Acquisition & ConversionLead Conversion

Lead-to-Customer Conversion

Lead-to-customer conversion rate measures the percentage of qualified leads that ultimately become paying customers.

Key Takeaways
  • Lead conversion rate shows what percentage of leads (MQLs, SQLs, or opportunities) convert into paying customers, measuring sales effectiveness.
  • Common Mistakes:
  • Using MQLs instead of SQLs, inflating the denominator and deflating conversion rate.
  • Not accounting for sales cycle length—comparing conversions without time normalization.
  • Including unqualified leads in the calculation.
  • Not segmenting by lead source, hiding channel-specific performance.
  • Ignoring velocity—optimizing for conversion rate while slowing deal cycles.
  • Comparing conversion rates across vastly different products or price points.

Definition

Lead conversion rate shows what percentage of leads (MQLs, SQLs, or opportunities) convert into paying customers, measuring sales effectiveness.

High conversion (>20%)

Strong lead quality and effective sales process.

Medium conversion (10-20%)

Standard B2B performance; room for optimization.

Low conversion (<10%)

Lead quality issues or sales process inefficiencies.

Formula

Lead Conversion (%) = New Customers / Total Leads × 100

Variables

New Customers

Number of leads that became paying customers.

Total Leads

Number of qualified leads (MQL, SQL, or opportunities depending on definition).

Examples

Monthly lead conversion

StageCount
SQLs generated150
Opportunities created60
Customers closed18
  1. 1SQL-to-customer conversion = 18 / 150 × 100 = 12%
  2. 2Opportunity-to-customer = 18 / 60 × 100 = 30%
→ SQL conversion = 12%, Opportunity conversion = 30%

Track in Daymark

Data Sources

CSVgoogle sheetspostgreSQL

Required Fields

Lead and customer data
  • lead_id
  • lead_date
  • lead_stage
  • conversion_date
  • customer_status

Sample Questions

  • What is lead-to-customer conversion rate?
  • Show conversion rate trend by month
  • Calculate conversion rate by lead source
  • What's our conversion rate by sales rep?
  • Compare conversion rates across different customer segments
  • Show average time from lead to customer
  • Which stage has the biggest drop-off in the funnel?
Analyze lead conversion

Dashboard Template

1. line
Conversion rate trend

Monthly lead conversion

2. funnel
Funnel stages

Lead → SQL → Opportunity → Customer

3. bar
Conversion by source

Which channels convert best

4. table
Rep performance

Conversion rate by salesperson

Common Mistakes

  • •Using MQLs instead of SQLs, inflating the denominator and deflating conversion rate.
  • •Not accounting for sales cycle length—comparing conversions without time normalization.
  • •Including unqualified leads in the calculation.
  • •Not segmenting by lead source, hiding channel-specific performance.
  • •Ignoring velocity—optimizing for conversion rate while slowing deal cycles.
  • •Comparing conversion rates across vastly different products or price points.

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between MQL and SQL conversion?

MQL-to-customer includes marketing qualification; SQL-to-customer focuses on sales-accepted leads. SQL conversion is typically higher.

Q: Should I measure conversion rate or win rate?

Both. Lead conversion includes all leads; win rate measures closed opportunities only.

Q: How long should I wait to measure conversion?

Match your sales cycle. For 30-day cycles, measure monthly cohorts; for 90+ days, use quarterly.

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