Catalyzing Growth

The Exact ICE Formula We Use for Ranking & Prioritizing Marketing Ideas

Written by Lucas Hamon | Apr 17, 2025 6:28:12 PM

ICE scoring is a great way to objectively measure the value of an experiment before investing time and energy into it. The idea is to bring objectivity into decision-making by scoring three separate but equal buckets: Impact, Confidence, and Ease.

The scoring system uses a simple scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest (worst), and 10 being the highest (best). And, it ties each bucket to specific activities.

Impact is connected to where in the customer journey it applies using the "Pirate Metric" framework. Confidence is based on which stage of the experimentation cycle it applies to. And, Ease is a descriptor of how heavy of a lift experiment is, which is based on content type and how much of the content is new vs updated

The scores are determined first by ranges based on the answers to Pirate Metric, experiment cycle, and content type. To get to the final score for each stage follow these steps:

  1. Take the average based on the range (1 to 5 = 3)
  2. Add a point for every strength (ex: evidence from other experiments)
  3. Subtract a point for every negative (ex: downstream implications unknown)

This article provides the formula we currently use to set our ICE scores.

To learn more about how ICE works and how to leverage in prioritization and collaborative decision-making, read this article: How to Prioritize Marketing Initiatives with the ICE Framework

(I)mpact

Based on the pirate metric:

  • Acquisition: 1 to 5
  • Activation: 3 to 7
  • Revenue: 5 to 9
  • Retention: 6 to 10
  • Referral: 7 to 10

(C)onfidence

Based on experiment cycle:

  • Benchmark: 1 to 5
  • Optimization: 3 to 7
  • Validation: 5 to 9
  • Standardization: 6 to 10

(E)ase

Based on content type:

  • Ad: 5 to 10
  • Blog: 5 to 8
  • Full Funnel: 1 to 3
  • Infrastructure: 1 to 10
  • LP: 6 to 10
  • Marketing Email: 5 to 8
  • Offer: 1 to 7
  • Pipeline: 1 to 5
  • Sales Coaching: 3 to 7
  • Sales Collateral: 3 to 7
  • Sales Email: 6 to 9
  • Sales Funnel: 1 to 7
  • Sales Sequence: 4 to 7
  • Sales Template:5 to 10
  • SEO: 1 to 8
  • Site: 1 to 6
  • Site Module: 7 to 10
  • Social: 7 to 10
  • Social Campaign: 3 to 7
  • TY Page: 6 to 10
  • Video: 2 to 7
  • Other: 1 to 10 (use this one sparingly)

Want to see it in action? Check out our Custom GPT and start scoring with ICE today!

More Resources

For those who really want to become ICE experts, here are a few more links you should check out:
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