A B2B STARTUP’S GUIDE

TO CREATING AN IDEAL
CUSTOMER PROFILE
What is an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?
◦ An ideal customer profile is a categorical description of a customer that
would benefit immensely from your offering and provide you with
significant value in exchange.
◦ Your ideal customer is the specific to your goal and your offering, and
your ICP represents the type of customer you want to focus on acquiring
over a set time frame.
◦ An ideal customer can provide value to your company in several ways.
They pay you in exchange.
Referrals to new clients
Testimonials, constructive feedback, customer insights
 Why You Should Create an ICP Before a User Persona

• An ideal customer profile is not the same

thing as a customer persona or user
persona. 

• User personas defines buyer or user

characteristics

• Customer personas are extremely useful

to grow and improve your business.
Why Your Startup Needs an Ideal Customer Profile

◦ 1. Focus Resources on High-Quality Leads

The more specific your customer profile is, the more targeted your sales and marketing
initiatives can be.
◦ 2. Meet Sales Goals More Consistently
 A detailed ICP also helps you better understand how to reach and sell to your
customers.
◦ 3. Extend Average Customer Lifetime (and Increase CLV)
The better you know your ideal customer, the better you can cater your offering and
services to meet their needs.
◦ 4. Get More Referrals
How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile

◦ Step 1: Describe Your Ideal Customer

Compare and analyze existing customers who are getting immense value from your solution.
First, identify those who are not just using your product, but who love the product and are getting
more value from it than your average user

◦ Step 2: Interview Your Most Successful Customers

The goal here is to learn more about their buying process: how they discovered your solution, why they
decided to purchase, and how they’re benefiting from it now.

◦ Step 3: Identify Ideal Customer Characteristics

Look for common threads among your most successful customers. Try to identify any recurring
patterns or characteristics shared by your best customers and use this to inform your ICP.
Step 4: Fill in the Template to Complete Your ICP
Different ways to define and improve your
ICP:
1. Review customer complaints.
2. Examine your website traffic.
3. Look at your financial data.
4. Dig for patterns in successful sales.
Questions to Ask Yourself When Defining an Ideal Customer:
◦ What are their brand values?
◦ What are their immediate business goals?
◦ What are their long-term goals?
◦ What obstacles might they face in reaching these goals?
◦ What are their three biggest pain points?
◦ How do these problems impact operations?
◦ What would be the ideal solution to these problems?
◦ Does your product or service address or solve this problem?
◦ What would be the biggest barrier to them purchasing your product?
◦ In what ways will your product provide value to the business?
◦ Does your service feel like it’s targeted to this type of business?
◦ Where do they do their research before purchasing (blogs, websites, elsewhere?)
◦ Does your website and content clearly speak to your ideal customers?
Use Your Ideal Customer Profile to Target
Better Leads:
◦ Once you’ve defined your ideal customer, it can be
used to generate high-quality leads with
characteristics that match your ICP.
◦ It can also be used to develop user personas to help
your team further optimize your marketing and sales
strategies.