Last week, a NamePros member with the username Maple Dots wrote about how a company called Jane switched urls from JaneApp.com to Jane.App for its website. There was quite a bit of discussion about the domain name change and the company’s branding that followed. In my opinion, the domain name change is totally acceptable and maybe even more memorable; it’s the Jane branding that could use some work.
Before reading the NamePros thread, I had never heard of this company before. I did a search of Archive.org to confirm that the company used JaneApp.com previously. In this archived record from 2016, it shows that JaneApp.com was being used by this practice management software company. Obviously, this was before .App domain names were introduced by Google in 2018. If you visit JaneApp.com today, you can see it forwards to Jane.App, where the company’s website is located.
I have no issues at all with this domain name change. Regardless of whether people know what .App is or not, the company owns the matching .com domain name. Visitors who navigate to the wrong domain name will be redirected seamlessly, and I can only presume emails sent to @janeapp.com email addresses will be correctly routed. I think there is/was very limited risk with the domain name change.
Where I would take issue is the branding. If you look at the logo and website, there is hardly a mention of the App or .App. The only place I notice anything about App is on the meta title and description that can be seen via search engine and on the top of my browser, where it says Jane App. I did a search on the home page, and beyond the meta page title, I don’t see anything about App or .App. In fact, here are some of the Jane references I noticed:
“A serious problem-solver. That’s Jane.”
“Being affordable matters to Jane.”
“Jane is lovingly made and supported by an enthusiastic (and growing) team in North Vancouver, BC.”
“JANE SOFTWARE INC. “
There are many more references to Jane on the home page, but you get the idea.
In my opinion, they should embrace the App branding if they are going to use the domain name and home page title. There is a totally different entity that uses Jane.com, so I think that can be a bit confusing. Without really knowing anything about the company, I might guess they want to move away from the potentially limiting “App” branding, but at the same time, they seem to embrace it with the new .App domain name usage.
My (unsolicited) opinion is that the domain name change and usage is fine, but they should embrace the App aspect more. Perhaps add .App or App to the logo or elsewhere. I am certainly not a branding expert, but I do think it can get a bit confusing when there are some mentions of Jane App, the usage of Jane.App, but I can’t seem to find anything visually on the website to remind me that it is Jane.App.
Jane.com says thank you!
For future traffic share.
I love dumb and confusing branding! One of the true achilles heels of the Internet.
The winner…..Jane.com
They just hired a full time company for FREE to help promote them and grow their company.
It’s from being STUPID and LAZY.
Lazy because they are too lazy to brand themselves with their .app domain but not too lazy to brand someone else and have them reap the benefits.
That makes them stupid.
You are big on assumptions, which is why most people prefer not to do business with you.
“which is why most people prefer not to do business with you.”
I don’t agree. Most people would do business with Rick, especially if he had an interest in buying one of their domain names.
Imagine this please as an analogy: I bought some shoes. Walking by a different shoe store at the mall the owner started shouting at me that I was stupid, lazy, dumb (read Rick’s comment above) and would be back to get his shoes. How likely would I want to buy shoes from that store next time? Our entire industry is hurt when well known figures in it use rude language. It is past time for domain investors to all act professionally all the time. By the way the company he is talking about (dumb, stupid twice, lazy 4 times) has grown from 2 part-time employees to 50+, from nothing to tens of millions in revenue annually, all growth based on funds from business, not venture capital.
I wish a few people would be more respectful in their comments. Please.
This company is innovative and successful and growing. In Canada when I search simply for Jane they are #1 on Google, not with their old website but with their .app one. They now have an elegant name that is EXACTLY their company name. From the several books I read on successful branding the points that are stressed are to be authentic, clear and innovative. They branded themselves after the first name of their first customer. To me that takes innovative and authentic branding outside the traditional box in defining who they serve. So why switch from a two word .com that was working? Only they can answer (I have no association at all), but I suspect that one of their considerations, working in a niche where security and privacy are critical, is that it makes sense to operate in a secure https space.
.com does support https…
Of course, and I assume they used one. I think Google’s promotion that ALL domains with certain extensions, if they are live as websites, MUST have a security certificate, will catch on. But I presume they mainly liked that they could exact match their company name. I see it was registered on first day of EAP when .app came out.
Can’t agree more. Etiquette is very important in business. That’s why we never see awful attitudes from big companies like Google or Apple.
I totally agree with what Elliot mentioned here. One of the major benefits of using .APP extension is to integrate .APP smartly into existing branding and logo, so when promoting and/or advertising your product (xx.app) coincides with your branding/visual art (xx.app) and traffic entry (xx.app). But kudos to APP enterprise using .APP instead of .COM, makes perfect sense.
e.g.
Fashion APPs use Fashion.app
Study APPs use Study.app
Token APPs use Token.app
Wines APPs use Wines.app
…etc.