If you can't spell it from hearing it, you've already lost half your word-of-mouth.
The telephone test is simple: say your brand name out loud to someone who's never heard it. Ask them to write it down. Then check what they wrote.
If they got it right, first time, without asking you to repeat it — your name passes. If they hesitated, guessed, asked you to spell it, or wrote it differently — your name is working against you, and will do so every time someone recommends you, mentions you in a meeting, or tries to find you after hearing about you.
Most of your best new customers will come from word of mouth. Someone mentions your name in a conversation. The listener later tries to find you. If there's any ambiguity between sound and spelling, a percentage of those people will end up somewhere else — either on a competitor's site or on a dead end. You'll never know it's happening. The leak is invisible.
Names with "ph" instead of "f", silent letters, or unusual consonant combinations ("Knack", "Wyre", "Psych") fail this test constantly. The person hearing it has no reason to choose the unusual spelling.
Gr8, B4, 2Day — these were painful in 2003 and haven't aged. In verbal communication they create ambiguity: "is that the number 8, or G-R-E-A-T?" Never mix numerals with words in a brand name.
eBay and iPhone exist because those companies had the resources to force the capitalisation into culture. You probably don't. Don't start with an obstacle.
Names that sound exactly like a different, more common word ("Flair" vs "Flare", "Hear" vs "Here") create confusion in both directions. When someone searches for you, they might type the wrong one.
Simple, phonetic names. One spelling, one pronunciation. If you're inventing a word, make it follow the natural rules of the language it'll be used in. Stripe, Loom, Framer — all phonetically obvious. Nobody misspells them.
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