Brand names play a critical role in shaping first impressions. This research aims to understand how different naming styles — pragmatic, value-led names versus edgy, positioning-led names — influence consumer trust at first encounter, and how these perceptions vary across demographic groups.

By Thom Davies

New brands with bootstrapped budgets have to compromise. With many conflicting pressures on your name and brand, including length, memorability, and domain extension, knowing the domain dealbreakers for your audience are essential. To help brands and founders get the big thing right, we asked a representative audience of American consumers for the single biggest trust impactor.

By Thom Davies

Founders and entrepreneurs tend to think of their customers when choosing a name, and rightly so, but name and domain are also key signals to other stakeholders. When considering a pitch deck, investors are looking for growth prospects and are alert to signals that founders are considering long-term brand credibility. To help founders send the right message, we asked our audience of investors about the impact of name and domain in this regard, and for their impression of how future-proofed a range of popular extensions are.

By Thom Davies

There are many factors to consider when choosing a brand name, and one is whether to lean towards pragmatic names that express value propositions, or edgy names centred on brand positioning. This choice impacts the first impression of your brand: to help founders and businesses make informed choices, we asked a panel of American consumers which style they’re drawn to.

By Thom Davies

Domain renewal is often treated as a detail, yet failures can have significant consequences for brand continuity, security, and ownership. This research examines how founders manage renewals in practice, how often domains are lost or nearly lost, and where gaps exist, helping leaders benchmark their approach, identify risks, and treat domain management as a core component of brand protection.

By Thom Davies

Starting a business requires investment into multiple areas, from product development to core brand assets. A strong name and domain influences future brand movement, and this is one area where founders can invest — often seeing significant returns. To help founders allocate spending and understand the domain buying landscape, we asked our audience of founders and C-Suite leaders what they typically budget for a domain when launching a business.

By Thom Davies