What is a Product Qualified Lead? How to Define PQLS
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 8:39 am
Product-Qualified Leads - A type of high-quality lead that has signed up for a free plan or otherwise used a limited version of the product.
Most salespeople will tell you that not all leads are created equal. While many people may show interest in a product—perhaps they visit a website or sign up for emails—not all of them are ready or able to make a purchase. Those who are ready and able to buy are called qualified leads.
What are Product Qualified Leads?
Product Qualified Customers (PQLs) are potential buyers american samoa b2b leads who are categorized as high-priority customers based on their usage of their product. Software as a Service (SaaS) companies that offer a free plan typically use this approach. Once a user completes a free trial, they are classified as a PQL. Some companies classify any user who signs up for a free trial as a PQL, while others only label them as a PQLS after they complete a key action.
Sales and marketing professionals screen prospects to help them understand which prospects are ready to discuss a purchase. This process is used primarily in B2B transactions, which require a significant investment of time and effort to close a sale. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies typically do not use the customer acquisition model because sales are relatively low in value, occur quickly, and are often impulsive.
SQL vs MQL vs PQL
The lead qualification process, which confirms that a prospect is ready to negotiate a sale, divides prospects into three broad categories:
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLS)
Sales teams begin the process by sending emails or calling prospects. They ask questions about budget and size of the organization to confirm that prospects are truly intent on buying and are ready to talk further. If so, they are classified as Sales Qualified Leads (SQLLs).
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
In this case, marketing teams look at user activity across channels like the company’s website and marketing emails to identify potential customers. They set criteria, such as company size or number of website visits, and then determine whether prospects meet those criteria using their analytics tools and form submissions. When a prospect meets pre-defined criteria, they become a marketing qualified lead (MQL).
Product Qualified Leads (PQLS)
A product lead is typically scored based on how they use a software service or product. As with MQLs, the development team scores activity, but they look at product usage rather than marketing interactions. The PQL model is often used in conjunction with a free trial or freemium business model, where users get access to a free version of a company’s product. The development team defines a set of actions a user takes to become a product qualified lead (PQL) ready to be worked on by a sales rep.
How to identify potential customers who meet product requirements
1. Define the criteria for attracting potential customers who meet the product requirements
Decide which users you want sales reps to contact first. Criteria you might consider include:
In form: Many products are designed for specific industries or types of businesses.
Scale.
Intent: Does the user’s behavioral data indicate that they are ready to buy? Users who value a product are more likely to have real intent to buy.
2. Develop a free product that meets the requirements.
A free trial has several purposes. First of all, it should demonstrate the value of the product so that users want to become customers. Secondly, the trial should also give the free user the opportunity to communicate with the sales team and enter the sales funnel.
3. Implementation of measuring systems
Ideally, product usage data is measured and tracked by product analytics software and fed into marketing and sales software systems such as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
It’s important that your product analytics service tracks overall PQL data and performs analysis such as the percentage of free trial signups that become PQLS. Make sure your CRM can report whether individual customers are meeting product requirements and capture key information such as their country of residence.
4. Create systems to attract leads that meet product requirements
Once you have identified, qualified, and measured prospects that meet your product requirements, you need to engage them. This is the sales process. Sales teams need intelligent systems to reach out to PQLs in a timely and personalized manner.
To do this, the CRM system can create a record once the PQL is identified and automatically assign them to the appropriate salesperson. The record should contain information about the user's company and their free trial.
Conclusion
Qualified Lead Metrics are any metrics that determine whether a person is a potential customer for a business. Examples of qualified lead metrics include completed information forms, sent invitations, product usage data, or downloaded files.
Most salespeople will tell you that not all leads are created equal. While many people may show interest in a product—perhaps they visit a website or sign up for emails—not all of them are ready or able to make a purchase. Those who are ready and able to buy are called qualified leads.
What are Product Qualified Leads?
Product Qualified Customers (PQLs) are potential buyers american samoa b2b leads who are categorized as high-priority customers based on their usage of their product. Software as a Service (SaaS) companies that offer a free plan typically use this approach. Once a user completes a free trial, they are classified as a PQL. Some companies classify any user who signs up for a free trial as a PQL, while others only label them as a PQLS after they complete a key action.
Sales and marketing professionals screen prospects to help them understand which prospects are ready to discuss a purchase. This process is used primarily in B2B transactions, which require a significant investment of time and effort to close a sale. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies typically do not use the customer acquisition model because sales are relatively low in value, occur quickly, and are often impulsive.
SQL vs MQL vs PQL
The lead qualification process, which confirms that a prospect is ready to negotiate a sale, divides prospects into three broad categories:
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLS)
Sales teams begin the process by sending emails or calling prospects. They ask questions about budget and size of the organization to confirm that prospects are truly intent on buying and are ready to talk further. If so, they are classified as Sales Qualified Leads (SQLLs).
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
In this case, marketing teams look at user activity across channels like the company’s website and marketing emails to identify potential customers. They set criteria, such as company size or number of website visits, and then determine whether prospects meet those criteria using their analytics tools and form submissions. When a prospect meets pre-defined criteria, they become a marketing qualified lead (MQL).
Product Qualified Leads (PQLS)
A product lead is typically scored based on how they use a software service or product. As with MQLs, the development team scores activity, but they look at product usage rather than marketing interactions. The PQL model is often used in conjunction with a free trial or freemium business model, where users get access to a free version of a company’s product. The development team defines a set of actions a user takes to become a product qualified lead (PQL) ready to be worked on by a sales rep.
How to identify potential customers who meet product requirements
1. Define the criteria for attracting potential customers who meet the product requirements
Decide which users you want sales reps to contact first. Criteria you might consider include:
In form: Many products are designed for specific industries or types of businesses.
Scale.
Intent: Does the user’s behavioral data indicate that they are ready to buy? Users who value a product are more likely to have real intent to buy.
2. Develop a free product that meets the requirements.
A free trial has several purposes. First of all, it should demonstrate the value of the product so that users want to become customers. Secondly, the trial should also give the free user the opportunity to communicate with the sales team and enter the sales funnel.
3. Implementation of measuring systems
Ideally, product usage data is measured and tracked by product analytics software and fed into marketing and sales software systems such as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
It’s important that your product analytics service tracks overall PQL data and performs analysis such as the percentage of free trial signups that become PQLS. Make sure your CRM can report whether individual customers are meeting product requirements and capture key information such as their country of residence.
4. Create systems to attract leads that meet product requirements
Once you have identified, qualified, and measured prospects that meet your product requirements, you need to engage them. This is the sales process. Sales teams need intelligent systems to reach out to PQLs in a timely and personalized manner.
To do this, the CRM system can create a record once the PQL is identified and automatically assign them to the appropriate salesperson. The record should contain information about the user's company and their free trial.
Conclusion
Qualified Lead Metrics are any metrics that determine whether a person is a potential customer for a business. Examples of qualified lead metrics include completed information forms, sent invitations, product usage data, or downloaded files.