[GTM glossary](/glossary.md) Marketing qualified account ABM # Marketing qualified account (MQA) Also known as: MQA In short A marketing qualified account (MQA) is a target account that has shown enough combined engagement, across all of its known contacts, to be handed to sales. It applies the idea of a marketing qualified lead (MQL) at the account level. The difference is the unit. An MQL scores one person. An MQA looks at the whole account: how many contacts engaged, how often, and with what content or ads. This fits account-based programs, where a deal depends on several people rather than a single form fill. ## What goes into an MQA * **Fit:** The account matches your ideal customer profile or sits in a target tier. * **Engagement breadth:** More than one contact has interacted, not only one. * **Engagement depth:** Meaningful actions such as pricing page visits, demo requests, or event attendance, weighted higher than email opens. * **Recency:** Activity is recent enough to suggest an active interest. --- ## How to set an MQA threshold ### 1. Score actions Assign points to engagement types, with higher points for high-intent actions. ### 2. Aggregate by account Sum points across all contacts and add a bonus for each additional engaged person. ### 3. Choose a cut-off Compare the scores of past accounts that became opportunities with those that did not, then set the threshold where the two groups separate. ### 4. Define the handoff Decide who gets notified, how fast they must act, and what context travels with the alert. --- ## MQA vs. MQL * **MQL:** One person has met a lead-scoring threshold. * **MQA:** An account, as a whole, has met an engagement threshold, and fit is already confirmed. --- ## Example Say a target account has a manager who read three articles, a director who attended a webinar, and an analyst who visited the pricing page. No single person is a hot lead, but together they cross the MQA threshold and the account owner gets a task to reach out. --- ## Common mistakes * **Ignoring fit:** High engagement from a poor-fit account wastes sales time. * **Treating opens as intent:** Weight actions that suggest buying, not passive ones. * **No feedback loop:** Review accepted and rejected MQAs with sales each month and adjust the score. --- ## Marketing qualified account FAQs **What is a marketing qualified account (MQA)?** A marketing qualified account is a target account whose combined engagement across its contacts has crossed a defined threshold, indicating it is ready for sales follow-up. It is the account-level version of a marketing qualified lead. **What is the difference between an MQA and an MQL?** An MQL scores a single person based on their behavior. An MQA aggregates engagement across all known contacts at a company and considers account fit. MQAs suit account-based programs where several people influence a purchase. **How do you define an MQA?** Combine account fit with weighted engagement from all contacts, including how many people engaged and how recently. Set a threshold by comparing past accounts that became opportunities with those that did not, then review it with sales regularly. **What should sales do when an account becomes an MQA?** The account owner should review who engaged and what they did, then reach out quickly to the most relevant contacts, referencing the interest shown. Agreeing on response time and context shared ahead of time keeps the handoff useful. Share term --- ## More related phrases * [ABM campaign](/glossary/abm-campaign.md) * [ABM orchestration](/glossary/abm-orchestration.md) * [ABM platform](/glossary/abm-platform.md) ## Similar phrases * [Marketing qualified lead (MQL)](/glossary/marketing-qualified-lead.md) A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a lead that marketing judges ready for sales follow-up based on fit with the target profile and engagement behavior. * [Account-based marketing (ABM)](/glossary/account-based-marketing.md) Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy that focuses marketing and sales effort on a defined set of target accounts, with personalized campaigns instead of broad lead generation. * [Sales qualified lead (SQL)](/glossary/sales-qualified-lead.md) A sales qualified lead (SQL) is a prospect that sales has vetted and confirmed has genuine need, authority, and timing, ready for an active sales process. * [Account engagement score](/glossary/account-engagement-score.md) An account engagement score is a number that summarizes how active a company is with your brand, adding up weighted actions from all its known contacts over time. * [Account engagement](/glossary/account-engagement.md) Account engagement is the level of interaction a company shows with your brand across all of its people, such as site visits, content views, email replies, and meetings.