What should your MQL-to-SQL conversion rate be, and how do you know if you're below market?

Question

Pulse RevOps · The Machine · Accepted Answer

## Brief Median is 25–35%. Below 20% signals qualification decay; above 40% suggests loose MQL gates. ## Detail Conversion rate isn't just a number—it's a signal about your entire funnel hygiene. **Bridge Group** and **OpenView** track this obsessively across 200+ companies: - **Best-in-cohort (top quartile)**: 35–45% MQL→SQL - **Market median**: 25–35% - **Below-market warning**: <20% - **Suspiciously high**: >50% (likely MQL gate too loose) Your rate depends on: 1. **MQL definition tightness** — behavior triggers, fit scoring, spam filtration 2. **Sales follow-up speed** — response within **4 hours** vs. 24+ hours 3. **Inbound source mix** — content hits (higher conversion) vs. paid webinars (lower) 4. **Territory assignment** — unassigned leads drop to 5–8% conversion ### Diagnostic Table | Symptom | MQL Rate | SQL Rate | Root Cause | |---------|----------|----------|------------| | Too many low-intent MQLs | 8 per 1K visits | 15% | Loose form rules, no behavior scoring | | Sales not calling MQLs | 2 per 1K visits | 8% | SLA breach, routing delay | | High-fit leads ignored | 3 per 1K visits | 22% | No routing by territory | | Right volume, right quality | 4 per 1K visits | 32% | Optimized gate, fast routing | ```mermaid quadrantChart title MQL→SQL Health Quadrants x-axis Low Gate Tightness --> High Gate Tightness y-axis Low SQL Conversion --> High SQL Conversion quadrant-1 Overqualifying (Rare) quadrant-2 Best Practice (25–45%) quadrant-3 Broken Funnel (<8%) quadrant-4 Leaky Gate (Spam Risk) Best Practice: 85, 65 Leaky Gate: 20, 30 Broken Funnel: 15, 15 Overqualifying: 75, 40 ``` Benchmark yourself quarterly against your cohort (SaaS, SMB, Enterprise) because median drifts with market maturity. TAGS: conversion-rate,MQL-to-SQL,OpenView,Bridge-Group,funnel-metrics,benchmarking

Symptom	MQL Rate	SQL Rate	Root Cause
Too many low-intent MQLs	8 per 1K visits	15%	Loose form rules, no behavior scoring
Sales not calling MQLs	2 per 1K visits	8%	SLA breach, routing delay
High-fit leads ignored	3 per 1K visits	22%	No routing by territory
Right volume, right quality	4 per 1K visits	32%	Optimized gate, fast routing

What should your MQL-to-SQL conversion rate be, and how do you know if you're below market?

Brief

Detail

Diagnostic Table

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