The percentage of new leads who take a qualifying action and become marketing qualified leads.
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Activation rate measures how many of your new leads show enough interest or fit to be considered marketing qualified. It is calculated by dividing activated leads by total new leads, then multiplying by 100.
A new lead is someone who just entered your database. An activated lead is someone who has demonstrated they are worth pursuing. The criteria depend on your business: it might be visiting the pricing page, opening multiple emails, requesting specific content, or matching your ideal customer profile.
Activation rate tells you about lead quality. A low activation rate means you are capturing leads who are not really interested or not a good fit. A high activation rate means your targeting and messaging are attracting the right people.
This metric helps you separate genuine prospects from tyre kickers. Not everyone who downloads your ebook is a potential customer. Activation rate shows you who is actually moving through the funnel.
Activation rate bridges the gap between lead volume and lead quality. Capturing a lead is just the first step. Activating that lead means they have shown real intent or fit, making them worth sales attention.
The definition of "activated" varies by business. For some, it means opening three emails. For others, it means visiting the pricing page. For others, it means scoring above a threshold based on firmographic and behavioural data. Define what activation means for you, then measure it.
Activation rate protects your sales team from wasting time on unqualified leads. If every lead goes straight to sales, they spend hours chasing people who will never buy. Activation filters the list down to those worth pursuing.
This metric also reveals targeting problems. If activation rate is low, you might be attracting the wrong audience. Your ads might be too broad, your content might appeal to the wrong people, or your lead magnets might attract researchers instead of buyers.
Improving activation rate makes your entire funnel more efficient. Fewer but better leads means less wasted effort and higher conversion rates downstream.
First, define your activation criteria. Common options:
Then calculate:
Activation rate = (Activated leads / New leads) × 100
Track this weekly. Break it down by lead source to see which channels produce leads that activate.
To improve activation rate:
A SaaS company defines activation as a lead score above 50. Currently, 20% of leads activate. They analyse the scoring model and find that pricing page visits are highly predictive of conversion. They increase the weight of pricing page visits, making the score more accurate. Activation rate stays at 20% but those activated leads convert at a higher rate.
A consultancy captures leads through LinkedIn ads with a 15% activation rate. They analyse which leads activate and find they are mostly from companies above 50 employees. They add a company size filter to their targeting. Activation rate increases to 30%.
A B2B company has a 25% activation rate. They build an email sequence that encourages new leads to visit the pricing page and book a call. The sequence includes case studies and ROI examples. Activation rate increases to 35%.
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The percentage of new leads who take a qualifying action and become marketing qualified leads.
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