Choosing a name for your social venture
What’s in a name? Motivation.
I like to choose a name for a social venture early on in the process. I do the same for the smaller projects we work on. It could be seen as unnecessary or a waste of valuable resources to decide these things at this stage but, for me, if the name is right, it quickly focuses my mind and keeps me motivated.
So, how do I choose a name? The unhelpful answer is I think about what the project is trying to achieve, how it works and the personality the idea evokes and I pick a series of words that align with this.
To unpick this, I can show you where This Chat Helps came from.
This Chat Helps
- Achieves: Helps social sector advisors to deliver outcomes to their clients faster.
- How it works: Chat service that guides advisors through the questions they need to ask clients to complete tasks. The This Chat Helps virtual agent then takes care of those tasks on-demand.
- Personality: Welcoming, friendly, analogue/human
When thinking about a name for This Chat Helps I didn’t take too long on it. I’m reluctant early on in a project to spend a lot of time on anything other than getting the product or service in front of users, ensuring it delivers on its promise and hunting for a viable financial model. But still, every project needs a name.
I want a name to tell the audience a little about how the product works whilst being friendly. It’s even better if the name shows them how the product will benefit them but that’s not always possible.
For This Chat Helps, I thought about the concerns advisors had mentioned during user research including their fears of technology (especially AI) and how technical language amplified anxiety.
Ultimately, I settled on something I uncovered in a conversation with a job seeker (a client of a social sector advisor) who said, in relation to their work advisor, “They don’t understand how much their chats help”. Hence, This Chat Helps.
This phrase for me had all the elements in it necessary for a great name.
- It’s unique and memorable
- It teases the elements of what the service aims to do
- The domain name was available
Why multiple words?
I like names that are more than one word and that feel like sentences. They’re more memorable than single words and, most importantly, the .com or .org domain name is much more likely to be available.
Does a .com/.org domain name matter?
Not for SEO but, whatever anyone tells you, getting either the .com/.org or perhaps the local version i.e. .co.uk looks better to the early stakeholders you interact with.
I am always battling with a lack of legitimacy, especially early on in a project. So, anything that supports or increases legitimacy is valuable. That’s why I focus on really solid user research, prototyping and testing to engaging with the right partners from the beginning. Not only do they lead to better services and products, they also build your legitimacy in the eyes of other stakeholders. Yet another quick and easy legitimacy builder comes from having a unique name and owning the .com, .org or local equivalent (i.e. .co.uk) address.
Just call it something for now and move forward
Even though I understand the importance of a name, I’m not attached to it. It’s more important to have one than for it to be perfect. I can always change it again later.