Decode Customer DNA: Build Personas That Drive Revenue
One of the most important things you can do as a marketer is identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This helps you avoid flying blind and wasting your marketing budget on just anyone. Instead, you focus on users who are actually a good fit.
If your app solves a niche problem, your ICP is usually easy to identify, it comes down to a few clear traits or behaviours. But if your app serves merchants of all shapes and sizes, the goal is to zero in on the ones actually driving revenue growth. These are the users keeping the lights on.
That’s not to say users on a free plan aren’t valuable—they play a critical role by leaving reviews, giving feedback, and helping you improve the product through tight feedback loops. But when it comes to optimising growth, your high-value customers are the ones to learn from.
Let’s dive into how!
Identify your high-value customer segment
From the Traffic Sources Acquisition report, click on the number under “Subscribed” that reflects the highest MRR contribution. This opens up a customer segment for you in Mantle.
Save your segment: Save this high-value segment so you can revisit it later and build on your analysis.
Navigate to insights: Head to the Insights section in Mantle to start digging into your customer data.
Analyze by key dimensions
Now start pivoting your data to get a clearer picture of your best-fit customers:
- By Country – Which country are your most valuable users from?
- By Industry – Which industries are generating the most revenue for your app?
- By Shopify Plan - Which Shopify Plan are your most subscribers on?
Build your ideal user persona
Use what you’ve found to create a persona that combines both volume and value—where you have lots of customers and a higher CLV than your CAC. These are the users you want to optimise your acquisition strategy around.
Layer in behavioural insights
Apply this same customer segment to the Usage Events report. This helps you identify behavioural patterns across your highest-value customers—what features they use, how frequently they engage, and what their product journey looks like. These insights can shape onboarding, product nudges, and upsell opportunities.
Ideal customer profile example
Here’s what an example ICP might look like after going through the steps:
- Shopify Plan: Shopify Plus
- Industry: Health & Wellness
- Monthly Revenue: $50K–$200K
- Country: United States, Australia, Canada
- Average CLV: $1,200
- Total CLV: $360,000
Wrapping up
Building your ICP using real customer data helps you move from guesswork to precision. Beyond optimising your top-of-funnel, you can leverage this ICP across the team to help sales qualify inbound leads, help growth in filtering beta users and CX to tailor onboarding experience.