How to write a great ICP description

ICP Search uses your natural language description to find matching LinkedIn profiles. The quality of your description directly affects the quality of your results.

What to include

A complete ICP description covers:

Job characteristics

• Role type: "sales leaders", "marketing managers", "engineering leads"
• Seniority: "VP or above", "individual contributors", "directors"
• Function: "revenue operations", "demand generation", "customer success"

Company characteristics

• Size: "50-200 employees", "enterprise companies", "startups"
• Stage: "Series A or B", "post-IPO", "bootstrapped"
• Type: "B2B SaaS", "agencies", "consultancies"

Industry or vertical

• Specific verticals: "fintech", "healthtech", "martech"
• Broad categories: "technology companies", "professional services"

Geography

• Countries: "based in the UK", "US or Canada"
• Regions: "European headquarters", "APAC presence"

Technology signals (optional)

• Tech stack: "companies using Salesforce"
• Adoption patterns: "early adopters of AI tools"

Example descriptions

Basic:

"VP of Sales at B2B SaaS companies with 50-200 employees in the UK"

Detailed:

"Head of Revenue Operations or Sales Operations at Series B to D startups in the fintech or insurtech space, based in the US or UK, who are likely using Salesforce and exploring automation"

Problem-focused:

"Marketing leaders at growing agencies who might be struggling with lead quality and looking for better prospecting tools"

Hybrid vs Semantic vs Lexical

Hybrid (recommended): Combines AI understanding with keyword matching. Best for most use cases.

Semantic: Pure meaning-based search. Good for conceptual descriptions like "people who care about sales efficiency".

Lexical: Traditional keyword matching. Use when you need exact phrase matches.

Start with Hybrid. Only change if results are not what you expect.

Tips for better results

Be specific, not vague:

• Good: "VP Sales at 50-200 person B2B software companies"
• Vague: "sales people at tech companies"

Include negative constraints:

• "Directors or VPs, not C-level"
• "Startups, not enterprise"

Mention buying signals:

• "Companies that recently raised funding"
• "Teams that are hiring salespeople"

Avoid jargon overload:

• Keep it readable
• Use common terms over niche acronyms

Testing and iteration

ICP Search costs only 5 credits per search. Run multiple searches with different descriptions to see what works best.

Track which descriptions produce the highest quality matches, then refine your approach over time.