After you have dedicated hours or even days of your time brainstorming names and crossing off every possibility, you have at last found the ideal startup name. Or, at least you think it will work for your SaaS startup.
When naming your tech startup, you have to think beyond what you as the entrepreneur think of the name. It’s always a good sign if you like it, and it’s even better if your team likes it, but when push comes to shove, the only audience’s opinion that really matters is your target audience.
If your SaaS business name fails to create enough buzz and interest in the tech community with your target audience, all of the time and effort you dedicated to developing your business name was for nothing. Squadhelp’s definitive guide for coming up with a business name will help you get the most out of the time you devote to selecting a name for your tech startup.
Come up with a Bunch of Great Names
This is the step where you get to let all of your creative juices flow and wrack your brain for some name ideas. You can start by writing down every business name suggestion you can think of, even if you are not sure if the name will be a good fit for your company.
Keep in mind that a great name needs to be easy to pronounce, spell, and remember for your target audience. In addition, you should perform a quick search to ensure that there is a suitable URL available for whatever names you prefer. This will help stop you from falling in love with a name only to sadly find out that it is already in use by a similar business or the domain is way too expensive for your budget.
Create a Naming Shortlist
Once you have gathered a number of names that could work well for your SaaS business, you should begin crossing the names you don’t think will be a good fit off for your company. The point of this step is to cut down your options so all you have remaining is a list of four or five potential names.
Make sure that you consider the audience you want your name to appeal to in addition to how well it fits your business. For example, Gen Z may not prefer traditional or classic names the way Baby Boomers would.
Get Feedback from Your Target Demographic
After you have created an amazing shortlist for your tech startup, it is the perfect time to get some outside opinions from friends, family and members of your target audience. You can find your target audience through personal factors such as gender, age, hobbies and location. When asking questions to your target audience be sure that your questions allow them to make a relevant decision about your SaaS business name. You want them to consider the context of your business whenever they answer one of your questions.
Here are just a few examples of what your questions for your target audience could look like:
Which one of these calendar apps are you most interested in learning more about?
Which one of these online sales applications are you most likely to try?
You can also ask questions that are based on some benefit propositions. For example:
Which one of these names would be the best fit for a revolutionary chrome coupon extensions?
Which of these startup gambling application names do you feel most embodies prestige and trust?
Analyze Your Audience Results
Finally, once you have gotten feedback from your target audience, you can examine the results and decide which name will be the most effective name for your tech startup. You might find that the results are unexpected. Over and over again, in the numerous of name tests we at Squadhelp have performed with our clients, we find that the entrepreneurs ideal name sadly performs terribly with their target audience. This type of reality check is exactly what makes the audience testing process so crucial.
Nevertheless, the results from your audience testing don’t have to lock in the fate of your SaaS name. Audience testing is a great way to get additional perspective on what could work for your specific business. Remember you don’t have to commit to the results – there are always additional factors that you can’t test for like unintentional meaning, narrative elements, and hidden emotional slants – but these are these are the types of things we test for during audience testing.
Although there isn’t any one perfect testing method that will provide you with an exact, precise answer as to whether your tech startup name will be a success. However, the audience testing process can help you choose a business name that is not uncomfortable or embarrassing. Overall, audience testing is a great way to strengthen your validation process so you can feel good about your name choice.