Key takeaways:

• 73% of consumers say trust is harmed when other brands use the same name at different extensions.
• One-in-five say trust is significantly reduced.
• Trust is more affected for men vs. women.
• 21% of men vs. 16% of women say trust is significantly reduced.
• Trust is most damaged among 45 – 54s: 78% say trust is impacted.
• 24% of 18 – 24s said trust is significantly reduced.
• Just 13% of 25 – 24s said trust is significantly reduced.

Objective: Global brands like Coca-Cola, HubSpot and Google have cornered the domain space for their name, taking over multiple key extensions from .com to net, and .ai and .io. This isn’t always an option for smaller brands with limited budgets, but to help new businesses determine the value of owning multiple domains — or the value in pursuing a truly unique domain name — we sought to explore how trust was harmed when brands operate under the same name with different extensions.

Question: Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

• It does not affect my trust in the brand
• It slightly reduces my trust in the brand
• It moderately reduces my trust in the brand
• It significantly reduces my trust in the brand

Audience: A representative panel of American consumers aged 18 – 64.

Overall Results

• 73% of consumers say trust is harmed when other brands use the same name at different extensions.
• One-in-five say trust is significantly reduced.

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

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Gender Breakdown

• Trust is more affected for men vs. women.
• 21% of men vs. 16% of women say trust is significantly reduced.

Men

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

Women

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

Age Breakdown

• Trust is most damaged among 45 – 54s: 78% say trust is impacted.
• 24% of 18 – 24s said trust is significantly reduced.
• Just 13% of 25 – 24s said trust is significantly reduced.

18 – 24

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

24 – 35

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

35 – 44

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

45 – 54

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

55 – 64

Does it hurt your trust in a brand if you find other brands using the same name at different extensions (i.e. brand.net and brand.com are different organizations)?

Conclusion

Across all demographics, three out of four consumers trust brands less when they could be confused with others at different domain extensions, and for one in four, trust is significantly reduced.  Every brand should strive for a unique name and domain as far as possible, particularly if targeting a Gen Z audience.

If you’re interested in digging deeper into our findings, or asking your own questions on consumer, branding and worklife topics, contact thom@atomradar.com to learn more

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About The Author

Thom Davies

Thom Davies is a researcher at AtomRadar and content strategist for Atom.com. His background in quantitative and qualitative analysis is the foundation for data-led brand strategy.

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