Marketing Qualified Lead.

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a lead who has engaged with marketing content or activities at a level that indicates genuine buying interest—meeting a threshold defined jointly by marketing and sales. MQL criteria typically include behavioural signals (visited the pricing page, downloaded a buying guide, attended a product webinar) and demographic fit (company size, job title, industry match with the ICP).

MQL vs. SQL

An MQL is marketing's handoff to sales; a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is one that sales has reviewed and accepted as a genuine opportunity worth pursuing. The MQL→SQL conversion rate measures how well marketing's qualification criteria align with sales' actual experience—a low conversion rate indicates marketing is either setting the threshold too low (volume over quality) or targeting the wrong audience.

Lead Scoring and MQL Thresholds

Lead scoring assigns point values to actions (downloading content = 5 points, visiting pricing page = 20 points, attending a demo = 50 points) and demographic fit (target industry = 10 points, correct job title = 15 points). When a lead reaches a defined score threshold, it becomes an MQL and is routed to sales. Marketing automation platforms handle lead scoring and MQL routing automatically.