How to build an ideal customer profile (ICP)

ICP vs buyer persona

An ICP describes companies. A buyer persona describes the people inside them who decide or influence the purchase. Build the ICP first, then add the personas for the roles you will contact.

Build it in six steps

1. 1. Start with your best customers

   List the 10 to 20 customers who pay well, stay, and are easy to work with. If you have none yet, use the closest customers or prospects you have talked to.

2. 2. Look for what they share

   Common traits might be industry, company size, location, the problem they were solving, and how they found you. Aim for one or two clear segments, not ten.

3. 3. Choose the attributes

   Company traits: industry, size, location, and sometimes the tools they use. Add the problem they have that you solve. Keep the list short at first.

4. 4. Write it as filters

   Turn the profile into things you can search for: titles, industries, company sizes and countries. If you cannot filter for it, it is not usable yet.

5. 5. Check the size

   Count how many companies match. A common rule of thumb is a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on your market. Far more suggests the ICP is too broad, and only a handful suggests it is too narrow.

6. 6. Test and refine

   After a few months, check whether new customers fit the profile and whether they close faster and stay longer. Update the ICP as you learn.

A worked example

Imagine an operations consultancy. Its best clients are founders of small companies. Written as filters, the ICP becomes: title founder or owner, company size 11 to 50 employees, location United States, industries that run on repeatable operations.

That is specific enough to search and small enough to contact. If the count comes back at hundreds of thousands, narrow it by industry. If it returns a few dozen, widen the size range.

Common mistakes

• Building the ICP from guesses instead of real customers.
• Making it so broad that nothing is targeted, or so narrow that nobody matches.
• Listing traits you cannot search for.
• Never revisiting it.

Frequently asked questions

What is an ideal customer profile?

A description of the kind of company that gets the most value from your product and is easiest to win and keep, written so you can search for it.

What is the difference between an ICP and a buyer persona?

An ICP describes companies. A buyer persona describes the individual decision makers inside them.

How many ICPs should I have?

Start with one or two. More segments spread your effort. Add another only when the first is working.

How do I know if my ICP is right?

Check whether customers who fit it close faster, stay longer and expand more than those who do not.