Building an ICP filter set from scratch

The order to set filters in so you never guess twice.

There is a filter order that works for almost every segment, and following it means you always know which change caused which result.

  1. Geography. Where can you actually sell and support, and in which language will you write. This is a business constraint, so set it first and leave it alone.
  2. Industry. One or two standardized industries that contain your buyers.
  3. Company size. The narrowest band range where one message stays true.
  4. Seniority. The level with budget authority at that size.
  5. Title. Only if the function matters beyond the seniority band. Keep entries short and comma-separated.
  6. Keyword. Only if the industry is too coarse for your niche.
  7. Exclusions. Last, after you have read the preview and seen which titles keep turning up wrongly.

Read the count after every step and scroll the preview after steps 4 and 7. When it looks right, save it as a list with a name that describes the filters, so you can reproduce and defend it later.

The reason for this order is that each step constrains the next. Setting a title before you have set seniority and size makes it impossible to tell whether a small count is caused by the title or by everything else. Everything up to this point is free, so the discipline costs only attention.

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