Key takeaways:

• Lacking an exact-match domain is the biggest dealbreaker for new customers: 25% of consumers say that a domain that doesn’t match the brand name has the biggest impact on trust
• Unrecognized extensions are the second biggest turn-off, for 23% of consumers
• An overly trendy or gimmicky name hurts trust most for 16% of consumers

Objective: New brands with bootstrapped budgets often have to compromise on elements of name such as length, domain extension and overall brandability. With many conflicting pressures on your name and brand, it’s essential to know the domain dealbreakers for your audience. To help brands and founders get the big thing right, we asked a representative audience of American consumers for the single biggest trust impactor. Read on to find out more.

Question: 

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time? (Select one)

• A name that’s hard to spell or pronounce
• A domain that doesn’t match the brand name
• An unfamiliar or unusual domain ending
• A name that feels generic or forgettable
• A name that feels overly trendy or gimmicky
• None of these would affect my confidence

Audience:

A representative panel of American consumers aged 18 – 64.

Overall Results

• Lacking an exact-match domain is the biggest dealbreaker for new customers: 25% of consumers say that a domain that doesn’t match the brand name has the biggest impact on trust
• Unrecognized extensions are the second biggest turn-off, for 23% of consumers
• An overly trendy or gimmicky name hurts trust most for 16% of consumers

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

Gender Breakdown

• Women are more put off by unrecognized extensions (29%, vs. 23% overall)
• Spelling matters more for men (16%) than women (12%)

Men

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

Women

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

Age Breakdown

• Overly trendy or gimmicky names give younger consumers the ick (26%, vs. 16% overall)
• Exact-match domains are particularly important for older consumers (30%), while gimmicky names are less off-putting (5%)

18 – 34

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

35 – 54

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

55 – 64

Which of the following would most reduce your trust in a brand you encountered for the first time?

Conclusion

Overall, we found that domain details matter the most for consumers — with exact-match and extensions considered more impactful than generic names or overly-trendy names. Whatever you choose, validate it for your own customers: avoid causing a cringe in your younger customers, or baffling older consumers with a new-school extension.

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
• Key Naming Insights Every New Brand Needs: Latest Data and Research
• Brand Domain Choice: Consumers Favor Compound Names Over Invented Words

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About The Author

Thom Davies

Thom is lead researcher at AtomRadar and content strategist for Atom.com.

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