NameSilo

Mystery shopping your domains?

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

Kyle Tully

Top Member
Impact
2,744
If you’re using a 3rd party lander / broker do you mystery shop your domains?

E.g. fill out the lead form with an anon contact and see what a prospective buyer would experience.

I’ve been running a few experiments and so far the gap analysis of what I’m seeing Vs what a world class conversion process looks like is pretty far apart.

For example:

- questions used during lead collection not respected nor leveraged by the broker
- 30-60 minute time for broker to respond
- email templates a little clunky and repetitive (feels robotic not like talking with a human)
- very transactional responses (linking to cart instead of giving price info) and not using info given during lead collection to build a relationship, engage, or sell.

Interested to hear what others have experienced. But I can see why many people choose to broker their own names.
 
22
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Nice research, Kyle.

What marketplaces/landers have you been testing so far?
 
1
•••
Nice research, Kyle.

What marketplaces/landers have you been testing so far?

Don’t want to put them on blast they have enough to deal with right now 😂
 
2
•••
Oh and not all activities are recorded in the lead centre. My response to the broker does not show, so it just looks like the broker sending a few messages in a row without a response.
 
3
•••
I've pointed my names various places over 25+ years but not really with any time attached more of I'm doing maintenance on my site etc... so temporarily I've pointed somewhere else few weeks or a month but 90%+ of the time I've always pointed to my own site or something Efty like where I receive all the buyers info name, email, phone, ip etc... Today you can get that info from NamePros, Efty, Atom White Label, Sudos, DomainMarketPro, etc... The list of things I've tested over the decades is quite a few which includes using ready available services along with buying various stand alone scripts and then hacking them to improve the deficiencies I found as I'm a little OCD on certain things.

This is primarily based on the fact that nobody can represent your names better than yourself. Building a database of buyers doesn't hurt as well along with being able to offer full scale payment options depending on who the buyer is/trust level paypal, escrow, direct wire, etc...

I'd be curious to read results if someone actually did a scientific test testing all the venues to see who's honest and on the ball and who's deceptive/not the greatest at closure. Not that I'd switch to using them but I'd find it interesting to read.

I understand some people don't have time or don't like to talk to people so test around and see who handles your portfolio the best. Personally I enjoy hearing from end users on their thought process as ya can learn a bit from it. Decent sales site, 800 number, business bank account etc... and I've had no issues with buyer trust and have called quite a few leads back to seal the deal or make them not doubt me before a large wire was sent. If it's up your alley give it a test and slowly you'll improve your skills. If it's not your cup of tea then Sedo, Afternic, etc...

I think if you're testing a large aftermarket it's kinda like anything though you'll have a handful of employees that go above and beyond, a handful that do the minimum required and a handful that screw things up. Whether were talking domain aftermarkets, auto mechanics etc... you'll have great mixed in with not so great. The best you can do when using a third party is hope the great percentage outweighs the not so great percentage. If you screw up a sale you can probably live with it as an expensive lesson. If a broker screws up a sale for ya not as easy to forgive I suppose.

The one thing I'll say about the market I believe you are referring to is I have old leads in my dashboard that in my opinion are dead but they continue to call/email them every month. So you can look at that as cool their brokers are hungry but on a few I think it's bordering on harassment. :ROFL: My concern with that is hoping they don't do the same aggressive/hungry action for those that opt for the email marketing.

Even though I do my own thing and majority of my sales come from the landing page my names are still listed on Efty, Atom, DynaDot, Sedo, Dan, Afternic etc... possibly with price adjustments for their commission cut. In the past I might not have adjusted but when it begins to get greedy maybe I adjust now.
 
6
•••
Update:

My second email to the broker not only doesn’t show in lead center but obviously wasn’t received by the broker because his next email to me was another template in the standard sequence 🤦‍♂️
 
4
•••
Has the time already come for you to point out to these brokers their poor working methods, or should you wait a little longer?
 
0
•••
90% of my sales were direct purchases on GD or partner website, no agent was involved. And of course 90% of those AN leads go nowhere.
I have plenty of stalled and some confused leads.
These stats must be similar to most domainers.
When an average end user fills out a form, he can't imagine that the price would be over 20 bucks.
I don't think it's a brokers thing,
it's the buyer's expectations.
At the end of the day, if you are a serious buyer, you can just try to register the name, it's not rocket science!
I'm also thinkint to test NS5/6, like Huge Domains for example, at least you don't have to deal with so many just curious or time wasters.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Has the time already come for you to point out to these brokers their poor working methods, or should you wait a little longer?

I’m waiting to play out an entire follow up flow before presenting my results.
 
2
•••
I don't think it's a brokers thing,
it's the buyer's expectations.

There are obvious basic issues with the follow up that are 100% causing worse results than they could be.

These are even more critical when a buyer expects something to be $20 and it’s actually 3k… this is where a broker can add value compared to a prospect just seeing a BIN, and even little inconsistencies in the system can ruin this tenuous scenario.
 
2
•••
There are obvious basic issues with the follow up that are 100% causing worse results than they could be.

These are even more critical when a buyer expects something to be $20 and it’s actually 3k… this is where a broker can add value compared to a prospect just seeing a BIN, and even little inconsistencies in the system can ruin this tenuous scenario.
Judging from the sheer amount of stalled leads and the follow ups over months, being a GB broker doesn't seem to be a very appealing job btw. Closer to cold calling. They should be getting some commission to motivate them I guess. I think from next year I will switch to buy now landers with the payment plan option. The NS3/4 is an indicator of interest in order to decide which to renew or not, but it's time consuming as well..

I think those buyers that will go from $20 to 3K is a tiny fraction..some unexpected sales over the years, but you cannot build a business model on totally random sales..
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Judging from the sheer amount of stalled leads and the follow ups over months, being a GB broker doesn't seem to be a very appealing job btw. Closer to cold calling. They should be getting some commission to motivate them I guess. I think from next year I will switch to buy now landers with the payment plan option. The NS3/4 is an indicator of interest in order to decide which to renew or not, but it's time consuming as well..

I think those buyers that will go from $20 to 3K is a tiny fraction..some unexpected sales over the years, but you cannot build a business model on totally random sales..

I didn’t think they got paid commission but someone here said they did? I still don’t have a clear answer on this.

If my test results are similar across the board then this would explain a decent percentage of stalled leads.

When I’ve handled my own leads I never have this many ghosts / non responders. Top of my head it must be close to 50% of leads never appear to respond a single time after enquiring. But the faults in tracking/reporting may also explain this.
 
1
•••
My 3rd response to the broker finally triggered an update in lead center.

However, as well as "engagement occurred", it also shows "buyer call logged" which never happened (unless they called 911 :xf.laugh:)

My light resistance to the initial price quoted immediately turn the lead to "stalled" with the "Buyer indicated the domain was priced outside of what they wanted to spend" message. Many sales trainings teach that the sale doesn't really start til you receive an objection... seems here that's where it ends lol.

I will say the brokers response to my hesitation was pretty good. But what shows in lead center is a confusing mess.
 
4
•••
Haha, impressive tactic, Kyle! Never really thought of the buyer POV on a for sale lander. I'd say it doesn't really matter if the leads are actually interested in buying the domain. Sometimes it's going to be a broker as well.

Any case, I'd always prefer a custom for sale lander for domains - usually carry little to no commission, buyer can contact seller directly with full transparency. And you can add whatever details you want about your domains. Plenty tools out there like all.box that lets you build such landers for free.
 
0
•••
Plenty tools out there like all.box that lets you build such landers for free.
With a disclaimer that this is your site?

And why must you sign in with Ethereum on that site?
 
3
•••
With a disclaimer that this is your site?

And why must you sign in with Ethereum on that site?

It is. All.box is a project by namemaxi though we don't profit off it. It's just a tool to give back to domainers listing with us.

Though NameMaxi is for domain investors, our marketplace currently allows only onchain domain listings (tokenized TLDs). Hence the login with wallet.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
Just keep in mind that NamePros also has a separate promotional section if you want to promote any of your services.
 
1
•••
Just keep in mind that NamePros also has a separate promotional section if you want to promote any of your services.

I only mentioned it in relevance to the discussion here. Apologies if it came off as promotional. Thanks for the tip too, will keep that in mind!
 
1
•••
My next response to the broker from a day or two ago does not appear in lead center and has got no response again.
 
2
•••
About 48 hours ago I sent an offer to the broker that was the min offer for the name.

No response to the email.
Nothing in lead center.
No offer presented to seller.

:banghead:
 
6
•••
Interesting Tx! I’m following!
 
2
•••
This is interesting -- I have thought about doing this for educational purposes to see how the "Afternic Professionals" correspond with potential buyers. I have always been curious if I have a BIN 5,000 and FLOOR 4,000 -- do the brokers from the start say it's listed at $5K but I can get it to you at $4K? I have always wondered...
 
6
•••
A day ago I sent a follow up to the broker as the buyer, no response as usual.

Then last night I contacted the broker directly in lead center as the seller, saying that the buyer had reached out to me directly letting me know emails and offers were not getting responded to.

Now this morning there is magically an offer in lead center.

The brokers response to me indicated that he HAD received the buyers other emails -- though this was not reflected in lead center nor were they responded to — and that the offer email had gone to spam.

Oh and another “buyer called logged” so 911 must be wondering WTF is going on at Afternic 😂

Seriously considering pulling my entire portfolio from AN and self brokering at this point. Can only imagine how many of the stalled leads I’ve got were in a similar situation.
 
Last edited:
8
•••
@GoDaddy Please ensure that your brokers adequately respond to leads, and actively assist in selling domains for Afternic Sellers. Their current efforts are significantly inadequate, and the level of service provided does not justify the exorbitant commission fees being charged.
 
Last edited:
6
•••
A day ago I sent a follow up to the broker as the buyer, no response as usual.

Then last night I contacted the broker directly in lead center as the seller, saying that the buyer had reached out to me directly letting me know emails and offers were not getting responded to.

Now this morning there is magically an offer in lead center.

The brokers response to me indicated that he HAD received the buyers other emails -- though this was not reflected in lead center nor were they responded to — and that the offer email had gone to spam.

Seriously considering pulling my entire portfolio from AN and self brokering at this point. Can only imagine how many of the stalled leads I’ve got were in a similar situation.

Sorry to hear that. I feel the same has happened to my "84 leads" over the past 3 months. All are "stalled" some "confused"......

For this reason I've moved my names to NP landers. It is a work in progress but its without a doubt progress!
 
2
•••
  • The sidebar remains visible by scrolling at a speed relative to the page’s height.
Back