Terms

Marketing Qualified Account

A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a company that marketing has identified as ready for sales outreach based on the combined engagement signals from multiple contacts within that organization. This approach shifts the focus from an individual lead to the entire account, reflecting the reality that B2B purchasing decisions are typically made by a team rather than a single person.

Importance of Marketing Qualified Accounts

Focusing on MQAs aligns marketing and sales with the reality of B2B purchasing. Decisions are rarely made by one person; they involve a buying committee. When multiple stakeholders from the same company show interest, it signals a much stronger buying intent than a single lead.

This approach allows teams to concentrate resources on accounts with the highest conversion potential. By targeting companies already demonstrating collective engagement, outreach becomes more efficient and effective. It helps ensure that sales pitches are directed at organizations genuinely considering a purchase.

Strategies for Identifying Marketing Qualified Accounts

This is how you can identify Marketing Qualified Accounts.

  1. Define your ideal customer profile using firmographic data like industry and company size.
  2. Track engagement signals such as website visits and content downloads from all contacts within an account.
  3. Set a qualification threshold, such as when multiple contacts from the same company show interest.
  4. Aggregate these signals into an account-level score that combines both profile fit and overall engagement.
  5. When an account meets the score threshold, designate it as an MQA and route it to the sales team.

Marketing Qualified Account vs. Marketing Qualified Lead

The primary difference between MQAs and MQLs lies in their focus—one targets the company, while the other targets the individual.

  • Leads: A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is an individual person deemed ready for sales. This traditional approach is simpler to track but can be restrictive, as B2B decisions often involve multiple stakeholders. It may be suitable for mid-market companies where purchasing power is concentrated with fewer individuals.
  • Accounts: A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is an entire company qualified for sales outreach based on collective interest. This model aligns better with enterprise B2B sales where buying committees are common. While it provides a stronger signal of intent, it can be more complex to manage.

Benefits of Focusing on Marketing Qualified Accounts

Focusing on Marketing Qualified Accounts helps B2B companies align their strategies with the reality of group purchasing decisions. This account-centric view provides a clearer picture of genuine interest, leading to several key advantages for revenue teams.

  • Alignment: Unifies sales and marketing around targeting entire companies, not just individuals.
  • Efficiency: Allows sales teams to prioritize high-potential accounts with multiple engaged stakeholders.
  • Conversion: Increases the likelihood of closing deals by engaging accounts with demonstrated collective interest.
  • Intent: Provides a more accurate signal of purchase intent compared to a single lead's activity.
  • Personalization: Enables tailored outreach based on the specific needs and pain points of the entire account.

Common Challenges with Marketing Qualified Accounts

While MQAs aim to provide a more holistic view of buyer interest, they come with their own set of challenges. Aggregating signals at the account level can obscure crucial details, making it difficult for sales teams to act effectively and potentially leading to missed opportunities.

  • Intent: MQAs are well-intentioned, designed to capture collective interest from high-value accounts. The goal is to move beyond individual leads and provide a more comprehensive view of engagement, aligning marketing with how B2B teams buy.
  • Noise: Aggregating all signals often creates noise for sales. It can be unclear who is interested in what, making it difficult to personalize outreach and identify specific opportunities within a large organization.

Frequently Asked Questions about Marketing Qualified Account

Should our team switch completely from MQLs to MQAs?

Not necessarily. Many teams use a hybrid model. MQLs are great for tracking individual interest, while MQAs provide a broader view of account-level engagement. The best approach often involves using both to capture different types of buying signals and opportunities.

How do you measure the success of an MQA strategy?

Success is measured by tracking account-level metrics. Key indicators include the MQA-to-opportunity conversion rate, pipeline velocity for qualified accounts, and ultimately, the revenue generated from MQA-sourced deals. This shifts focus from lead volume to account-based outcomes.

What's the biggest mistake when implementing MQAs?

The most common mistake is setting the qualification threshold too low. This floods sales with low-intent accounts, creating noise and frustration. It's crucial to define clear, strong engagement signals that genuinely indicate a company is ready for sales outreach.

Other terms

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Account-Based Advertising

Account-based advertising is a hyper-focused B2B strategy that targets key accounts with personalized ads across multiple channels.

Account-Based Advertising

Open Rate

The open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened an email. It's a primary indicator of a subject line's effectiveness.

Open Rate

Affiliate Networks

Affiliate networks are platforms that act as intermediaries between publishers (affiliates) and merchant affiliate programs.

Affiliate Networks

Weighted Pipeline

A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.

Weighted Pipeline

SEM

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that uses paid tactics to increase a website's visibility in search engine results.

SEM

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

Pipeline Coverage

Pipeline coverage is a key sales metric. It's the ratio of your total open pipeline value to your sales quota for a specific period.

Pipeline Coverage

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the process of ordering, storing, and using a company's inventory, from raw materials to finished goods.

Inventory Management

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-channel marketing uses various platforms—like email, social media, and direct mail—to engage with customers wherever they are.

Multi-Channel Marketing

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Email Verification

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.

Email Verification

Proof of Concept

A Proof of Concept (PoC) is a small exercise to test whether a business idea or project is technically feasible and has real-world potential.

Proof of Concept

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

SAM

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.

SAM

Data Enrichment

Data enrichment is the process of enhancing raw data by adding missing information from other sources, making it more complete and actionable.

Data Enrichment

Customer Relationship Marketing

Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.

Customer Relationship Marketing

Cold Calling

Cold calling is a sales tactic where reps contact potential customers by phone who haven't previously expressed interest in their product or service.

Cold Calling

Customer Lifecycle

The customer lifecycle is the journey a person takes from first becoming aware of your brand to becoming a loyal, repeat customer.

Customer Lifecycle

Intent-Based Leads

Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.

Intent-Based Leads

C-Level or C-Suite

The C-suite, or C-level, refers to a company's most senior executives. Their titles usually start with 'Chief,' such as CEO, CFO, or CTO.

C-Level or C-Suite

RESTful API

A RESTful API is a web service interface that uses HTTP requests to access and use data, adhering to the constraints of REST architecture.

RESTful API

Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks are fraudulent attempts to trick you into revealing sensitive data like passwords or financial info by posing as a trusted source.

Phishing Attacks

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-hoc reporting is the creation of one-off reports to answer specific business questions as they arise, providing instant, targeted insights.

Ad-hoc Reporting

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless, unified customer experience by integrating a company's various communication and sales channels.

Omnichannel Marketing

Forward Revenue

Forward revenue is the total value of all active, committed contracts that are expected to be recognized as revenue in the future.

Forward Revenue

No Forms

No Forms is a method for capturing lead data directly from your website visitors' profiles without requiring them to fill out any forms.

No Forms

B2B Sales Channels

Learn about B2B sales channels, including types of B2B sales channels, strategies for effective channel selection, & integrating technology in B2B sales.

B2B Sales Channels

Conversion Path

A conversion path is the journey a visitor takes to complete a desired goal, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing.

Conversion Path

Internal signals

Internal signals are data points from your own systems, like website visits or product usage, that indicate a customer's buying intent.

Internal signals

Escalations

Escalations are the process of moving a customer issue or sales opportunity to a more senior or specialized team member for resolution.

Escalations

Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy is the promotion of an organization by its staff members, who share positive messages and content through their personal networks.

Employee Advocacy

CPM

CPM, or Cost Per Mille, is a key advertising metric. It's the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand views or impressions of a single ad.

CPM

Sales Automation

Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.

Sales Automation

Outbound Leads

Outbound leads are potential customers a business proactively contacts through outreach like cold calls, emails, or social media.

Outbound Leads

BAB Formula

Learn about BAB formula, including implementing BAB in sales strategies, crafting an effective BAB pitch, & comparing BAB with other sales frameworks.

BAB Formula

Sales Enablement Platform

A sales enablement platform centralizes content, training, and analytics to help sales teams engage buyers and effectively close deals.

Sales Enablement Platform

Sales Objections

Sales objections are reasons or concerns raised by a potential customer as to why they are hesitant or unwilling to make a purchase.

Sales Objections

Scalability

Scalability is a company's ability to handle increased workloads or market demands without a drop in performance or a spike in costs.

Scalability

Champion/Challenger Test

A Champion/Challenger test pits a new 'challenger' against the current best-performing 'champion' to see which one performs better.

Champion/Challenger Test

Big Data

Learn about big data, including understanding big data characteristics, benefits of leveraging big data, & challenges in managing big data.

Big Data

Payment Gateways

A payment gateway is a service that authorizes and processes payments for businesses, acting as a secure link between the customer and the merchant.

Payment Gateways

Account View Through Rate

Account View-Through Rate (AVTR) is the percentage of target accounts that see an ad and later visit your website without clicking on it.

Account View Through Rate

Lead Enrichment Tools

Lead enrichment tools are platforms that automatically add missing data to your leads, like contact info, firmographics, and buying signals.

Lead Enrichment Tools

Sales Playbook

A sales playbook is a guide that outlines your sales process, best practices, and tools to help reps sell more efficiently and consistently.

Sales Playbook

Account-Based Sales Development

Account-Based Sales Development (ABSD) is a focused strategy where SDRs target key stakeholders within specific, high-value accounts.

Account-Based Sales Development

Persona Map

A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.

Persona Map

Content Curation

Content curation involves gathering, organizing, and sharing the most relevant online content on a specific topic for a particular audience.

Content Curation

Net New Business

Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.

Net New Business

Gone Dark

Going dark is when a once-responsive prospect suddenly stops all communication, leaving you wondering what went wrong.

Gone Dark

Product Champion

A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.

Product Champion

Cost Per Impression

Cost Per Impression (CPI) is the price an advertiser pays for each time their ad is displayed to a user, irrespective of clicks.

Cost Per Impression

Spiff

A spiff is a short-term sales incentive, often a cash bonus, paid directly to a salesperson for selling a specific product or service.

Spiff

Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

Search Engine Results Page

A Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the page displayed by a search engine after a user enters a query, listing results ranked by relevance.

Search Engine Results Page

Sales Enablement

Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Enablement

Product Qualified Lead

A Product Qualified Lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced a product's value, signaling a strong potential to convert to a paid customer.

Product Qualified Lead

Ramp Up Time

Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.

Ramp Up Time

Pain Point

A pain point is a specific, recurring problem your target customers face, causing them frustration, inefficiency, or added costs.

Pain Point

Sales Pipeline Management

Sales pipeline management is the process of organizing, tracking, and managing potential deals through every stage of your sales funnel.

Sales Pipeline Management

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

SEO

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

Day Sales Outstanding

Day Sales Outstanding (DSO) is a financial ratio that shows the average number of days it takes for a company to receive payment for a sale.

Day Sales Outstanding

Solution Selling

Solution selling is a sales approach focused on understanding a customer's pain points to offer a comprehensive solution, not just a product.

Solution Selling

Sales Development

Sales development is the process of identifying and qualifying potential customers to create a pipeline of sales-ready leads for closers.

Sales Development

Sales Operations

Sales Operations, or Sales Ops, streamlines sales processes, manages tools, and analyzes data to help sales teams sell more effectively.

Sales Operations

Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Business Process Management

Learn about business process management, including benefits of implementing BPM, steps to effective BPM, common BPM mistakes to avoid, & BPM tools and software.

Business Process Management

Data Cleansing

Data cleansing, or data scrubbing, is the process of detecting and correcting inaccurate records from a dataset to improve data quality.

Data Cleansing

Buying Committee

A buying committee is a group of stakeholders within an organization who are jointly responsible for making major purchasing decisions.

Buying Committee

Cloud-based CRM

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Cloud-based CRM

Lead Scoring Models

Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.

Lead Scoring Models

Average Selling Price

Average Selling Price (ASP) is the average price at which a particular product or service is sold across different markets and channels.

Average Selling Price

Freemium

Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.

Freemium

Regression Testing

Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.

Regression Testing

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis, or opinion mining, automatically determines the emotional tone behind text—whether it's positive, negative, or neutral.

Sentiment Analysis

Small to Medium-Sized Business

A small to medium-sized business (SMB) is a company whose employee count and annual revenue fall below certain industry-specific thresholds.

Small to Medium-Sized Business

Sales Funnel Metrics

Sales funnel metrics are key data points that track how effectively you're moving potential customers from awareness to a final purchase.

Sales Funnel Metrics

Average Customer Life

Average Customer Life is the average time someone remains a customer. It's a key metric for predicting revenue and measuring customer loyalty.

Average Customer Life

Data Hygiene

Data hygiene is the practice of ensuring your customer data is clean, accurate, and up-to-date by removing duplicates and correcting errors.

Data Hygiene

Marketing Attribution Model

A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.

Marketing Attribution Model

Commission

A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.

Commission

System of Record

A System of Record (SoR) is the authoritative data source for a specific type of data. It acts as the single source of truth for an organization.

System of Record

SDK

A Software Development Kit (SDK) is a set of tools that allows developers to create applications for a specific software package or platform.

SDK

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.

Workflow Automation

Dynamic Territories

Dynamic territories are fluid sales assignments that adjust based on real-time data, ensuring reps can focus on the highest-value accounts.

Dynamic Territories

Triggers

Triggers are predefined conditions that, when met, automatically launch a workflow or action, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.

Triggers

Sales Manager

A Sales Manager leads a sales team, setting goals, analyzing performance, and developing strategies to drive revenue and meet targets.

Sales Manager

Data Management Platform

A Data Management Platform (DMP) is a software that collects and organizes audience data from various sources for targeted marketing efforts.

Data Management Platform

Demand Capture

Demand capture is the strategy of engaging potential customers who are already actively looking for a solution that your company provides.

Demand Capture

Sales Director

A Sales Director leads a sales team, develops strategies, and is responsible for meeting a company's revenue targets.

Sales Director

Data Mining

Data mining is the process of discovering patterns, trends, and useful information from large datasets to make better business decisions.

Data Mining

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Marketing Mix

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

Sales Territory

Buying Process

The buying process is the journey a customer takes from first realizing a need to making a final purchase decision and evaluating it afterward.

Buying Process

Fulfillment Logistics

Fulfillment logistics is the entire process of getting an order to a customer, from storing inventory to picking, packing, and final shipment.

Fulfillment Logistics

Sales Champion

A sales champion is your internal advocate at a target company. They believe in your product and help you push the deal forward to close.

Sales Champion

AI-Powered Marketing

AI marketing uses artificial intelligence to analyze data, automate decisions, and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

AI-Powered Marketing

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is any individual, group, or party that has an interest in an organization and the outcomes of its actions.

Stakeholder