Short, memorable domain names are advantageous for internet consumers finding the website they want, according to market research conducted on behalf of Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services (Melbourne IT DBS) in the US and UK.The research, that will undoubtedly be used to encourage businesses to sign on for their very own generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) found that a minority of consumers, albeit a sizeable minority, actually typed in the domain name they desired.In the UK, a quarter (25%) of respondents said they navigated directly to a company website by remembering an advertised web address. When most consumers go online to make their purchases, the research found that 60 per cent use search engines such as Google to try to find the products they have either seen or heard advertised.In the US, when respondents were asked how they usually navigate to the websites of products or companies advertised on TV, radio or in print, over one third (35%) of the respondents type the advertiser’s brand or product name into a search engine and navigate from there while again, around one quarter (26%) begin by typing the web address into a search engine. When trying to find the official site of a product or service they had seen or heard advertised, two thirds (67%) of consumers admitted to ending up on a completely different website than the official site they had intended to visit, via a search engine.”Big consumer brands spend millions on advertising, sponsorships and their in-store retail presence. But with consumers using the web to actually make their purchase, and the high chance of those consumers getting sidetracked in doing so, that offline investment loses its value,” Melbourne IT DBS’ European Sales Director, Stuart Durham, said.Jonathan Freeman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Goldsmiths University of London, has been studying online consumer behaviour for more than a decade. “The current domain name system is not as simple as it could be,” Freeman said. “Brand based domain names provide a much more direct index and, as a result, they should be much easier for consumers to remember. I imagine the concept should be very attractive to brand owners who want consumers to use their web address. Using the new approach will make direct access to websites feel as intuitive and natural as typing the company or product name into a search engine, but with the benefit that consumers will know exactly where they will get to.”Consumers had concerns around trust when shopping online. In the British research, 51 one per cent of consumers online felt it was difficult to differentiate between websites selling genuine goods and those who sold fake or counterfeit items, and an overwhelming 83% agreed that online brands should take greater action to help consumers tell the difference between websites selling genuine goods from those sites selling counterfeit goods.In the US, differentiating legitimate online brands from websites selling counterfeit or fake goods was also desired by shoppers online with four in five (80%) American respondents thinking online brands should better help consumers tell the difference between websites selling genuine goods from websites selling counterfeit or fake goods.”The rise of counterfeit goods online has the potential to erode trust in the online shopping experience and it’s clear from the results that consumers are looking to brands to make every possible effort to show that their sites and those of their retail partners can be trusted,” Mr Durham said.In a plug for their services to assist applicants with their .BRAND TLD applications and operation, Mr Durham said “securing a ‘.brand’ domain name will deliver brand owners a trustworthy digital anchor for their brand. A .brand has the potential to create significant benefits for marketers, including memorable domains for increased direct navigation by consumers, shorter domains for mobile web users, and an indisputable mark of trust for those consumers looking for reassurance they are buying authentic goods online.”The research of 2,069 UK consumers online, conducted by YouGov while in the US The polling company, Inc. conducted the nationwide online survey of 1,007 American adults.To read more on the UK research, click here while more information on the US research is available here.
Short, Memorable Domains Will Assist Consumers Finds Melbourne IT DBS
Short, memorable domain names are advantageous for internet consumers finding the website they want, according to market research conducted on behalf of Melbourne IT Digital Brand Services (Melbourne IT DBS) in the US and UK.