For years, a widely accepted statistic has circulated in the domain industry: 80% of domain sales happen because buyers already know the exact name they want. They arrive directly at a landing page or a registrar, enter a domain name into the search bar, and complete their purchase. This has led many to assume that search, discovery, and marketing efforts in domain marketplaces are unnecessary. But this assumption is flawed. At Atom, our data tells a different story.
People don’t inherently prefer to search for exact-match domains. The reason they’ve done so historically? They’ve simply never had the tools to easily discover better alternatives. Human behavior isn’t fixed—it’s a function of what is possible. When new systems emerge that improve discovery, behavior shifts. This transformation is happening in the domain industry, but it’s happened many times before.
The Music Industry: From Exact Song Searches to Intent-Based Discovery
In the early days of digital music, platforms like iTunes required users to know the exact song they wanted to purchase. If you wanted Sweet Child O’ Mine, you had to type that specific title in. If you didn’t know the song’s name, your chances of finding it were slim.
Then came Spotify and YouTube Music, which changed the paradigm by enabling intent-based discovery. You no longer had to know the exact song title. On Spotify, you could search by category. These categories included things like genre, period, or style. YouTube was even more intuitive, functioning a little like Google (which users were already familiar with). So, on Spotify you might search for “Classic 80s rock” and on YouTube, “80s rock song with an iconic guitar riff”, and the platforms would deliver relevant tracks. One of them almost certainly being Sweet Child O’ Mine.
These search functions have developed further over the years, and today most people discover new music through personalized recommendations, curated playlists, and AI-driven search—not just by looking for specific songs. Of course, consuming music is not like buying a domain name, but the notable point here is that listeners’ behavior didn’t change because people suddenly became more interested in discovery, it changed because technology paved the way once discovery was made easier and more effective.
E-commerce: From Exact Searches to Personalized Recommendations
The same transformation happened in online shopping. In the early days of e-commerce, people searched for specific products because broad searches didn’t yield useful results. If you wanted a pair of running shoes, you had to search for “Nike Pegasus 38” because a search for “best running shoes” would return a random, uncurated mix of results.
Amazon changed that by introducing recommendation engines and intent-based search. Now, if you type “best marathon running shoes”, you’re presented with highly relevant options—even from brands you weren’t initially considering. The shopping experience evolved because better discovery tools became available.
Again, human behavior didn’t shift arbitrarily—people adapted to what was now possible. They were finding more relevant, better products when they searched more intuitively, so they continued to do so. In turn, this opened up the market for new brands and revolutionized the e-commerce experience for sellers as well as for buyers.
Sears: How Expanding Search Transformed Sales
During my time leading the e-commerce team at Sears.com, we managed multiple web properties in addition to Sears.com. These included Parts Direct and Sears Tire Center. Initially, these auto and appliance parts websites required buyers to type in a part number or specific tire style to make a purchase. This meant that, by definition, anyone searching for parts or tires had to know exactly what they wanted in advance.
Over time, we expanded the search functionality to allow buyers to search by keywords, repair projects, car models, and other broad categories. This simple yet powerful change led to a massive increase in sales and conversions. By enabling better discovery, we tapped into a whole new segment of customers who had previously struggled to find the right products.
This experience reinforced a key lesson: People engage with discovery when given the right tools. If 80% of domain buyers know what they’re looking for, search it exactly, buy, and leave, how many potential buyers are searching in another way, getting frustrated when they don’t find what they’re looking for, and leaving? Many potential Parts Direct customers didn’t know the exact parts number for, say, a Bissel vacuum belt, so before we expanded our search function they likely went elsewhere after an unsatisfactory experience on the site.
Domains: The Last Frontier of Search-Driven Discovery
The domain industry has been stuck in the iTunes era of search. For years, if someone wanted a domain, they had to type the exact name they were looking for—because searching for a general category like “fitness” would only return Fitness-Shop.com or BestFitnessNow.com instead of strong brand names like Lululemon or Peloton.
This is why the 80% metric exists—not because buyers inherently avoid discovery, but because the tools for discovery have always been broken.
Now, this is changing. At Atom.com, we’re solving the problem by leveraging AI-powered search and intent-driven discovery. Instead of assuming buyers will know the exact name they want, we have built a massive genome of words and emotions that connect the most relevant domains with buyer search intent.
Currently, 60% of our domain sales happen via the discovery path, where buyers don’t have an exact name in mind but find the perfect brand name through our advanced search and recommendation tools. We plan to grow this number in the future through further improvement of search and discovery. Search and discovery will be supported at other points in the marketing funnel, including educating customers on what makes a strong domain so that they’re empowered to use our search function and other discovery tools with purpose.
What we have to keep in mind is that most entrepreneurs don’t start their search with a domain name. More importantly, they are looking for a strong brand—a name that carries meaning, resonates with their audience, and positions them for success. A platform that enables them to discover brands with depth and relevance naturally leads them to better domain names.
The Future: A Shift from Transactional to Discovery-Based Domain Buying
Just like in music and e-commerce, the introduction of better search and discovery tools will redefine domain buying. Buyers who once defaulted to exact-match searches will increasingly rely on platforms that help them find the best possible name—even if they didn’t start with one in mind. It may also encourage more buyers in general – in a world where most searches aren’t built solely around keywords, the domain industry has probably held back growth by allowing their search to stagnate while others move on. Once browsing is easier, we could well find a new segment of domain buyers.
Clearly, the 80% statistic is not an unchangeable law. It’s an artifact of an outdated system. As technology evolves, so will behavior. The next era of domain buying will be one of discovery, intent-driven recommendations, and AI-powered search—just like every other industry that has evolved before it.
The question is no longer whether discovery matters in domains, it’s whether we are ready to shift from a transactional mindset to one that makes brand discovery a dynamic and intent-driven experience.
News Source:Darpan Munjal，This article does not represent our position.
