TL;DR: ICP profiles are reusable definitions of your ideal customer. Generate them from a sample list (or write them by hand), then score any lead list against them with the icp_fit_analysis Smart Column.
ICP Profiles
An ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) is your description of who you're trying to reach. In Cleanlist, ICPs are first-class objects: you create them once, refine them over time, and reuse them anywhere lead scoring is needed.
Why ICPs matter
Without an ICP, every lead looks the same — you can't tell which contacts are worth pursuing first. An ICP gives Cleanlist (and your team) a shared definition of "fit" so you can:
- Score every row in a lead list (
icp_fit_analysisSmart Column) - Filter and sort lists by fit score
- Bias prospecting jobs toward better-fit companies
- Train cold-email AI to focus on fit signals
Creating an ICP
You have three options:
1. Write it manually
Open ICP Profiles in the portal and click New ICP. Fill in:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Internal label (e.g., "Mid-market SaaS RevOps") |
| Description | Free-form summary of who you sell to |
| Industries | List of target industries (Software, Fintech, etc.) |
| Company size | Headcount range |
| Geography | Countries or regions |
| Roles | Target job titles or seniority levels |
| Signals | Buying signals you care about (recent funding, hiring spree, tech stack) |
| Disqualifiers | Things that make a lead a bad fit |
2. Generate from a list of best customers
The fastest way to create a high-quality ICP is to let Cleanlist analyze your existing best customers:
- Open a lead list of your top customers (or upload one)
- Click Generate ICP from leads
- Cleanlist's AI analyzes the company and contact patterns and proposes an ICP
- Review and edit before saving
This produces a much more accurate ICP than writing one from scratch because it captures patterns you might not consciously articulate.
3. Clone and tweak
You can clone any existing ICP (yours or one shared with you) as a starting point. Cloning is useful for variations like "EU mid-market" vs "US mid-market" or "buyer persona" vs "champion persona."
Scoring leads against an ICP
Once you have an ICP, score any lead list against it by adding the icp_fit_analysis Smart Column:
- Open the lead list
- Add column → Smart Column → ICP fit analysis
- Pick the ICP profile to score against
- Run the column
Each row gets:
- A fit score (numeric or categorical)
- A fit reasoning field explaining why
- (Optional) Tags for the dimensions that matched or missed
Cost: 0.5 credits per row.
You can filter or sort the list by fit score afterwards to prioritize outreach.
Editing and refining
ICPs are living documents. As you learn more about who actually buys, update the profile and re-score lists. Cleanlist tracks edit history so you can see how the definition has evolved.
Sharing ICPs across the org
ICP profiles can be:
- Private — only the creator can use them
- Shared with the org — every teammate can score lists against them
Sharing an ICP is the simplest way to align an entire revenue team on what "good fit" means.
Pairing ICPs with prospecting
When you run a prospecting job (Sales Navigator import or prospecting_only enrichment), you can attach an ICP profile so the discovered contacts come back pre-scored. This means you skip the "score everything afterwards" step entirely.
Related
- Smart Columns — including the
icp_fit_analysiscolumn - Sales Navigator — pull prospects scored against an ICP
- ICP Management guide — workflows and best practices