Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): meaning & difference SQL

Introduction

More visitors to your website is great, but only when they show interest in your product or service does it become really interesting. That's when a visitor turns into a Marketing Qualified Lead-or an MQL. In this article, we dive into what exactly MQLs are, why they are important to modern marketing teams, and how to effectively identify and track them.

What is a marketing qualified lead?

According to Lewis (2012), a marketing qualified lead (MQL) 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.

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.

Difference prospect and lead

There is no no consensus on what is a prospect and what is a lead.

We use prospect as a term for a person or organization that meets the customer profile but has not yet made contact. There are also companies that see prospect as qualified leads, more of a sales qualified lead in other words.
There is more or less agreement about leads: An individual or organization that has shown interest in a product or service, for example by filling out a form or downloading a brochure. But even between different leads there are still big differences.

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 leads genereert for your business through marketing activities, you 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:

• Creating an account
• Adding items to the shopping cart
• Viewing an important page on the website, consider the pricing page.
• Download whitepaper
• Newsletter subscription

Identifying a marketing qualified lead

Identifying a marketing qualified lead can be done by carefully following a number of steps.

Step 1: Establish a buyer persona

To determine whether a lead is promising, you first start by determining your ideal customer profile.

• What type of customers would you like to have?
• In what industry?
• How big is it?
• What products or services does the organization need?
• What problems would you like to solve for them?

Step 2: Analyze interactions

MQLs are distinguished by specific actions, such as:

• Multiple visits to the website
• Downloading white papers or e-books
• Requesting a demo or webinar registration
• Responding to email campaigns
• Active engagement on social media

These behaviors are often measured through marketing automation platforms (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo).

Step 3: Apply scoring models

Lead scoring is a method in which points are assigned to behaviors and characteristics. Typical criteria:

• Demographic data (function, sector, company size)
• Company site
• Number of interactions
• Relevance of visited content

Once a lead reaches a threshold in the scoring model, it is labeled MQL.

Step 4: Connection to ideal customer profile

An MQL should largely match the profile of the ideal client, for example, based on:

• Industry or usage scenario
• Budget or revenue category
• Decision power

Someone can interact a lot with Ferrari on social media, visit the website every day, download brochures, but if the person is living on minimum wage then it is not a marketing qualified lead.

Step 5: from marketing to sales

Your MQL is not yet ready to buy and each customer must be approached differently to reach that point. It is important to have clear agreements between the marketing department and the sales department when and how a lead is transferred.

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Resources

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