MQLs, PQLs, CQLs … It sounds like a bunch of alphabet soup. As marketers and salespeople, shouldn’t we just call all of them “leads” and make our lives easier? So here’s the thing: At Drift, when we started digging into our own lead sources, it became clear that our leads fall into distinct categories — and leads from some sources tend to be more sales-ready than leads from others.

1. These Are The
BEST LEADS
On Your Website

2. Imagine someone walks into a car
dealership…

3. But instead of talking to a
salesperson, they just read
about the cars.

4. Then write down their contact info
and walk out.

5. The dealership employees might be
confused if that actually happened...

6. But they’d probably still follow up
(maybe with a promo for their next
big sale).

7. On a website, we’d call that a
marketing-qualified lead, or MQL.

8. marketing-qualified lead (MQL)
noun
A lead who’s taken some action — or set
of actions — that signals to Marketing that
they have a higher likelihood of becoming
a customer compared to the norm.

9. Now, imagine someone else walks
into a car dealership…

10. And this person immediately starts
jumping into cars and playing around
with all the knobs and buttons…

11. And this person immediately starts
jumping into cars and playing around
with all the knobs and buttons…
…but they don’t ever talk
to a salesperson.

12. On a website, we’d call that a
product-qualified lead, or PQL.

13. product-qualified lead (PQL)
noun
A lead who’s tried a free version of your
product and whose product usage
indicates they’d be a good fit to buy.

14. Finally, imagine another person
walks into a car dealership…

15. And this person marches up to the
first salesperson they see, and says:

16. “Hey, I’ve been researching the cars
you sell here and found nearly all the
information I needed online…”

17. “I’m going to buy soon, but I have a
few questions about financing I need
you to answer first.”

18. On a website, we’d call that a…

19. Actually, there wasn’t a name for
that type of lead — so we came
up with one:

20. conversation-qualified lead
(CQL)
noun
A lead who has expressed intent to buy
during a one-to-one conversation with
either A) an employee at your company, or
B) an intelligent sales assistant (bot).

21. Unlike MQLs and PQLs, CQLs
come to your website with
specific questions about your
product…
…questions that they want
answered in real-time.

22. And thanks to the rise
of messaging and chatbots,
teams can now deliver the
on-demand experience
buyers have come to expect.

23. By focusing on CQLs, you’re
opening a fastlane for your
best leads.

24. At Drift, it takes just 3 days on
avg. from first conversation with
a CQL to delivered sales demo.

25. But in some cases,
the buying process
can move even
faster than that…

26. Overall, CQLs drive 50% of our
business, which makes them a
crucial part of our pipeline.

27. Want to learn more about the
best leads on your website?
Click here to read
our in-depth post.

28. See why thousands of businesses are using
Drift to generate CQLs and close deals faster.