October 21, 2014
A recent survey indicates Australians still quite convincingly gravitate towards .COM.AU web sites as opposed to other extensions where financial transactions are involved.
A Domain Names Association (DNA) commissioned Global Awareness Survey sought to understand how receptive Internet users are of new domain name extensions.
DNA found legacy gTLDs and ccTLDs "still command the respect of the survey panels".
When survey participants where asked where they would go to pay bills online; here's how the Australians responded.
onlinepayments.com - 8%
onlinepayments.com.au - 47%
onlinepayments.bank - 17%
onlinepayments.cpa -1%
onlinepayments.finance - 1%
onlinepayments.secure - 26%
When asked a similar question regarding purchasing shoes online:
shoes.com - 7%
shoes.com.au - 43%
shoes.shop - 8%
shoes.melbourne - 34%
shoes.buy - 2%
buy.shoes - 7%
In each scenario, .COM.AU well and truly ruled the roost; again proving that it's very important for Australian businesses doing business in Australia to register .com.au domains.
Another survey carried out last year by AusRegistry and .au Domain Administration (auDA) found two-thirds of survey respondents were more likely to trust a .au website compared with only one-third for a .com.
Trust can be one of the biggest challenges in turning online browsers into buyers. It would seem having a .COM.AU provides some extra confidence from the moment a potential customer sees the extension on a search engine results page, business card or otherwise. It's a small investment that can help towards reaping great rewards.
The Global Awareness Survey results are part of DNA's recent State Of The Industry report (PDF).
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