question Do End Users Prefer A ccTLD Rather Than .Com?

[DomainTom]

Hi Fellow NPers!

I just want to know the experiences of people who reached out to end users with .com.au and .co.uk extensions (or with any ccTLDs) with the .com. Is it effective? I heard that in some countries, the people are I guess really patriotic and prefer to stick with the ccTLD. For example, I have a friend in Serbia who's an interior designer and he prefers to use .rs rather than .com.

 

[Isac]

I don't think its not related to patriotism but .de is more preferred in German and .co.uk in Uk while as most of the Americans, Asians and Europe excluding some countries prefer .com. It also depends upon which country is your target market. If its only a particular country then if .com is not available still a person will be happy to get ccTLD of this country.

 

[Branko Jovanovic]

After u expain that ccTLD domain has a bit better ranking in local search, and if they are want to target certain regions or nations they need to use it, then customers want ccTLD.

 

[DomainTom]

Oh, I think you guys misinterpreted me or maybe I formulated my thoughts badly. What I meant was that is it likely that end users who have a ccTLD will want the .com if approached? For example, if there is a insurance firm in Austrailia with the domain: QualityInsurance.com.au and if I come to them with QualityInsurance.com; is it likely that they will want it?

 

[WebDigger]

Well if the main targeted audience is country-specific (like a local business) then ccTLD may make more sense.
Unless they have plans to expand internationally I doubt they'd pay any serious amount for the .com version.

 

[deez007]

I think you would need to take a look at the actual business and their target customers. If they are focused on local clientele then they would be pefectly fine with a ccTLD. It would still be a good idea for them to own the .com and redirect it to their ccTLD. To prevent a competitor or another company owning the .com version of their ccTLD domain.

 

[Name Trader]

Like @deez007 said. If their business is only local, they really have no need for the .com. Many companies would turn it down because you will have a mismatch in valuation. I have however sold the odd .com to an .co.uk owner. Maybe they had ambitions on going global, or maybe they were just protecting their brand. If it was me. I would buy it, if the price was right.

 

[Kate]

Large companies, or those that do business abroad will often want .com in addition to the ccTLD. It depends on their scope of operations, their ambitions. Or they may want .com mainly for defensive reasons. Even in countries with strong ccTLDs, they are some companies that prefer to use .com, to underline their global reach. In the UK for example .com is fairly common alongside .co.uk even for purely British companies. In mainland Europe .com is maybe slightly less prominent (my own observation).

Assuming that your domain does not pose obvious TM issues, the fact that it's registered in other extensions may be a good thing.
We own .com domains that are registered in 20+ ccTLDs. That means - in theory - 20+ potential end users.

 

[Justin Matmor]

Oh, I think you guys misinterpreted me or maybe I formulated my thoughts badly. What I meant was that is it likely that end users who have a ccTLD will want the .com if approached? For example, if there is a insurance firm in Austrailia with the domain: QualityInsurance.com.au and if I come to them with QualityInsurance.com; is it likely that they will want it?

Hardly anyone in Australia uses dot com. Majority, if not all businesses use the dot com dot au extension.