Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) tells CatchIntent who your best-fit buyers are. When we find a conversation that matches your keywords, we also look at who is talking — and flag whether they look like someone you’d actually want to sell to.

Why ICP Matters

Not every signal is worth your time. Someone asking “what’s the best project management tool?” could be:

• A VP of Engineering evaluating tools for a 200-person team (great lead)
• A college student organizing homework (not your buyer)

Both posts match your keywords. But only one is worth responding to.

ICP scoring helps you prioritize. Instead of treating every signal equally, you can focus on the ones where the person behind the post fits your buyer profile.

How It Works

When CatchIntent analyzes a conversation, it looks at clues about the author:

• Role or title mentioned in the post or their profile
• Company size signals (“our team of 50”, “enterprise”, “just me and a cofounder”)
• Industry context (“we’re a fintech startup”, “in healthcare”)
• Exclusion patterns you’ve set (“student”, “hobbyist”, “just learning”)

Based on these clues, each signal gets an ICP match level:

Match Level	What It Means
Strong	Clear signals the author fits your ICP — role, company size, or industry aligns
Partial	Some indicators match, but not enough to be certain
Weak	The author likely doesn’t fit your buyer profile
Unknown	Not enough information to assess — the post doesn’t reveal who they are

Tip

ICP match is a qualification layer on top of your relevance score. A signal can have a high relevance score (the topic matches perfectly) but a weak ICP match (the person isn’t your buyer) — or vice versa. Both matter.

Setting Up Your ICP

You can configure your ICP during onboarding or anytime in Workspace Settings → Brand Information.

Target Roles

The job titles or roles of people you want to sell to.

Examples: CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Growth, Marketing Director, Founder

Company Sizes

The type of companies you sell to.

Examples: startup, mid-market, enterprise, SMB, solo founder

Industries

The industries or verticals your product serves.

Examples: SaaS, fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, developer tools

Exclude Patterns

Keywords that signal someone is not your buyer. When these appear in a post or profile, the ICP match is downgraded.

Examples: student, hobbyist, homework, just learning, personal project

Note

During onboarding, CatchIntent auto-suggests ICP values based on your website and product description. You can always refine them later.

Reading ICP Match on Signals

When you view your signals, ICP match appears as a badge:

• Strong ICP Match (green) — This person looks like your ideal buyer. Prioritize responding.
• Partial ICP Match (yellow) — Some alignment with your ICP. Worth reviewing.
• No badge — Either a weak match or not enough info. The signal may still be valuable based on its relevance score.

Tip

Don’t ignore signals without an ICP badge entirely. Many valuable conversations happen anonymously or without enough context to assess the author. Use ICP match as a prioritization tool, not a filter.

Tips for Better ICP Matching

1. Be specific with roles — “VP Engineering” works better than just “engineer” (too broad)
2. Add exclusion patterns — If you keep seeing student projects or hobby discussions, add those as exclusions
3. Review and iterate — Check your signals periodically. If strong ICP matches aren’t landing right, adjust your target roles or industries
4. Combine with relevance score — The best signals have both a high relevance score AND a strong ICP match
5. Don’t over-constrain — If your ICP is too narrow, you’ll miss good opportunities. Start broad and tighten over time