ICE Framework: The original prioritisation framework for marketers

Introducing the ICE framework

The ICE framework is the original scoring mechanism for growth marketing teams. It is widely considered to have been invented by Sean Ellis, considered by many to be one of the leaders in the growth hacking movement and now the CEO of GrowthHackers.com.

Table of contents

What is a prioritisation framework?

A prioritisation framework, or growth strategy framework, is used by product teams, growth teams and marketing teams to prioritise work and to assist with decision making.

Using these frameworks ideas from marketing teams, product teams, stakeholders, partners and consultants are assigned a quantitative score to determine the order in which work should be done.

There are a number of prioritisation frameworks, or scoring frameworks, all centred around the same theme. These include:

• RICE - Developed by Sean McBride at Intercom. Scoring factors: Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort.

• ICE - Developed by Sean Ellis at GrowthHackers. Scoring factors: Impact, Confidence, Effort.

• PIE - Developed by Chris Goward at WiderFunnel. Scoring factors: Potential, Importance, Ease.

• HiPPO - Developed by n/a. Scoring factors: Highest paid person’s opinion.

• BRASS - Developed by David Arnoux at Growth Tribe. Scoring factors: Blink, Relevance, Availability, Scalability, Score.

• HIPE - Developed by Jeff Chang at Pinterest. Scoring factors: Hypothesis, Investment, Precedent, Experience.

• DICET - Developed by Jeff Mignon at Pentalog. Scoring factors: Dollars (or revenue) generated, Impact, Confidence, Ease, Time-to-money.

• PXL - Developed by Peep Laja at CXL. Scoring factors: Above the fold, noticeable within 5 sec, high traffic pages, ease of implementation and more.

What does ICE stand for?

ICE is an acronym for 3 factors that make up an ICE score, these are:

• I - Impact

• C - Confidence

• E - Effort

• Impact - How impactful do I expect this test to be? Consider any relevant metrics and past data to calculate the likely impact on your baseline metric.

• Confidence - How sure am I that this test will prove my hypothesis? Use data and past experience to assign a confidence score.

• Ease - How easily can I launch this test? As a marketer, if an idea needs no development work and you can complete it on your own, give it a higher score.

How do you calculate an ICE score?

Firstly, a score of between 1 and 10 is assigned to each individual factor (Impact, Confidence and Ease) and then all 3 scores are multiplied together to provide an overall score of between 3 and 30.

The biggest advantage of ICE prioritisation is its simplicity, decisions can be made very quickly, particularly where ‘good enough’ is the goal. That said, the main criticism is the subjectivity within the scoring, particularly for newer growth teams where there may be little or no historic data with which to accurately determine potential impact or confidence in an idea.

ICE framework template

The image below shows a set of ideas scored based on Impact, Confidence and Ease. The ideas with the highest score rise to the top of the list (or backlog) thereby creating a prioritised to-do list for the growth team.

Why use the ICE framework?

As with any prioritisation framework, the scores themselves are largely meaningless. The goal of using ICE prioritisation is to:

• Assess the idea in a thoughtful, structured and unbiased way

• Provide the ability to easily compare the ideas against others

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