Knowing who your perfect customer is helps you find (and convert) them more easily. This is why the concept of an Ideal Customer Profile is so important in marketing and sales.
What is an Ideal Customer Profile?
An Ideal Customer Profile (IPC) is a description of a hypothetical individual or company. This hypothetical entity would happily buy your product - and benefit from it immensely. Their pain points, needs, and wants are strongly addressed by our offer.
ICP descriptions include demographic data, behavioral tendencies, and additional traits. Ideal Customer Profiles are related - but different to - Customer Avatars. Unlike customer avatars, they tend to be more data-based and grounded in fact.
Why is an ICP Important?
Financially, a well-defined ICP tells businesses which customers are the most profitable to target. It empowers businesses to channel their resources into their highest-payoff opportunities.
In marketing, ICPs help a business find the right pockets of people. It makes it easy to identify specific channels, assets, and tactics that can deliver quality leads cost-efficiently.
In sales, ICPs help us tailor collateral, processes, and best practices to our perfect customers. It also helps predict and overcome objections while setting realistic expectations.
Last but not least, for product teams, ICPs help create valuable products. The more we understand our ICP, the easier it is to create a product they’re excited and happy about.
Customer Profiles vs. Customer Avatars
While they share a goal – to define and understand a target audience – profiles and avatars are different.
A Customer Profile is data-based and descriptive. It uses data to create a snapshot of a group of people, finding commonalities that bring them together. It reports on broad behaviors and needs. For instance, companies selling educational software would create a customer profile for schools or educational institutions.
Customer Avatars combine data with creative, imaginative thinking. They create a vivid persona representing a single ideal customer. A customer avatar for an educational software company might be "Principal Jane, a 42-year-old school leader from New York, struggling with integrating technology into her school's curriculum."
Customer profiles are broader and more grounded in fact. Customer avatars are part imagination and part truth.
ICPs for B2B vs. B2C
For B2B, the decision-making process is often multifaceted, often involving many stakeholders. An ICP in this space needs to include firmographics – company size and structure, industry type, revenue streams, and location. They also need to think about the chain of command responsible for making a decision. For example, what does your PoC need to do in order to get buy-in from the organization?
Meanwhile, B2C profiles have a much sharper focus on a specific individual. Here, the emphasis is on hobbies, lifestyle choices, hurdles, and personal aspirations. The buying process in the B2C space is more rooted in emotion, personal preferences, and immediate needs.
How to Get Information for Your ICP
- Surveys and Feedback Forms: Directly ask about customer preferences, needs and challenges.
- Dig Into Data: Use tools to analyze website traffic, user behavior, and buying patterns.
- Competitor Analysis: Study who your competitors are targeting and why.
- Social Media: Monitor trends, discussions, and feedback on platforms relevant to your business.
- Customer Interviews: Have one-on-one conversations with existing customers to get deeper insights.
- Sales and Support Feedback: Frontline teams have valuable insights from customer interactions.
