Your desired .com domain name is taken. So what? Just add another word! Pick a fancy new extension! Put a dash? Anything can work, it doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, Tesla had TeslaMotors.com before getting Tesla.com, Slack had SlackHQ.com before Slack.com. Even the best domain name in the world will not save you if your product is not good. Success is not an accident and is usually the result of a lot of hard work. Sure, an exact brand match .com domain might make it a bit easier, but do you really need it? Is it really worth it? You have an excellent team and a genius product. You don’t need to spend your cash on an exact brand match domain. You don’t. But you will. You just won’t own the domain at the end. How so?

Credibility and trust

We are so overloaded with information nowadays, it is really hard to get people to notice and remember a new brand. You are called Example and you want to get people to recognise and remember your brand, but you want them to type in getexample.io to reach you, every single time? You are going to feel that in your pocket. You will be paying for people to remember you, for the time they spend on confusion, for the emails you will not receive because they were sent to the exact match domain. You think losing cash on all that is bad? There is worse — you are losing trust, credibility, and respect. How much does that cost you?

Brand fragmentation

You have so many channels to present your brand on, with different tools, to different audiences, it is really a nightmare for any marketing department. Why make their life even harder by not having an exact brand match domain? They are already spending all their time (and your money) trying to have a consistent brand message and image across all those! Consistency and simplicity are key in getting your brand seen, recognised and engraved in your customers’ memories. What is one lost client worth to you?

Loss of word-of-mouth marketing

Nielsen study reveals that 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising. This is why word-of-mouth marketing is so valuable and effective. So what happens when Emma tells all her friends she got a great dress from Example? One of two things. If you own example.com life is simple, they type that in because of course, she remembered it, it is simple, logical, intuitive, she had to use no extra effort to retain that in her memory. But why spend cash on a premium domain? Sure, Emma and her friends will figure it out. Now, they type your brand name in a search engine. And here is the biggest irony — you saved on the exact brand match domain, and now you’re up against thousands, if not millions, of your competitors, paying for your own name to appear on top, hoping it will be chosen. Now Emma and her friends are looking at a full page of results with pictures, fancy descriptions of dresses from all over the place. How much does that cost you? Per client? Per month? Per year?

92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising.

Nielsen study

Risk of rebrand

No, you don’t need your exact brand match .com. It’s not worth it, you’ve been doing fine without it all those years. It doesn’t matter. That’s okay; someone else might need it. And once they get it you’ll be paying not just to get to the top of search engines for your own brand name, you will be bidding against that new company. Whatever they do. What if they offer a competitive product? What if their products are against the interests and beliefs of your clients (who still inevitably often end on the exact match domain before getting to yours)? What if things get so bad, you have to rebrand? How much would that cost? Is it less than your exact brand match domain?

You know your business best. Put an honest number on each of the above cases. That is the cost you are paying for not owning your exact match .com domain. Is it lower than what it would cost you to acquire it now? You are literally paying for a domain you don’t own, whilst running the risk to never own it.

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While it may be tempting to save money by opting for a cheaper, compromise domain name, the potential loss in terms of brand recognition and revenue should not be underestimated. Investing in a premium domain name is a smart business move that can pay off in the long run. Contact us to learn more about our premium domain options and how they can help your business grow.

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