What is MQL to SQL conversion rate?
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) to SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) conversion rate measures the percentage of MQLs that are converted to SQL. MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is a potential customer that has shown interest in what your brand has to offer, based on your marketing efforts, and is ready to be passed on to the sales team.
SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is a prospective customer who has moved from being an MQL to a sales accepted lead where the sales team can now work on converting them into active customers.
How to calculate MQL to SQL conversion rate?
To calculate MQL to SQL conversion rate, divide the ‘number of SQLs’ by the ‘number of MQLs’ and multiply by 100.
Formula for calculating MQL to SQL conversion rate
Real-life example of MQL to SQL conversion rate
Consider the following example: At the end of the previous month, your marketing efforts generated 1,000 MQLs who showed interest in your brand.
Out of these, 250 responded to your sales team outreach efforts. So now, these 250 are converted to SQLs.
Then your MQL to SQL conversion rate will be: 250/1000 x 100 = 25%
This means, 25% of your total MQLs convert to SQLs.
What’s considered a good MQL to SQL conversion rate? (benchmark)
A good MQL to SQL conversion rate is considered to be 13% across most industries. However, MQL to SQL conversion rate largely depends on the lead source or channel.
Websites (31.30%) and customer/employee referrals (24.70%) have a very high MQL to SQL conversion rate. While an emailing campaign has an average rate of just 0.9%.
Ways to increase your MQL to SQL conversion rate
- Analyze and revise your marketing campaign: The first step to increasing your conversion rate would be to increase the number of leads. Analyze your marketing and sales campaigns to figure out the reason for low leads. Once the problem is identified, make efforts to revise your campaign.
- Reach out to prospects proactively: Once you identify an MQL and pass them on to your sales team, they need to proactively reach out to prospects and close them as soon as possible.
- Nurture your prospects: When a potential customer has shown interest in your product/service, send them personalized lead-nurturing emails. Ensure these emails should be informative and interesting, leading your prospects to convert into customers. Check out: Lead Nurturing Email Examples You'll Want to Steal