Customer definitions vary depending on the service offered, the product sold, and the target market. However, when cross-team alignment on these definitions is lacking, attribution breaks, pipeline forecasting produces misleading results, and sales-marketing misalignment grows.
Visitor, User, and Customer
People who reach a website are generally classified as visitors. When targeting exists and brand messaging has reached the target audience (touchpoints), the term potential customer applies. The potential customer definition typically aligns with micro-conversions: lead generation1, newsletter signup, chat interaction, or account registration.
User is a unique individual who views a site or application. Google Analytics defines this through a client ID linked via a cookie2. Visitor refers to users currently present on the application (new visitor, returning visitor)3 4. Customer is a user who has completed a purchase in ecommerce, or a payment in a subscription model.
Short definitions: user = a marked (membership, cookie) visitor. Customer = a user who has completed a payment.
Lifecycle Stage vs Lead Status
Two distinct status layers exist in CRM, and they are frequently confused5:
Lifecycle Stage determines the customer’s macro position in the funnel. It is a strategic milestone that rarely changes and always moves forward6.
Lead Status is a tactical snapshot tracking day-to-day sales activity inside the SQL stage. It takes values like “Attempted to Contact,” “Connected,” “Open Deal”5.
Lifecycle stage is used for attribution and funnel reporting; lead status is used for pipeline management and sales follow-up.
HubSpot Lifecycle Stages
HubSpot’s default lifecycle stage order6:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Subscriber | Opted in to communication, no interaction yet |
| Lead | Engaged with marketing |
| MQL | Automatically system-qualified |
| SQL | Evaluated by sales team |
| Opportunity | Associated with an active deal |
| Customer | Completed a purchase |
| Evangelist | Became a brand advocate |
Lead Qualification Stages
Lead
Typically the default customer status. A person or organization that may become an active customer in the future (having met relevant micro KPIs) but has not yet made any payment. Any person not classified as “Active” or “Cancelled” holds lead status.
Prospect
Similar in definition to a lead but distinguished by the effort required to reach the customer stage. A lead is a person who found the product through marketing efforts but has little knowledge about the company. A prospect has knowledge about the company and its products and can complete the conversion process faster7.
The prospect definition can have its own sub-classifications8 9:
- Current Prospect: Associated with an active deal. Remains in this status until the deal closes or the person is removed from the deal.
- Lost Prospect: Indicates the associated deal has been marked as “Lost” or “Unqualified.” Remains in this status until associated with a new deal.
- Non Prospect: No deal is associated with the person.
MQL and SQL
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is automatically qualified by the system based on engagement scoring or behavior-based rules. Competitor brand customers can also be grouped under this definition7.
SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is determined after the sales team’s one-on-one interaction, evaluating purchase intent and ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) fit10.
The often-overlooked SAL (Sales Accepted Lead) stage between MQL and SQL ensures accountability between marketing and sales teams10.
Customer Statuses
Active
Customers who are actively conducting transactions. In ecommerce, customers who have completed purchases and typically hold an account. Visitors who transact without accounts may also be classified as active, though their brand relationship is more limited.
Inactive
Registered users who have not yet completed any transaction (payment, subscription). In some cases, this definition expands to include past due, expired, and cancelled statuses11 12.
Past Due / Expired
Customers who have not conducted transactions for an extended period. For subscribers, the subscription period has ended or the payment method has expired13.
Cancelled / Archived
Customers whose subscriptions have been cancelled or whose accounts have been paused or deleted.
Suspended
Customers whose subscriptions or account access have been restricted, typically with further transactions blocked. These customers have previously completed at least one transaction.
SaaS-Specific Statuses
The SaaS customer lifecycle is structurally different from ecommerce and consists of 7 stages14:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Visit | Visited the site |
| Sign-Up | Created an account (free trial or freemium) |
| Activation | Experienced the core product value for the first time |
| Engagement | Regular usage began |
| Payment | Completed payment (trial-to-paid conversion) |
| Expansion | Upgraded to a higher plan or purchased additional features |
| Advocacy | Providing referrals and recommendations |
Each stage has its own metrics and optimization levers. Trial-to-paid conversion rate, churn rate, and expansion revenue are core SaaS-specific metrics15 16.
These definitions vary depending on the tool and sales strategy in use. Basing definitions on the documentation and glossary provided by the platform produces a more consistent customer strategy.
Footnotes
- Lead generation. Wikipedia ↩
- Carli Hanlon. Users vs. Sessions: What’s the difference? WholeWhale ↩
- Misunderstood Metrics: New vs Returning Visitors. Analytics Edge ↩
- Google Analytics users. Hotjar ↩
- Lifecycle Stages vs Lead Statuses. New Breed Revenue ↩ ↩2
- HubSpot Lifecycle Stage Explained. Vaulted ↩ ↩2
- Difference Between a Lead and a Prospect. Engagebay ↩ ↩2
- Sophie McMonagle. (2020). Understanding and using the prospect and customer statuses. Zendesk ↩
- Timothy Barnes. (2020). Overview of Customer Statuses: Prospect, New, Active, Inactive. Gazelle ↩
- MQL vs SQL vs SAL. The Lead Generation Company ↩ ↩2
- Customer status. IBM Knowledge Center ↩
- Lez. (2019). Customer Status Definitions. Enrolmy ↩
- Allison Padget. (2019). Customer statuses. ChartMogul ↩
- The SaaS Customer Lifecycle. Kissmetrics ↩
- Customer Churn Rate. ChartMogul ↩
- 12 Proven Ways to Reduce SaaS Churn Rate. Baremetrics ↩
- 01 Lifecycle stage is a macro-level strategic milestone, lead status is a tactical snapshot; they serve different purposes
- 02 MQL is automatically system-qualified, SQL requires one-on-one human interaction
- 03 SaaS customer statuses (trial, active, paused, churned) are structurally different from ecommerce statuses
- 04 Misconfigured status definitions break attribution and mislead pipeline forecasting
- 05 Sales and marketing alignment on when a lead becomes an opportunity increases prospect-to-pipeline conversion
+ What is the difference between a Lead and a Prospect?
A lead is a person who found the product or service through marketing efforts but has little knowledge about the company. A prospect has knowledge about the company and its products and can complete the conversion process faster than a lead.
+ What is the difference between MQL and SQL?
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is automatically qualified by the system based on engagement scoring or behavior-based rules. SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is determined after the sales team's one-on-one interaction, evaluating purchase intent and ICP fit.
+ What is the difference between lifecycle stage and lead status?
Lifecycle stage determines the customer's macro position in the funnel (Subscriber > Lead > MQL > SQL > Customer) and always moves forward. Lead status tracks day-to-day sales activity inside the SQL stage (Attempted to Contact, Connected, Open Deal, etc.).
+ How do customer statuses differ in SaaS?
SaaS has 7 distinct stages: Visit, Sign-Up, Activation, Engagement, Payment, Expansion, and Advocacy. SaaS-specific metrics like trial-to-paid conversion rate, churn rate, and expansion revenue are tied to these stages.