The Name Game revisited

A little over a year ago, I blogged about the trend of tech companies using goofy names for their applications.  I specifically looked at the mobile-related industry.  Looking at five apps with names that kind of make sense, and five with what I would call "made up" names, I recorded their unique visitors for that particular month (Nov '07).  As promised, I am going to compare the numbers at that point in time to where things are now *.

Yes, I understand there is more to the success of a web application than its name alone.  This is just an experiment.  :-)

Okay, here are the "normal" names and November '07 & December '08 unique monthly visitors:

• SignalMap (signalmap.com)
  Nov '07:  2698
  Dec '08: 7858
  + 191%
  
• MindJot (mindjot.com)
  Nov '07: 546
  Dec '08: N/A (that's not good!)
  - 100%
  
• Smart2Go (smart2go.com)
  Nov '07: 2021
  Dec '08: 150
  - 93%
  
• BuddyPing (buddyping.com)
  Nov '07: 596
  Dec '08: 1051
  + 76%
  
• CallWave (callwave.com)
  Nov '07: 2,033,668
  Dec '08: 350,714
  - 82%
  
• Average % change overall: -1.6%

So far nobody looks like they are doing very well with the exception of SignalMap.  Now for the "madeup" names:

• Jaduka (jaduka.com)
  Nov '07: 4152
  Dec '08: 13,657
  + 229%
  
• Zedmo (zedmo.com)
  Nov '07: 4056
  Dec '08: 373
  - 91%
  
• Joopz (joopz.com)
  Nov '07: 4274
  Dec '08: 3473
  - 19%
  
• Foonz (foonz.com)
  Nov '07: 2706
  Dec '08: 1453
  - 46%
  
• Zannel (zannel.com)
  Nov '07: 21,867
  Dec '08: 27,695
  + 27%
  
• Average % change overall: +20%

In each category, only two apps actually increased their traffic, and in the case of Jaduka, it was enough of an increase to carry the "madeup" category into a +20% overall increase versus the 1.6% decrease for the "normals."  Only four of the apps overall increased their monthly visitors, perhaps a sign of the economy.  Who knows if the "madeups" would have performed better than they did if they had used more descriptive names for their apps, but in a random sampling they appear to have performed better than their "normal" counterparts.

Nothing too deeply scientific about this experiment, but interesting!

 

* All statistics obtained from Compete.com

What's in a name?

The telltale sign that all the good domain names are already taken can be evidenced by the abundance of downright ridiculous company/application names out there right now. This occurred to me today when I was looking up some mobile apps on one of my favorite websites, http://www.go2web20.com, a directory of all-things Web 2.0. (Welcome to the ceremonious first post of the Lift Development blog by the way)

Just check it out. Select the "Mobile" tag and a whole bunch of apps that do anything and everything related to mobile web will display. Some of the names make sense, but most are words that have been either invented or are twisted combinations/misspellings of actual words.

What the heck is a "Zingku?" Or a "Zinadoo?" A "Zedmo?" A "Zennel?" And when did so many names start with the letter "Z?"

I just don't see how your app is going to be successful if people can't remember your name. I ran into this back when I started using Meebo, an all-in-one instant messaging application that I love. It took me about 10 times of going back to my History to remember what the site was before I could remember that it was meebo.com. Maybe that's it: Stupid as a name might be, if the app is worthy, people will forgive your name and keep using it anyways. But I still think it throws a wrench into things when your name has absolutely nothing to do with what the application does.

This naming issue has given me an idea for a research experiment: Pick 5 mobile apps with "regular" names and judge their performance against 5 apps with nonsense names. Evaluate their current performance (via compete.com), and then one year from today I will see which apps are still up and running and what their traffic is like. I know there's a lot more to success than just a name, but it could still be an interesting observation. If the nonsense names win, maybe I'll change my company name to Zlift or something like that.

So here are the "normal" names we'll follow, and their November 07 traffic:

• SignalMap (signalmap.com) - 2698 visitors
• MindJot (mindjot.com) - 546 visitors
• Smart2Go (smart2go.com) - 2021 visitors
• BuddyPing (buddyping.com) - 596 visitors
• CallWave (callwave.com) - 2,033,668 visitors (wow!)

And here are the "madeup" names:

• Jaduka (jaduka.com) - 4152 visitors
• Zedmo (zedmo.com) - 4056 visitors
• Joopz (joopz.com) - 4274 visitors
• Foonz (foonz.com) - 2706 visitors
• Zannel (zannel.com) - 21,867 visitors

Putting a reminder on my calendar for one year from today. Good luck to everyone!