Key takeaways:

• Over half of business investors agree weak domains harm brand credibility and customer trust
• 50% say weak domains harm direct traffic
• Customer recall and word-of-mouth referrals also harmed

Objective: Business investors, including VCs and private equity investors, are key stakeholders in early-stage startups, and demonstrating strength and ambition to this group is essential for founders. To learn more about how domains impact real-world outcomes, we asked this audience to rate how a weak domain impacts these metrics. Combined with our research into how a weak domain harms revenue, marketing ROI, and other business outcomes, this research can support entrepreneurs’ decision-making and resource allocation around domain names in the early days of their business.

Question:

In your opinion, which of the following business outcomes can suffer as a result of a weak domain name? (Select all that apply)

• Direct web traffic
• Ad click-through rates
• Word-of-mouth referrals
• Customer recall
• Brand credibility
• SEO performance
• Customer trust
• Email deliverability and open rates 

Audience:

Venture capitalists, private equity investors, and angel investors.

Overall Results

• Over half of business investors agree weak domains harm brand credibility and customer trust
• 50% say weak domains harm direct traffic
• Customer recall and word-of-mouth referrals also harmed

In your opinion, which of the following business outcomes can suffer as a result of a weak domain name?

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Conclusion

In a robust appraisal of the key role of domain names, at least a quarter of business investors think weak domains harm every surveyed business outcome. Interestingly, our audience placed more emphasis on both brand credibility and customer trust than founders, demonstrating that early-career entrepreneurs may underestimate the importance of domain in the eyes of venture capitalists. This could have a knock-on effect on the early-stage startup’s ability to find funding. Founders and entrepreneurs can use these findings to allocate scarce resources into domains and branding, facilitating investment acquisition and strengthening business outcomes for the future.

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

Further Reading

• Must-Read Insights on Domain Names Backed by Deep Audience Research
• The Revenue Loss Impact of a Bad Domain: 84% of Serial Entrepreneurs say Weak Domains Cost 15% of Annual Revenue, Every Year
• How Weak Domains Harm Brands: Founders and Serial Entrepreneurs on the Real-World Impact of a Bad Domain Name

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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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