who bought or didn’t buy do when they were ready to purchase?
• Review how sales were made in the past and the journey from interest to closing.
• Get customer feedback: What did potential customers who left say? Were they disappointed by something you could have changed? It’s important to have both empirical data and sentiment analysis.
• Look for trends: What do your successful leads have in common? Which pages, offers, and ads convert best to high-quality MQLs? This shows what you’re doing well and helps you focus on the work that drives sales. Identify your competitive advantage.
• What makes a potential customer choose you over competitors?

Understand and be transparent about your position in the competitive landscape at all levels, including presence and marketing tactics.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) vs. Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

The main difference between a marketing qualified lead and a sales qualified lead is the prospect’s readiness to buy. An MQL is a curious prospect, while an SQL is someone followed up by a salesperson because they’re considering a purchase. For example, imagine shopping at a mall. If you’re an MQL, you’re likely browsing. Entering a store shows interest, but you’re not committed to buying. If you’re an SQL, you head straight to the aisle you need or ask for help. SQLs are actively looking to buy and are highly interested.

Note the following factors to identify an MQL:

• The prospect requests information by email but hasn’t asked to be contacted.
• The prospect has downloaded information from your website.
• The prospect has visited your website multiple times and viewed relevant product or service pages.

Factors that help you identify an SQL:

• The prospect asks a specific question about your service or product or its price
• The prospect requests a phone call for more information
• The lead is a decision-maker or key player in the company’s buying process
• The prospect wants to schedule a meeting about your product/service

An MQL is not a guaranteed sale

Don’t assume every MQL will become an SQL. Even if they seem interested, you can’t expect every prospect to move through the sales funnel and become a customer. If a prospect isn’t ready to buy and you approach them as if they are, you risk turning them off completely.

If a child approaches dark chocolate thinking it’s a Kinder. Being a child, they prefer milk chocolate, which is mild and not too strong. If you offer them 80% bitter dark chocolate, they’ll never trust you again and will tell everyone it’s a trap and your store isn’t good.

While your qualified leads aren’t children, pushing too hard can unintentionally trigger a negative reaction that hurts you.

A regular prospect is not an MQL

Marketing qualified leads actively show interest. They seek information about you to learn more. Returning to our store example, regular prospects are people who often walk past your shop. Maybe one day they’ll decide to come in, see you, say hello, and buy.

An MQL isn’t always interested just because they reach out

Sometimes, people are just browsing, no matter what you do. They might even leave your store. Sometimes, it’s someone who can’t afford your offer but wants to try the free version. There are many factors to consider for these leads who are just passing by, as well as for those who are high-quality and promising. Always define what a qualified lead and MQL mean for you in advance—it will change your entire approach.