If you have a long business name, sooner or later the notion of using an abbreviation for it might come up. Abbreviations can make longer names memorable, but at the risk of having a less unique and defined identity.
If you look at the top sites on Alexa, you might think any name longer than 10 characters would need to be shortened. After all, most of the top sites in the world use short domains. That said, following that logic can lose the point of why you’d want or need an abbreviation in the first place.
Obviously, there’s a varying degree of need for an abbreviated domain name depending on the business name. Government Employees Insurance Company is not all that exciting but GEICO is snappier and much more memorable. A bland name like American International Group, Inc. doesn’t lose much identity and becomes mugh easier to remember as AIG.
But does Reader’s Digest really need to be at RD.com? Did Lufthansa really need LH.com? There are many cases where using the abbreviation domain is not only unnecessary but may even hurt.
What are some guidelines for when you should or shouldn’t use an abbreviation?
1. Consider abbreviating when your business’s full name is long and hard to remember.
Even though technology has brought a lesser need to remember certain things like phone numbers, your business name still needs to be memorable. You can’t control when potential customers will hear it and they may forget it by the time they want to look your business up.
If the abbreviation is not an acronym (meaning it can’t be said as a word), it may feel like having to remember 3 or more arbitrary letters. That is still better than having to remember a combination of 3 or more words – 26 letters vs. hundreds of thousands of words. Also realize that spelling and typing come into play much more with typing the longer name.
2. Consider abbreviating to an acronym when a shorter, more openly brandable name fits you better.
Acronyms are generally made up words that act as an abbreviation. With respect to domains, that means acronym domain names are generally going to be short brandable URLs, which aren’t always the most suitable option for a business.
That said, if you have a business that you feel would be better suited with a short brandable as its identity rather than your long business name, figure out an acronym for it. GEICO is a good example of that, tailoring its marketing around its short brandable identity rather than its stern full name.
3. Consider abbreviating as a rebranding if your existing longer brand isn’t performing well enough
If you’re an established company but just aren’t seeing the kind of activity you want from your longer company name, you can use an abbreviation as a rebranding opportunity. You can still retain customers who liked your old brand while attracting new customers.
4. Consider abbreviating as a rebranding if your existing longer brand has stigma attached to it
Larger corporations especially can sometimes find themselves amidst controversy which can soil their name. Older corporations can also have their name lose reputation over time as old, boring, or simply no longer good. Rebranding in such cases is often a good idea to get away from any stigma attached to the name.
Amazingly enough though, simply going to an abbreviation of the name that wasn’t used very often can work for that purpose. An example of that is the former SBC Communications (now part of AT&T). They rebranded to that from Southwestern Bell Corporation. They greatly increased their presence after that and many people didn’t realize they were one of the Bell companies.
5. Shy away from using an expensive abbreviation or acronym domain if you’re a small local business
One of the issues with shorter domain names is the cost. There aren’t nearly as many of them and the number of URLs registered overall has continuously climbed over time. That has effectively made shorter domains rarer. Add onto that the higher demand for shorter domain names in recent years and some can be quite expensive.
If you’re a small business that doesn’t seek to massively expand, there’s only so much value you can get out of using a better URL. With 3 letter .com domain names costing several thousand dollars minimum and most 2 letter .com domains priced into 6 figures, it may not make sense for your business.
6. Shy away from “fixing what isn’t broken”
Is your brand currently well-received? Do you have no issues with potential customers remembering it easily? Do people rarely ever abbreviate your business’s name? If so, you may simply not need the abbreviation.
In fact, going with an abbreviation if the above things are true can set you back. Switching to an abbreviation of your name as your primary brand is rebranding, and moving away from a brand that is looked highly upon to a new one can alienate some of your market.
7. Shy away from using an abbreviation with an existing meaning
Whether it has colloquial meaning or is an existing well-known business, using an abbreviation with meaning already attached to it is generally not a good idea. Sometimes it may be able to work in your favor if the existing meaning is aligned with your business’s identity, but even still, it can cause a lot of confusion.
When it really doesn’t work is when the abbreviation has an existing meaning that doesn’t fit your brand. Gardiner Morse of HBR gives a perfect example of this in this article:
And, growing weary of the snickering about its acronym, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation recently changed its name to The Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, retiring its unfortunate “WTF” logo in favor of the (thus far) innocuous “TFW”.
8. Shy away from using an abbreviation if your name is short already
One sale we’ve talked about in discussions about high end domain sales and short domains isFacebook’s purchase of FB.com for $8.5 million. Many people refer to Facebook as FB and surely a lot of traffic going to the domain was looking for them. That said, their use of it is simply a redirection. Why? Because their name is short already.
Even if people do use an even shorter version of your already short name, there’s not likely going to be a compelling reason to switch over to the shorter URL entirely. You might still want to acquire the shorter domain name if your business is prominent enough, but it can be really expensive as the FB.com deal shows.
Conclusion
With the web moving towards shorter brands, an abbreviation can be a way to keep your brand short while still having relevant meaning to your name. It doesn’t make sense in every scenario however, so make sure to look at yours as objectively as possible.
If you need assistance figuring out the right domain for you, we can help with our Branding services. Contact us today and we can discuss your options.