What is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)?

What is a marketing qualified lead?

A marketing qualified lead (MQL), according to Lewis (2012), can be defined as an inquiry that meets minimum fit criteria (qualification and interest) defined by the marketing and sales team, and is ready to be engaged for a possible sale. If the marketing team considers the prospect fit for sale, it is forwarded to the sales team.

Characteristics of an MQL

An MQL meets three characteristics. This makes this lead distinctly different from other leads:

• The lead matches the profile of your ideal client in many ways.
• The lead has a problem that your products can solve.
• The problem is not yet a top priority, so the customer is not yet ready to purchase your product immediately.

Why differentiate between leads?

Not every lead presents the same opportunities. Some customers are not yet ready to make a purchase, while others are basically ready to do so. If you distinguish clearly between the different types of leads, you will know which leads are most worth following up. This improves the efficiency of your marketing and sales activities and, ultimately, your sales.

What types of leads are there?

When you generate leads for your business through marketing activities, distinguish between different types of leads, each representing a different stage of the buying process:

• IQL: information qualified lead. The potential customer seeks information about a product or service.
• MQL: marketing qualified lead. The potential client is more than averagely interested in your product or service.
• SQL: sales qualified lead. The prospect enters the sales conversation and is basically ready to make the purchase.

Difference between MQL and SQL

The difference between an MQL and an SQL is the stage of the buying process the potential customer is in. An MQL knows he has an urgent problem or issue and is exploring solutions. He is gathering information and is interested in your services, but is not yet ready to make a purchase. Therefore, a marketing qualified lead is not a guaranteed customer, but is more than averagely interested. A SQL is already in the decision phase: it has a concrete interest in your products or services and is ready to enter the sales conversation.

Examples MQL interactions

It can be difficult to determine what stage of the funnel the potential customer is in. At an MQL, the prospect has deliberately contacted the company. Consider the following:

• Entering contact information
• Adding items to the shopping cart
• Multiple visits to the website
• Downloading website content
• Newsletter subscription

Identifying a marketing qualified lead

Identifying a marketing qualified lead is not easy, nor can you apply a standard formula to it. It is especially important to go through a number of steps as thoroughly as possible.

Step 1: create a buyer persona

To determine whether a lead is promising, you must first determine your ideal customer profile. Which customers would you like to have? What industry is a company in, how big is it, what products or services does the organization need? What problems would you like to solve for them?

Step 2: assess the type of interaction

It is important to know how to identify a marketing qualified lead. Why is one lead promising and another not? Each action or interaction has a different value. Therefore, look first at the type of interactions with your company. Did the lead ask a question himself (via social media or email, for example) in response to an advertisement? Did he sign up for your newsletter, or download a free whitepaper or e-book? Does he come back to your site often? These are all proactive actions, initiated by the potential customer himself, that show interest in your product or service.

Step 3: bring customer profile and interaction together

Analyze the customers with promising interactions and score them according to the customer profile you created. Do they fit together? Are the chances high that you can actually make a sale? Then you probably have an MQL on your hands.

Step 4: from marketing to sales

Your MQL is not ready to buy right away, and each customer must be approached in a different way to reach that point. Just because a lead is an MQL certainly doesn't mean you're guaranteed a sale. Therefore, it is important for the sales department to tailor a sales plan to convince and encourage the customer to make a purchase.

Resources

Lewis, D. (2012). Manufacturing Demand. New Year Publishing.