When choosing between a digit like “4” or its word equivalent (“four”) in a domain name, which one builds a stronger brand?
Many domain investors and cognitive science studies suggest words have the edge.
Josh from DNX.com recently sparked discussion with a post ranking numbers in word form over digit counterparts: “Zero > 0”, “One > 1”, and so on.
While his preferences are personal, they’re backed by psychology and branding research.
Words are more memorable than numerals in branding. Words engage linguistic processing centers in the brain whereas digits don’t. That gives word-based domains an edge in recall, a key factor in brand strength.
This also aligns with how humans process numbers: Without language, the brain uses an approximate sense of quantity, up to four. Precise understanding beyond that depends on symbolic systems such as words.
Whether due to the brain’s language bias or better user experience, words offer more branding power than digits. Combining two or more numbers together for branding purposes appears to be more solid than with a string of numbers. There are, of course, exceptions.
For domain investors and marketers, word-based numeric domains are more than a style choice: they are a strategic one.
Of course, Chinese domain investors might strongly disagree!
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