Ideal customer profile
Also called: customer profile or buyer persona
An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a framework depicting the characteristic features of the ideal customer for a product or service.
When creating these types of(B2C) customer profiles (also called buyer personas), segmentation criteria such as age, location, hobbies, job function, income, buying behavior, goal/motivation and challenges and/or pain points are considered. If a B2B customer profile is created, aspects such as company size, number of employees and annual sales are.
Main objective establishing a customer profile
Based on this ideal customer profile, a good business development plan can be formulated. In addition, based on the CPI, it can be determined whether new opportunities and/or developments regarding an offering are a "match" with the intended target group.
An "ideal customer profile" is also called an "ideal client profile" and has many affinities with a representation of a prospect persona and the mapping of a decision making unit. Based on the CPI, a sales funnel can be drawn up. Based on these plans, a CRM system can be optimized.
Establishing the ideal customer profile provides an organization with every opportunity to approach the target group in the most targeted way and there is no "shooting with hail" which reduces the ROI(return on investment). Marketers (literally) place a lot of value on creating a customer profile because, based on this "signaling", it is much easier to find new leads, qualify new prospects, shape account-based marketing (personalize marketing communications) and build customer loyalty.
