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Anonymous
October 15, 2015
Question

MQL set-up

  • October 15, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 10094 views

Am searching for where our team set-up the rules about when and how MQL is triggered? Wonder if you can direct me to where I find this information?

Thanks,

Meilssa

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    3 replies

    Aslihan_Ayan_Ha
    Aslihan_Ayan_Ha
    Level 6
    October 15, 2015

    Hi Melissa,

    It is a setup question that will depend on your team. It is a choice/decision that is made by each instance differently. The most common place will be with Lifecycle Smart Campaigns. Please feel free to contact me at ashley@demandspring.com if you need any assistance

    Justin_Norris1
    Justin_Norris1
    Level 10
    October 15, 2015

    Melissa Kim​

    Every organization talks about MQLs a bit different as Ashley mentioned.

    Typically you see two paths to MQL:

    • MQL via lead score -- when a lead reaches a scoring threshold, the status changes to MQL and the lead is either pushed to SFDC and assigned to a rep or a task is assigned to an existing rep or the lead pops up in a custom lead view that shows only MQLs
    • MQL via fast track -- when a lead fills out a contact us form or some other kind of "hand raise" that says "talk to me now!"

    In all cases you would want to have a lead lifecycle program controlling the flow from stage to stage which would be triggered off the lead's behavior (as reflected by lead score) as well as salesperson input (e.g., lead gets recycled to nurture further).

    There is a basic template in the program library you can import and which will get you started.

    For more on strategy, check out Sirius Decisions, although don't feel compelled to start out with this level of complexity:

    Intelligent Growth through Better Leads

    Grégoire_Miche2
    Grégoire_Miche2
    Level 10
    December 8, 2015

    Hi Justin and Melissa,

    I usually find it preferable to have only a MQL via lead score approach and, for any type of "hand raise", give a sufficient number of score points so that the lead qualifies immediately to MQL.

    One of the key rules for long term health of your Marketo instance is to separate the global lead management process in 4 interacting yet independent silos :

    1. The Marketing campaigns, such as you content promotion, the webinars, seminars, newsletters, ... Although it can be tempting, you should never put any scoring not lead status or lead owner change here, for the sake of maintenance.
    2. The Scoring campaigns, gathered in 1 program, that monitor the Marketing campaigns and react. Use tokens here, as recommended by Marketo, to make future changes easier. Some, such as filling out a contact form, may drive a huge number of score points so that the lead gets immediately above the MQL threshold (see below) ... Some of these campaigns will also decrease score for instance when a lead gets a new "recycled" status.
    3. The lead lifecycle campaign, that monitor score changes and change the statuses accordingly. Typically, one of these will give a lead the MQL status when the score get higher than a threshold. What changes here are the thresholds (lower when sales complain they have too few leads, higher when you have too many).
    4. The lead assignment rules, that react to status changes and assign leads to queues or owners. Typically, when a lead gets an MQL status, il will be assigned to a MQL lead queue or a specific sales or telemarketing user. These assignment rules change often, as your sales and telemarketing org change, their territories evolve, etc... IMHO, this fourth silo is better managed in SFDC.

    Keeping these 4 silos separate is an absolute key to keep the whole manageable.

    -Greg

      Justin_Norris1
      Justin_Norris1
      Level 10
      December 10, 2015

      @Grégoire Michel​

      Great post. At a high level I agree with you 100%. Centralize functions into modular systems, where all logic for a particular function is kept in one spot to make it easy to update and control. Don't mix operational functions with marketing activities and outbound campaigns.

      (Two other centralized systems I might consider to add to your schema would be #1 data management and #2 alert management.)

      Now regarding the specific question,

      Should"fast-tracked" MQLs have a separate flow in the lead lifecycle or be pushed over the threshold by a large points assignment?

      I am really a bit on the fence. One of my colleagues is very much in agreement with your approach. However, I was working on an LLC build today and there are a few issues I have with it:

      • You need to maintain logic in multiple places: If your lead score threshold changes, you need to update it in your MQL campaign AND update the score value assigned for your "fast-track form fill-out" action to ensure the lead goes over the threshold. Less modular.

      • Additional logic to deal with sub-zero scores: If you allow scores to go below zero you need additional logic to ensure that your addition of points will increase the lead's score above your threshold 100%. More complexity, slightly greater risk.

      • Success path reporting: I have not tested this but I am unsure how how this might interact with the Success Path Analyzer. I.e., let's say your first three stages are Known > Engaged (score = 0-99) > MQL (score >=100). If a lead is created via fast track form and you immediately give them 100 points to push to MQL, will they pass through the engaged stage as well to preserve conversion rates on your success path? Or appear directly as inflow in MQL stage? This may have undesirable effects on reporting.

      The alternative approach is a single flow in your lifecycle where you maintain a list of fast-track forms/triggers and then can control the output very precisely. Still modular, still quite scalable in my view. Arguably more robust?

      Interested in your thoughts/experiences with the above.

      Grégoire_Miche2
      Grégoire_Miche2
      Level 10
      October 15, 2015

      Hi Melissa,

      Short path to find how this is setup : identify an MQL lead in the lead database and look at its activity log. Filter on "change data values" and search the exact line where the status was changed to MQL. On the right of the screen you will find the smart campaign that triggered this change. Click the link on the campaign name or go back to the marketing activities and search for that campaign.

      Do the same on multiple leads and check that the campaign is always the same, in case this was setup though multiple campaigns. One common mistake is to scatter lead status changes all around the marketing activities. This type of changes should be centralized in the Lifecycle campaigns.

      -Greg

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