MARKETING AUTOMATION

Qualified Review 2026

Qualified is the conversational marketing platform that bets big on two things: AI chatbots that engage target accounts visiting your website in real time, and a Salesforce-native architecture that makes it the natural choice for organizations deeply invested in the Salesforce ecosystem. While Drift (now folded into Salesloft/Clari) pioneered the category, Qualified has carved out a distinct position by building directly on the Salesforce platform rather than integrating with it after the fact. For RevOps teams, that native architecture means pipeline data, routing rules, and account context flow natively between Qualified and Salesforce without middleware or sync headaches.

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The Verdict: Qualified is the best conversational marketing platform for Salesforce-native organizations with high-value target accounts visiting their website. The AI chatbots identify target accounts, engage them contextually, and route hot prospects to reps in real time. The Salesforce-native architecture eliminates the integration friction that plagues competitors. But it's expensive ($3,500+/mo for most real deployments), and the value depends heavily on having enough qualified website traffic from target accounts. If your website gets meaningful traffic from your ICP and you're on Salesforce, Qualified turns that traffic into pipeline. If your website traffic is low or untargeted, you're paying a premium for conversations that don't happen.

Company Overview

What Is Qualified, from a RevOps Seat?

Qualified is a conversational marketing and pipeline generation platform built natively on Salesforce. When a visitor from a target account lands on your website, Qualified identifies them (using IP matching, reverse lookup, and Salesforce record matching), surfaces their account context and CRM history, and deploys an AI chatbot (or alerts a live rep) to engage them in real time. The goal is to convert anonymous website visits from high-value accounts into live conversations and booked meetings.

For RevOps, the Salesforce-native architecture is the differentiator. Qualified reads directly from Salesforce objects (accounts, contacts, opportunities, custom objects) to personalize the chat experience and route conversations based on your existing territory assignments, account ownership, and segment rules. There's no separate database to sync, no middleware to maintain, and no data reconciliation between the chat platform and your CRM. The routing logic that governs Qualified is the same logic that governs Salesforce.

The platform's AI capabilities have matured significantly. Qualified's AI SDR (called Piper) can hold contextual conversations with website visitors, qualify them against your ICP criteria, and book meetings on behalf of reps without human intervention. For high-traffic websites with a clear target account list, this automation converts visits that would otherwise leave without engaging. The challenge is that the value equation depends entirely on having enough of the right traffic.

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Traffic Volume Matters

Qualified's value is directly proportional to how many target accounts visit your website. Before evaluating, check your website analytics for traffic from your ICP. If target account visits are fewer than 100/month, the ROI case for a $3,500+/mo platform is thin. Run the traffic analysis first.

Pricing

What Qualified Actually Costs

Qualified uses custom pricing that reflects its enterprise positioning. The platform is not cheap, and the value case depends on website traffic volume and deal sizes. The figures below are based on market intelligence from mid-market and enterprise buyers.

Plan	Price	What’s Included
Growth	~$3,500/mo	AI chatbot, visitor identification, Salesforce integration, basic routing, meeting booking Entry Point
Premier	~$6,000-8,000/mo	Growth features plus advanced AI SDR (Piper), custom playbooks, multi-channel engagement, advanced analytics Most Common
Enterprise	$10,000+/mo	Full platform with premium support, custom integrations, advanced security, dedicated CSM, API access

Keep In Mind

Annual contracts are standard. Monthly billing is not typically offered.
Pricing scales with website traffic volume and number of reps receiving routed conversations.
Implementation and onboarding costs are typically included in the first-year contract for Premier and Enterprise tiers.
Compare the cost against pipeline influence. If Qualified generates $500K+ in influenced pipeline annually, the $42-120K/year investment has a clear ROI path.

Core Features

What Qualified Does Well

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AI SDR (Piper)

AI-powered chatbot that holds contextual conversations with website visitors, qualifies them against ICP criteria, and books meetings on behalf of reps. Runs 24/7 without human intervention. Quality has improved significantly in 2025-2026.

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Real-Time Visitor Identification

Identifies which target accounts are on your website right now using IP lookup, reverse DNS, and Salesforce record matching. Surfaces account context, CRM history, and opportunity data for live engagement.

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Salesforce-Native Architecture

Built directly on the Salesforce platform, not bolted on through an API. Reads and writes to Salesforce objects natively. Routing rules, account ownership, and territory logic flow directly from your CRM without middleware.

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Live Chat & Conversation Routing

Routes live conversations to the right rep based on Salesforce account ownership, territory, and segment rules. Reps get real-time alerts when target accounts are on the site with full CRM context.

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Pipeline Influence Analytics

Tracks which conversations influenced pipeline creation and deal progression. Attributes pipeline to Qualified interactions so RevOps can measure the platform's contribution to revenue.

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Custom Playbooks & Targeting

Define which accounts see which experiences. VIP accounts get routed to live reps. Tier 2 accounts get the AI SDR. Unknown visitors get standard content. Targeting rules are built on Salesforce data.

Limitations

Where Qualified Falls Short

No tool is perfect. Here are the real trade-offs you should know about:

Expensive for What Is Fundamentally a Chat Tool

At $3,500-10,000+/mo, Qualified is one of the most expensive tools in the marketing automation stack. The value justification depends on generating enough pipeline from website conversations to cover the cost. For companies with lower website traffic or smaller deal sizes, the math is challenging.

"Qualified sourced $400K in pipeline in Q1, which made the $48K annual contract easy to justify. But a company with half our website traffic and smaller deals would struggle to hit that number."

Director of Demand Gen, Enterprise B2B SaaS

Requires Salesforce (Not CRM-Agnostic)

Qualified's biggest strength is also a limitation: it only works with Salesforce. If you're on HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, or another CRM, Qualified isn't an option. The Salesforce-native architecture is a differentiator for Salesforce shops and a dealbreaker for everyone else.

Value Depends on Target Account Website Traffic

If your target accounts don't visit your website in meaningful numbers, Qualified has nothing to work with. The platform can't create traffic; it can only convert existing traffic into conversations. Companies with low brand awareness or niche markets may not see enough target account visits to justify the investment.

"We ran Qualified for three months. Our problem wasn't conversion, it was traffic. We were getting maybe 30 target account visits per week. Not enough to make a $6K/month tool pay for itself."

RevOps Manager, Series B Vertical SaaS

AI Quality Varies by Conversation Complexity

Qualified's AI SDR (Piper) handles straightforward qualification conversations well but struggles with nuanced, technical, or multi-threaded discussions. Complex buying scenarios still need human reps. Set expectations about where AI works and where it breaks down.

Evaluation

Pros and Cons Summary

+ The Good Stuff

Salesforce-native architecture eliminates CRM sync issues. Routing, data, and context flow natively.
Real-time visitor identification reveals which target accounts are on your site right now.
AI SDR (Piper) books meetings 24/7 without human intervention on qualifying conversations.
Pipeline influence tracking gives RevOps measurable data on conversational marketing's revenue impact.
Custom playbooks let you differentiate the experience for VIP accounts vs. general visitors.
Routing uses your existing Salesforce territory and ownership rules. No separate routing configuration needed.

- The Problems

Expensive. $3,500-10,000+/mo is a significant line item for what is fundamentally a website chat tool.
Salesforce-only. If you're on HubSpot or another CRM, Qualified isn't an option.
Value depends on target account website traffic volume. Low traffic means low ROI.
AI chatbot struggles with complex, technical, or nuanced conversations. Human backup is still needed.
Requires meaningful target account traffic to justify the investment. Can't create demand, only convert it.
Competitive landscape is evolving. Drift's acquisition by Salesloft/Clari creates uncertainty about category direction.

Decision Framework

Should You Buy Qualified?

BUY QUALIFIED IF

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You're on Salesforce, have target account traffic, and deal sizes justify the cost

Qualified delivers the most value for Salesforce-native B2B organizations with high-value target accounts visiting their website in meaningful numbers. If that describes you, the platform converts anonymous visits into pipeline.

You're on Salesforce and want a conversational platform that uses your CRM data natively.
Your website gets 200+ visits per month from target accounts and you want to convert that traffic.
Average deal sizes are $50K+ and converting even a few additional website visitors into meetings is valuable.
You need 24/7 engagement capability and AI chatbots that can qualify visitors outside business hours.
Pipeline attribution for marketing is important and you want to measure chat-influenced revenue.

SKIP QUALIFIED IF

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You're not on Salesforce, traffic is low, or deal sizes don't support the price

Qualified's value equation breaks down without Salesforce, sufficient target account traffic, and deal sizes large enough to justify $42-120K+ annually.

You're on HubSpot or another CRM. Qualified is Salesforce-only.
Your website gets fewer than 100 target account visits per month. Not enough volume to justify the cost.
Average deal sizes are under $20K, making it hard to generate ROI on a $42K+/year platform.
You need a basic live chat or chatbot and don't require ABM-level visitor identification.
Your sales motion is outbound-driven and website conversion isn't a primary pipeline source.

Alternatives

Qualified Alternatives Worth Considering

Tool	Starting Price	Strength	Best For
Drift	From $2,500/mo	Category pioneer with broad feature set (now owned by Salesloft/Clari)	Teams wanting conversational marketing with sales engagement integration
Intercom	From $39/seat/mo	Versatile messaging platform for sales, support, and marketing	Teams needing chat across multiple use cases, not just ABM
HubSpot Chatflows	Included in HubSpot	Basic chat and bot flows with zero incremental cost for HubSpot users	HubSpot customers wanting simple chatbot capabilities without additional spend

🔍 Questions to Ask Before Signing

How much target account traffic does our website receive? Pull analytics on visits from your target account list. If you're getting fewer than 100 target account visits per month, Qualified's ROI is questionable. Run this analysis before any demo or trial.
What is our average deal size and how many additional meetings justify the cost? At $42-120K/year, calculate how many additional meetings (and eventual deals) Qualified needs to generate to pay for itself. For $100K ACV deals, 1-2 incremental wins per year covers it. For $10K ACV, you need 10+.
Are we on Salesforce and planning to stay? Qualified is Salesforce-native by design. If there's any chance of CRM migration in the next 2-3 years, factor in the switching cost. Qualified has no HubSpot or Dynamics offering.
Where does AI work and where do we need human reps? Define the handoff between Qualified's AI SDR and live reps. Simple qualification conversations work well with AI. Complex technical questions, enterprise procurement discussions, and nuanced buying scenarios still need humans.
How will we measure pipeline influence from Qualified? Set up pipeline attribution before deploying. Define what counts as a 'Qualified-influenced' opportunity: meetings booked through chat, pipeline created from identified accounts, deals with chat interactions in the activity history.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do RevOps teams use Qualified?

RevOps teams use Qualified to convert target account website visits into live sales conversations and booked meetings. The operational work involves configuring visitor identification rules that match website traffic to Salesforce accounts, building routing logic that sends conversations to the right rep based on territory and account ownership, setting up the AI SDR (Piper) with qualification criteria that match your ICP, and measuring pipeline influence from chat interactions. Because Qualified is Salesforce-native, RevOps manages routing through existing Salesforce territory assignments rather than maintaining separate routing rules.

Is Qualified worth the premium pricing?

Qualified is worth it under specific conditions: you're on Salesforce, your website gets 200+ monthly visits from target accounts, and your average deal size is $50K+. At that profile, converting even a handful of additional website visitors into meetings generates pipeline that covers the $42-120K annual cost. The math breaks down for companies with low website traffic, small deal sizes, or non-Salesforce CRMs. Before evaluating, run a traffic analysis against your target account list. If fewer than 100 target accounts visit your site monthly, the ROI case is thin regardless of how impressive the AI demo looks.

How much does Qualified cost?

Qualified's Growth tier starts around $3,500/month ($42K/year). The Premier tier with the full AI SDR (Piper) runs $6,000-8,000/month ($72-96K/year). Enterprise contracts exceed $10,000/month ($120K+/year). Annual contracts are standard; monthly billing is rarely offered. Implementation and onboarding are typically included for Premier and Enterprise tiers. Pricing scales with website traffic volume and rep count. For context, Drift (now Salesloft/Clari) starts around $2,500/month, and HubSpot includes basic chatbot functionality at no extra cost.

What are Qualified's limitations?

The biggest limitation is traffic dependency. Qualified cannot create demand; it can only convert existing website traffic from target accounts into conversations. Companies with low brand awareness or niche markets often don't generate enough target account visits to justify the cost. The Salesforce-only architecture is a strength for Salesforce shops and a hard dealbreaker for everyone else. The AI chatbot handles straightforward qualification conversations well but struggles with technical questions, multi-threaded discussions, and nuanced enterprise procurement scenarios. Human backup is still essential for complex conversations.

Qualified vs Drift?

Qualified and Drift (now owned by Salesloft/Clari) compete directly, but with different architectures. Qualified is Salesforce-native, meaning routing and account context flow directly from your CRM without middleware. Drift integrates with Salesforce but isn't built on it, which means more configuration and occasional sync issues. Qualified's AI SDR is more advanced for account-based engagement. Drift has broader CRM support (HubSpot, Dynamics) and benefits from Salesloft's sales engagement ecosystem. If you're on Salesforce and running ABM, Qualified is the stronger choice. If you need CRM flexibility, Drift offers more options. Drift's future roadmap under Salesloft/Clari ownership adds uncertainty.

The RevOps Report’s Bottom Line

Qualified is the strongest conversational marketing platform for Salesforce-native B2B organizations. The real-time visitor identification, AI SDR capabilities, and native Salesforce architecture create a compelling tool for converting target account website traffic into pipeline. The trade-off is cost and traffic dependency. At $3,500-10,000+/mo, Qualified needs to generate measurable pipeline to justify the investment, and that requires having enough of the right traffic to work with. For enterprise B2B companies with high website traffic from target accounts and deal sizes above $50K, Qualified delivers. For everyone else, the ROI math probably doesn't work.

But know the trade-offs:

Analyze target account website traffic before buying. No traffic from your ICP means no value from Qualified, regardless of how good the AI is.
Build pipeline attribution into Qualified from day one. Without it, you can't prove ROI at renewal.
Define clear AI-to-human handoff rules. The AI chatbot handles qualification well but struggles with complex conversations.