MQL
Marketing Qualified Lead
In one sentenceA lead that marketing has judged likely to buy, based on fit and engagement, and is ready to be handed to sales.
What it means
An MQL has passed marketing's bar: they fit your ICP and have shown real interest, such as downloading a guide, attending a webinar, visiting the pricing page several times, or engaging repeatedly with your content.
An MQL is not yet a sales conversation. It means "worth a salesperson's attention." Sales then decides whether it becomes an SQL.
How to use it
- Define your MQL rule in writing, for example: "Fits ICP + downloaded a lead magnet + opened 3 emails."
- Use Lead Scoring to make it consistent.
- Review MQLs that sales rejects. If sales keeps rejecting them, tighten the definition.
FormulaMQL to SQL rate = SQLs รท MQLs
How AI helps
AI can score each lead against your MQL rules, summarize their engagement, and write the hand-off note for sales.
Related terms
Lead SQL Lead Scoring Unconfirmed Lead Sales Funnel
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