More than 60% of first-month registrations already renewed.
MMX’s .VIP domain name has been a big success right out of the gate in terms of registration volume. It has China to thank; over 700,000 of its roughly 800,000 registrations are at Chinese domain name registrars.
Hitting its first anniversary the big question was how many of these would be renewed.
MMX (Minds + Machines) says that 60% of the domains registered in the first 31 days of general availability have been renewed by customers. The rest are still in the auto-renew grace period, and the company expects the final number to shake out around 70% or better.
This is a strong first-year renewal rate for any new top level domain name, and it’s particularly interesting for a domain registered in high volumes in China.
It’s worth noting that, although the domain name has been sold in China for less than $5, it also hasn’t been offered for a buck or less to boost first-year registrations.
While the term VIP has resonated in China, I certainly don’t think it’s limited to there. This week I sold a .com domain that includes VIP in it to a company in the United States.
@domains says
There is no way it will be 70%…
Andrew Allemann says
Based on what?
Snoopy says
If it is 60% for the initial reges no way will that improve, it will sink into the 50’s soon.
Think most of these have been sold around $3.
PetePrestipino (@peteprestipino) says
For the same of comparison, what is the renewal rate for .COM’s and other new top level domains?
Andrew Allemann says
It’s not really apples-to-apples for .com. New .com’s renew at about 50%. Overall they are 70+%. But you can’t compare first year .com’s registered with 120M+ registered to new TLDs with the very first domains registered in a new TLD.
Donuts reports renewal rates of around 70% overall. But that includes many second year renewals, which are generally higher. I suspect their renewal rates on first years will plummet a year from now because they have moved to a discounting strategy.
Rightside reports overall renewal rates of 59% with first year 50% and later years 75%.
https://domainnamewire.com/2017/03/01/rightside-lays-future/
Tacko says
I’m pretty surprised to say the least.