Conversion Rate
Funnel Conversion Rate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of prospects who complete a desired action, from website visitor to MQL (1-3%), MQL to SQL (30-50%), SQL to opportunity (60-75%), and opportunity to closed-won (20-30%). Each stage has different benchmarks, and the biggest revenue leaks hide in the stage-to-stage drops.
A SaaS company generates 10,000 website visitors → 300 leads (3%) → 90 MQLs (30%) → 36 SQLs (40%) → 27 opportunities (75%) → 6 customers (22%). Each stage reveals where to focus: the SQL-to-opportunity rate of 75% is strong, but MQL-to-SQL at 40% suggests lead scoring problems.
Everyone obsesses over top-of-funnel conversion but ignores where the real money dies: the middle and bottom. A 50% improvement in your SQL-to-opportunity rate often beats a 100% improvement in website conversion. Here's why: by the time someone is an SQL, you've already paid to acquire them. Losing them in the next stage is pure waste. The smart play is to map your full funnel with stage-by-stage rates, benchmark each against industry standards, and fix the biggest drop first. Usually it's a handoff problem — marketing to sales, sales to CS — not a traffic problem.
Define ItOther Definitions
“Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors. Rates vary dramatically by funnel stage and industry.”
“Conversion rate measures how effectively you move prospects from one stage to the next. B2B conversion rates are typically measured at multiple funnel stages: visitor to lead, lead to MQL, MQL to SQL, SQL to opportunity, and opportunity to customer.”
“B2B SaaS average conversion rates: visitor to lead 2-5%, lead to MQL 15-30%, MQL to SQL 30-50%, SQL to opportunity 50-75%, opportunity to close 15-30%.”
Conversion rate calculates the percentage of prospects who progress from one stage to the next in your sales and marketing funnel. In B2B SaaS, conversion rates are tracked at multiple stages: website visitor to lead (1-5%), lead to MQL (15-30%), MQL to SQL (30-50%), SQL to opportunity (50-75%), and opportunity to closed-won (15-30%). The metric reveals funnel efficiency at each handoff point. Stage-to-stage conversion rates are more actionable than aggregate numbers because they isolate specific problem areas. For example, a 10% overall lead-to-close rate might mask a 80% MQL-to-SQL rate and a 12.5% opportunity-to-close rate — each requiring different interventions.
MistakesCommon Mistakes
Measuring only top-of-funnel (visitor to lead) and ignoring mid-funnel leaks
Using aggregate conversion rates instead of stage-by-stage breakdowns
Not segmenting by lead source — organic vs. paid converts very differently
Optimizing stages in isolation without considering quality of conversions passed downstream
Celebrating conversion improvements without checking downstream stage impact
Where is your funnel leaking the most revenue?
We map your full funnel with stage-by-stage conversion rates, benchmark against industry standards, and fix the biggest drops first.
Experience across
