Last night, VentureBeat published an article about a $60 million round of funding for a company called Healthy.io. The healthtech startup has now reportedly raised around $90 million in funding to date:
https://t.co/srnfUBGWb9 raises $60 million to help patients complete urine tests on their phone https://t.co/1f6NwWsPpk by @Kyle_L_Wiggers
— VentureBeat (@VentureBeat) September 12, 2019
As you can see, Healthy.io uses the .IO ccTLD for its website. In my opinion, this company is using its non .com domain name in a very smart way.
Healthy.io is not trying to be cute with its branding. The company is not trying to hide the fact that it uses a .IO domain name in its website. In fact, .IO is a part of its logo and its branding:
From my perspective, there is nothing really wrong with using a ccTLD or non-.com domain name. Sometimes the brand match .com domain name is already being used or priced beyond the budget of a prospective buyer. However, to minimize the amount of lost traffic, misdirected emails, and inability to capture goodwill, I think it behoves a company to embrace the extension in its branding. Healthy.io is doing that.
Instead of calling itself “Healthy,” and potentially encouraging people to visit a different website or misdirect email, while helping to build the goodwill of a different brand, Healthy.io is embracing its non-.com extension. I think this is the smart way for companies to market their brands when they do not have a .com. This could change in the future, but
Definitely a great example of a “healthy” way to handle a non .com domain name. One thing I’d like to add is that in this case, the .io was used in a brand-consistent way to highlight the technical aspect of their services. In other words, they were careful to go for the .io (as opposed to the .online or .space or something else which wouldn’t have been brand-consistent). Interesting case study.
They brand the urinalysis test kit they offer Dip.io and don’t own that domain, so this article is really a do and don’t all in one 🙂
Wow, thats unhealthy.
There is no “smart way” with .io. They have got a major do problem no matter how they do it.
If they upgrade later then they’ll need to change even single piece of material with the company name on it. If they went with just “Healthy” they could upgrade more easily down the track. Obviously highlighting .io would help to get the message across today but the fact is they are trying to use something that is illogical.
Reminds me of .net where people used to put the extension in a different color, in bold and really shout the extension part when they say the name. Why make problems for yourself? Just get the best .com you can today.
When you use such a generic word you have no choice but to put the extension in the logo if you don’t own the .com. Try searching for this company by just typing the word “Healthy” into Google and you will never find them.