Key takeaways:

• Almost one-in-ten founders have lost a domain entirely by missing domain renewal
• Half of all founders have lost a domain or come close
• One-third of founders have no active plan for domain renewal
• 28% of founders renew all brand domains: brand protection is paramount

Objective: 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.

Question:

Question 1) Has a missed domain renewal ever led to a temporary loss of access or total loss of a domain?

• Yes, I lost it entirely and never recovered it
• Yes, I lost the domain entirely and had to reacquire it
• Yes, I lost access temporarily but recovered it
• No, but I’ve come close
• No, I’ve never had an issue

Question 2) How does your company currently manage domain renewal?

• Auto-renewal is active and we audit it regularly
• Auto-renewal is on, but we don’t actively monitor it
• We renew manually and track expiry dates ourselves
• There’s no active plan for managing domain renewal

Question 3)  When renewal costs add up, what happens to domains you own but don’t actively use, e.g., alternate spellings, different TLDs, or brand variants you’re holding as protection?

• We renew everything we own, used or not. Protecting the portfolio is a fixed cost.
• We renew the ones that feel most important and let the lower-priority ones lapse.
• We’ve dropped some of these domains because of cost and accepted the exposure.
• We’ve never deliberately registered domains beyond our primary one.
• There’s no real policy. Renewals get decided on the fly.

Audience:

C-Suite (e.g., CEO, CFO, COO) and Founders

Overall Results

Key takeaways:

• Almost one-in-ten founders have lost a domain entirely by missing domain renewal
• Half of all founders have lost a domain or come close
• One-third of founders have no active plan for domain renewal
• 28% of founders renew all brand domains: brand protection is paramount

Has a missed domain renewal ever led to a temporary loss of access or total loss of a domain?

How does your company currently manage domain renewal?

When renewal costs add up, what happens to domains you own but don’t actively use, e.g., alternate spellings, different TLDs, or brand variants you’re holding as protection?

Conclusion

Our findings reveal a gap between the importance of domain ownership and the rigor of renewal practices, with many founders relying on passive systems or lacking a clear plan. This is despite half of founders experiencing the loss of a domain, or a near miss. Domain renewal should be treated as a strategic priority, and domain registrars should be assessed, in part, based on how renewal is facilitated. The cost of proactive domain management is far lower than that of losing control of your brand.

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
• Domain Return on Investment: Most Founders (74%) See ROI in Strong Domains
• Owning Your Identity: 75% of Founders Consider it Risky to Not Own the .com Domain of Your Brand 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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