When it comes to launching an online business, names can be a funny thing. Sometimes, a catchy moniker is one of the first things that we think of when dreaming up new ideas. And at other times, we can have a fully-formed business plan before we have even thought of what to call it.
So if you’re struggling to pick out a name for your online store, don’t panic! Here are some easy ways to find inspiration.
The first step, no matter what your business, should be a spot of market research. Not only will this tell you what is already taken, but it will also give you an idea of what sort of names are successful within your field. Do your competitors mostly have snappy, one-syllable names, for example, or is a more refined-sounding brand a popular choice? Of course, you don’t want to just copy what other stores are doing, but research such as this can give you a good idea of where to start.
Next, get brainstorming. This is a great stage to get any helpful co-workers, friends or family members involved. Try to keep this part as unrestricted as possible, and explain that there is no such thing as a bad idea at this point. The more suggestions you get, the more choices you’ll have when you move on to shortlisting and refining ideas. Still struggling to get those creative juices flowing? Why not check out Shopify’s business name generator for inspiration? All you need to do is enter a keyword that relates to your store and click ‘Generate names,’ and Shopify will suggest a choice of options.
After completing these steps, you should have a collection of names that could work for your business. Now, you’ll need to make a shortlist. An easy way to do this is to arrange your suggestions into word banks or to group them together by theme, working your way through until you’ve whittled it down to a select few. Again, it’s useful to have the help of others at this stage, as you’ll want to go for the most popular options over your own personal favourites.
Finally, when you’ve narrowed things down to just a few options, it’s time to turn to your potential customers. Create a focus group that’s composed of people within your target market, speak to family and friends, and survey shoppers to find out which options they connect with. From there, you should be able to decide on the perfect name.
