An automatic MQL rule moves contacts from the journey status Lead to Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) when they match criteria you set. MQL rules require the Marketing Automation add-on. Without it, there is no MQL status, and the next status after Lead is Assigned.

You set up MQL rules under Settings → Account → Business rules → Journey. For a step-by-step guide, see How to configure your customer journey.

Criteria

Defining MQL criteria works the same way as with segment criteria. You can use all of the company and contact criteria you find in segments, and apply filters to define which leads become MQL.

Every MQL rule has a required criterion that limits it to contacts with the status Lead. It can't be removed. Contacts that have already moved past Lead are never set to MQL by a rule, and a contact that becomes MQL is not matched again.

Actions

When a contact matches, the rule runs its actions. The action Change contact journey, which sets the status to MQL, is required. You can add more actions, for example to assign the lead to a user or send an email.

When rules run

Upsales checks MQL rules every three hours, not the moment a contact changes. A contact that starts matching your criteria can take up to three hours to become MQL. If a rule's previous check is still running, the next one is skipped, so on a large database it can take longer.

More than one rule

To add another MQL rule, click New criteria on the Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) card. If your product doesn't include multiple rules, the button is disabled.