Cost per MQL

Cost per MQL: Cost to acquire a marketing qualified lead.

Formula

Cost per MQL = Marketing spend / MQLs generated

Computable definition

The canonical formula in the GASP formula grammar. The MCP server compiles it to SQL over the datasets listed below.

sum(field.cost where field.cost_function = 'gtm' and field.cost_centre = 'marketing') / metric.mqls

Unit: currency

Data requirements

Grain: Monthly aggregate · Frequency: Monthly · Aggregation: aggregate (month) · Staged: no · Main source: Finance / ERP.

Field	Dataset	Type
`cost`	cost_event	decimal
`cost_centre`	cost_event	string
`cost_function`	cost_event	string
`event_date`	cost_event	date
`lead_id`	lead	string
`mql_date`	lead	date
`snapshot_date`	lead	date

Example SQL (Postgres)

SELECT (CAST((SELECT COALESCE(SUM(cost), 0) FROM cost_event WHERE event_date >= :period_start AND event_date <= :period_end AND (cost_function = 'gtm' AND cost_centre = 'marketing')) AS DOUBLE PRECISION) / NULLIF(((SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT lead_id) FROM lead WHERE snapshot_date = :period_end AND (mql_date >= :period_start AND mql_date <= :period_end))), 0)) AS cost_per_mql

From an agent: with the GASP MCP server, call lookup_metric({ "name": "Cost per MQL" }) or generate_query({ "metric": "Cost per MQL", "adapter": "<your adapter JSON>" }).

Benchmarks

Average range: $30-$120
SMB-focused: $50-$150
Mid-market: $150-$400
Enterprise: $400-$1000+

What It Tells You

Lead generation efficiency and channel performance.

Sources

← Back to Marketing metrics