A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has signaled buying intent through behavior, content downloads, demo requests, pricing-page visits, or webinar attendance, and has met the marketing-defined threshold for sales handoff. MQLs are scored by combining demographic fit (does this look like our ICP?) and behavioral intent (are they acting like a buyer?). Typical conversion from MQL to closed-won across B2B SaaS sits in the 1-5% range, depending on segment and ACV.
How is an MQL scored?
Most teams use a lead-scoring model with two axes. The first is fit, often called demographic or firmographic scoring: industry, revenue, headcount, geography, and seniority. The second is engagement: page views, content downloads, email opens, form fills, webinar attendance. A lead crosses the MQL threshold when both scores exceed a defined cutoff, usually expressed as a letter grade (A-D) on fit and a numeric score (0-100) on engagement. The threshold is calibrated by walking back from closed-won deals: which leads converted, what did their pre-conversion behavior look like, and what's the minimum profile that has a real shot.
The mistake most teams make is over-weighting engagement and under-weighting fit. A lead from a 12-person agency that downloads three whitepapers is not an MQL for an enterprise product, even if their engagement score is 95.
What's the right MQL-to-SQL conversion rate?
Healthy B2B teams convert 20-40% of MQLs to SQLs. Below 20% suggests the MQL definition is too loose (marketing is sending in junk). Above 60% suggests the MQL definition is too tight (marketing is sitting on real opportunities). The number to obsess over is not MQL volume but MQL-to-meeting and MQL-to-opportunity, because volume gamed by marketing without quality alignment is the single biggest source of sales-marketing friction in B2B. Companies running multi-channel outbound typically de-emphasize MQL volume and shift focus to opportunity-sourced metrics.
Related questions
Who owns the MQL definition, marketing or sales?
Both. The MQL definition is jointly written and reviewed quarterly. If only marketing writes it, sales will reject the leads. If only sales writes it, marketing will starve the pipeline. The right cadence is a quarterly review where both teams look at MQL-to-opportunity conversion by source and adjust the score weights.
How is an MQL different from a PQL?
A Product Qualified Lead (PQL) is specific to product-led growth motions. A PQL has used the product (free trial, freemium) and hit a usage threshold that correlates with willingness to pay. PQLs convert at higher rates than MQLs (10-25%) because their intent signal is product usage, not content engagement.
Should we still use MQLs in a PLG company?
Yes, but as a secondary metric. PQLs become the primary handoff signal. MQLs still matter for buyers who never enter the product (executives evaluating from outside) or for enterprise deals where evaluation is done by committee before any product touch.