How do you calculate the cost per marketing-qualified opportunity (MQO) and know if you're spending too much?

Question

Pulse RevOps · The Machine · Accepted Answer

## Brief MQO (SQL that became Opp) should cost **30–50% of your CAC.** Above that signals weak qualification. ## Detail Marketing cost per SQL is table stakes. Cost per *qualified* opportunity is what matters. **Example:** - Marketing spend (month): $40K - MQLs generated: 500 - **Cost per MQL: $80** - SQLs qualified: 120 (24% conversion) - **Cost per SQL: $333** - Opportunities created: 28 (23% of SQL) - **Cost per MQO: $1,429** Your CAC is $5,000 (fully loaded). Your MQO cost is 28.6% of CAC. That's **efficient**. If MQO cost is **>50% CAC**, you're throwing budget at low-fit leads. If it's **<20% CAC**, your SQL gate is too tight (you're artificially suppressing volume). ### Cost Efficiency Tiers | Metric | Efficient | Warning | Broken | |---|---|---|---| | Cost per MQO vs CAC | 20–50% | 50–70% | >70% | | MQL→SQL conversion | 20–35% | 15–20% | <15% | | SQL→Opp conversion | 20–40% | 15–20% | <15% | | Combined funnel | 4–14% (MQL→Opp) | 2–4% | <2% | ### Monthly Audit Calculation **How to benchmark your MQO cost:** 1. **Total marketing spend** (salaries, tools, media): $40K 2. **Opportunities created by marketing**: 28 3. **Cost per MQO**: $40K ÷ 28 = **$1,429** 4. **Your CAC** (fully loaded): $5,000 5. **Ratio**: $1,429 ÷ $5,000 = **28.6%** ✓ Healthy If ratio >50%, investigate: - Is the MQL gate too loose? (Killing conversion downstream) - Is paid media too broad? (Targeting wrong persona) - Is the sales team not calling? (MQLs aging, converting poorly) ```mermaid flowchart LR A["Marketing
$40K"] --> B["500 MQLs
$80/MQL"] B --> C["120 SQLs
$333/SQL
24% conv"] C --> D["28 MQOs
$1,429/MQO
23% conv"] D --> E{"MQO vs CAC
Ratio?"} E -->|20-50%| F["✓ Efficient
Keep model"] E -->|50-70%| G["⚠ Investigate
Form gate loose"] E -->|">70%| H["✗ Broken
Redesign funnel"] F --> I["Scale spend"] G --> J["Tighten MQL
or improve routing"] H --> K["Overhaul source
mix"] ``` Most teams don't calculate MQO cost. They watch CAC go up and blame sales efficiency. Wrong. Your MQO cost is the canary. TAGS: MQO,cost-per-opportunity,CAC,marketing-efficiency,qualification-cost,funnel-metrics

Metric	Efficient	Warning	Broken
Cost per MQO vs CAC	20–50%	50–70%	>70%
MQL→SQL conversion	20–35%	15–20%	<15%
SQL→Opp conversion	20–40%	15–20%	<15%
Combined funnel	4–14% (MQL→Opp)	2–4%	<2%

How do you calculate the cost per marketing-qualified opportunity (MQO) and know if you're spending too much?

Brief

Detail

Cost Efficiency Tiers

Monthly Audit Calculation

What does the score mean?