The End of MQLs Part 1: Why MQLs Don’t Work

This article explains why MQLs don’t work in B2B tech, and why it’s time to shift from vanity metrics to real buying behavior. The Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) model was always broken. It assumes one person’s action signals buying intent. B2B buying happens in groups, not clicks. Research from Kerry Cunningham, Mark Stouse, Forrester, and 6sense shows MQLs fail because they misunderstand buyer behavior. Marketing should measure influence on revenue, not leads.

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Takeaways

• Fewer than 1% of MQLs convert into revenue.
• 81% of buyers choose their preferred vendor before ever contacting sales.
• B2B buying involves an average of 11 stakeholders and takes over 11 months.
• Successful marketing tracks buying group behaviors, not individual clicks.
• Replace sourcing metrics (MQLs) with revenue lift metrics—assess marketing impact by deal size, velocity, and win rates.

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An Inconvenient Truth

The Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) didn’t suddenly stop working. It actually never worked. That’s because the whole notion behind MQLs was flawed from the get-go. 

The entire demand gen ecosystem is built around maximizing MQLs rather than revenue, what Kerry Cunningham, former VP at Forrester and now at 6sense, calls “The MQL-Industrial Complex.” 

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“The MQL-Industrial Complex has a stranglehold on modern B2B marketing and sales. It shackles marketers to obsolete goals and metrics that waste revenue team resources, alienate buyers, and stifle innovation.”

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Marketing teams counted form fills, webinar sign-ups, and downloads as signs someone was ready to buy. But those aren’t signs of serious interest. They show curiosity, not readiness. They’re tire kickers at best, bots at worst.

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“The MQL is not just outdated—it was never designed to measure what actually drives B2B revenue.”
 
Kerry Cunningham

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The Evidence (It’s always been there)

MQLs make great-looking dashboards. But when you dig deeper, the numbers don’t add up.

• Less than 1% of MQLs ever become paying customers (Forrester).
• 81% of B2B buyers already have a preferred vendor before filling out your forms or contacting sales (6sense).
• The average buying journey now involves 11 stakeholders over 11 months (6sense).

MQLs measure the wrong things in isolation, like sourcing metrics. These metrics make it difficult to attribute commercial outcomes solely to marketing. This is especially true where buying is complex and includes renewals and expansion.

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“We often say that marketing-sourced metrics are the fastest way for a CMO to get fired.”
 
Simon Daniels, Forrester

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Buying Happens AFTER The Winner Is Already Picked

B2B buyers don’t casually shop your website or randomly download a PDF hoping for an aha moment. 

By the time your brand shows up on their radar, buyers are validating what they already suspect about your solutions. They’re looking for proof they made the right choice. Can you be trusted?

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“Buyers don’t engage until they’ve picked a winner, at about 70% through their buying journeys.”
 
Kerry Cunningham

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In other words, by the time someone becomes your “lead,” they’re well beyond initial research and have mentally placed you (or a competitor) at the top of their shortlist.

And with tools like Agentic AI, buyers will only become more informed, decisive, and independent.

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Marketing’s Fundamental Problem

Over the past two decades, marketers have complicated things by reinventing the basics to make Sales-Led and Product-Led models look better. 

Marketing is, and always has been, non-linear. It doesn’t follow the neat linear process Sales hopes for. Creating new labels and more acronyms doesn’t help. 

The fundamentals haven’t changed:

• Marketing drives awareness and interest.
• Sales converts that interest into deals.
• Brand earns trust and ensures you’re remembered.

As I mentioned in a previous article on why GTM metrics fail, marketing shouldn’t just feed the funnel, it should improve it.

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If not MQLs, then what? 

So what are the alternatives to MQLs in marketing that actually reflect buyer behavior and impact revenue?

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Ditch Sourcing Metrics

Forrester’s Ross Graber advises B2B Marketers to ditch sourcing metrics for metrics tied closer to revenue and business goals. 

• Shift Focus to Revenue Lift Metrics. Move beyond form fills and downloads. Instead, measure how marketing interactions improve deal velocity, win rates, and deal sizes.
• Align Marketing with Business Goals. Marketing should support specific growth objectives by expanding existing accounts, landing new ones, or increasing retention. An aligned GTM team (Marketing, Sales, Product, and CX) drives results across the entire business.
• Look at the Entire Buyer Journey: Recognize that buying decisions involve many people and many interactions over time. Content should consistently address buyer needs with early-stage research, mid-stage education, and late-stage validation. 

When you compare B2B revenue metrics vs MQLs, the gaps become obvious. Ditching MQLs in B2B tech is overdue.

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Use Causal AI

According to Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics, the MQL model is failing B2B marketing because it has become a vanity metric, often based on engagement signals that do not indicate buying intent. 

By using Causal AI, you can:

• Separate correlation from causation to ensure that marketing spend is allocated to the most impactful activities.
• Accurately model long-term marketing effects, including time lag, brand equity and market fluctuations.
• Optimize sales and marketing coordination, increasing pipeline velocity and improving conversion rates.

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“Causal AI brings a sophisticated, evidence-based approach to GTM strategy. It identifies the true cause-and-effect relationships between marketing investments and revenue outcomes, eliminating guesswork and revealing which strategies drive provable growth.”
 
Mark Stouse

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Final Thoughts

The truth, albeit inconvenient, has been staring us in the face for some time. 

MQLs didn’t suddenly break one day. They have always been broken because they have been stuffed into a linear sales model that focuses on lead volume. 

Instead of chasing leads, focus on tracking genuine buying signals and measuring marketing’s influence on revenue. Then get back to the basics:

• Create genuine interest.
• Earn confidence and trust.
• Be memorable, especially when buyers are back in-market.

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“Being remembered is more valuable than being better.”
 
Mimi Turner, The B2B Institute

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‍This article is AC-A and published on LinkedIn. Join the conversation!