What We Learned from The Domain Name Survey
Mon, May 11, 2015The Domain Name Association conducted a global survey to understand internet users’ thoughts and opinions regarding domain names. Check out the results below.
During the period of October – November 2014, Research Now conducted a survey for the Domain Name Association. The Domain Name Association, or DNA, is a new non-profit global business association that represents the interests of the domain name industry. The DNA’s primary intent of the survey was to see what people around the world think of ICANN’s gTLD program.
According to the DNA, the survey was designed “to measure global attitudes about awareness, acceptance, preference and knowledge related to domain names.”
The survey involved 5,000 internet users across 10 countries. It consisted of 31 questions and took about 12-16 minutes for respondents to complete.
For the survey, DNA tested top-level generic names (e.g. .com, .org); country codes (e.g. .us, .us), along with new generic top-level names (e.g. .press, .club).
You can find the complete results from the Domain Name Association. Otherwise, read on for the general conclusions that we made.
Conclusion #1
For the most part, people around the world are open to new gTLDs.
Although .com is still the preferred TLD in the US and UK, other gTLDs received a considerable amount of attention. This was also especially true in other countries.
For example, in Australia, 33.9% of respondents said that they’d go to shoes.melbourne to purchase shoes online. This is compared to only 7.2% that would go to shoes.com.
This varies greatly in the US where only 14% prefer a new TLD over .com. The UK was close, with only 20% saying they’d rather have a new TLD.
It is worth noting that the relevance of the domain name extension is extremely important to internet users. For example, when respondents were asked: “Where would you go to pay bills online?”, 35% of the US respondents said onlinepayments.secure. The other options, other than onlinepayments.com, received very low responses at around 1%. This shows that .secure adds a sense of security and relevancy to what the user is doing.
Conclusion #2
Domain names are still relevant when browsing the internet.
Although search engines have changed the way we locate websites, 85% of respondents said that they enter the entire domain name in the address bar at least some of the time. Out of those surveyed, 94% said that they at least sometimes check the domain name before clicking on a search result.
Conclusion #3
The vast majority of internet users are not aware of the new gTLD program. In fact, 75% of respondents were either unaware or unsure of the expansion of domain names.
However, the majority agreed that expansion is necessary. When asked if there should be more domain name and domain-name extension options, nearly 60% replied yes. In developing countries, the request for more domain name options was even higher.
When asked why new extensions would be welcome, over 50% replied that new web addresses in meaningful combinations will be easier to remember. In a similarly phrased question, over 50% said new domain name extensions will make it easier to obtain short memorable names.
What we learned from the survey
The survey results confirm that expanding domain name options is a positive action for the internet’s growth. This will be absolutely necessary as more and more websites are created. Luckily the majority of internet users seem willing to adapt to the change.
Interestingly enough, many of those interviewed actually preferred ccTLDs and gTLDs over a generic domain such as .com (with the exception of the US and the UK who still prefer .com for most instances).
Regarding the results Kurt Pritz, Executive Director of the DNA, said, “These are important findings for the Domain-Name industry, indicating a bright future for all domain-name extensions. When Internet users generally become aware of the new domain options, we expect widespread acceptance and even eagerness to adopt them”.
Within the domain name reselling business the survey produces great news. The number of domain names, whether generic or new, will only increase as time goes on. Be sure to look for which new domain names are the most successful in the coming months.
Intispace.com specializes in scalable wordpress hosting. Use these survey results to see which domain names you’re most interested in building website.