What Is Marketing Qualified Account?
An account showing enough engagement signals to warrant targeted sales and marketing efforts.
A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is the account-based equivalent of an MQL. Instead of qualifying individual leads, an MQA qualifies an entire company based on aggregate engagement signals from multiple contacts and buying signals across the account.
MQA criteria typically combine fit signals (company size, industry, tech stack) with engagement signals (multiple contacts visiting your website, ad engagement, content downloads, intent data signals). An account where three people from the buying committee have visited your pricing page in the same week is a stronger signal than any single lead could provide.
For demand gen teams running ABM strategies, the MQA is the primary unit of measurement. Instead of asking 'how many MQLs did we generate?' you ask 'how many target accounts are showing buying intent?' This shift changes everything about how you plan campaigns, allocate budget, and measure success.
Platforms like 6sense and Demandbase automate MQA identification by aggregating signals across your website analytics, intent data sources, ad engagement, and CRM activity. The output is a list of accounts ranked by buying stage, which sales and marketing can coordinate around.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is an MQA different from an MQL?
An MQL qualifies a single lead based on individual actions. An MQA qualifies an entire account based on aggregate engagement from multiple contacts. MQAs are the standard metric for account-based marketing programs.
What tools help identify MQAs?
ABM platforms like 6sense, Demandbase, and Terminus aggregate signals across contacts at target accounts and automatically identify which accounts are showing buying intent. Most integrate with your CRM and marketing automation.