1. Headline Research Statistics for LEP use
- online, in print, to support your work
Neil Dagger
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Nominet
Digital Leaders LEP Digital Group – Growth hub sustainability
11th May 2017

2. • The UK’s leading social-tech funder,
Nominet Trust
• We run the .UK domain, the UK’s official
country code domain
• Nominet now manages over 30 top level
domains including .blog, .wales & .cymru
• Runs the award winning Domain
Resolution Service
• An international internet company delivering public benefit
• Managing the UK internet domain name registry since 1996
• One of the world’s largest country code registries
www.nominet.uk
- what do we do?
10.6m .UK domains registered
3m businesses use a domain ending in .UK
Millions more consumers use .UK domains for web and email
1m look ups on the ‘WHO IS’ tool every day
4.4 billion DNS queries per day
340,000 .UK domains renewed every month
150,000 .UK new registrations every month

3. A summary of the highlights from recent research findings that you can use
when communicating to local start ups and small businesses
An aid to long term growth hub sustainability

4. Give the ‘WHY’ before the ‘HOW’
• Before advising on HOW to get online and do more with digital it is vital to tell them WHY
• Nominet can support your ‘train the trainer’ programme to ensure long term
sustainability of your offer to local businesses
• Research stats provide credible compelling headlines for your local campaigns
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• Many organisations seeking to address digital transformation -
limited success
• Fragmented, varying skills and changing agendas
• Often limited to one event on one day with limited impact
• Not long term or sustainable after the circus leaves town
• Solutions are offered without FIRST making the effective business
case for why an SME needs to be ‘online’

5. The Big Picture
89% of households in the UK (23.7m) have internet accessi
77% of UK adults bought goods or services online in 2016 ii
In 2016 over £60bn was spent online in the UK and is forecast to grow iii
90%of consumers are ‘show-rooming’* in order to locate the best deals. Brits are keen
to integrate technology into the shopping cycle iv
94%of consumers research online before buyingv
…to seek early inspiration and initial online discovery, to compare choices, to seek advice online, to make an immediate
purchase (where’s the store, when’s it open, have they got it in stock)
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i Office for National Statistics, August 2016
ii GE Capital
Iii The Centre for Retail Research, 2017, 16% YoY growth
iv Source: Digital Strategy Consulting – July 2016
vSource: Consumer Barometer / Google 2016* Showrooming is the practice of examining merchandise in a traditional brick and mortar
retail store or other offline setting, and then buying it online, sometimes at a lower price.

6. 6
When searching for information where do people turn?
“84% of internet users agree that the internet is the first place that they look for information”
/
Where do you go look for stuff?6
Consumer barometer>graphbuilder>internetusersegmentation>digitalsavvy
(Source: The connected consumer survey/Google 2016)
https://www.consumerbarometer.com/en

7. 51%of the 5.5m UK SMEs have a website*
However this means that…
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Customers are researching online pre-purchase
If your business is invisible online, it’s your competitor that gets found
…49%of SMEs in the UK still do not
operate their own website
*Lloyds Annual Digital Index 2016 research report
Many SME’s are still invisible online

8. Social Media requires digital skills but is only the first step
“But my business has a Facebook page – am I online?”

9. 93%
51%
26% 25%
17%
Facebook Twitter Linked In Instagram Pinterest
Many businesses use social media to promote their business. But 35% still have not
embraced social media. Clearly a missed (and free) opportunity.
n=654N=1000
Yes, 65%
No, 35%
Has a website: 80%
No website: 20%
Do you use social media to promote your business? If so which?
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Q: Do you use social media to promote your business?
Source: 3GEM Research November 2016

10. 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 - 24 25 - 49 50 - 74 75 - 100
TRUST SCORE RATING BETWEEN BUSINESSES ON SOCIAL MEDIA VERSUS THOSE
WITH WEBSITE AND THOSE WITH WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
... is only on social media, e.g. Facebook, Twitter
... has its own website and is on social media
No. of
People
Trust Scores
Trust Score
... is only on
social
media, e.g.
Facebook,
Twitter
... has its
own
website
... has its
own
website and
is on social
media
0 - 24 343 28 35
25 - 49 307 92 95
50 - 74 261 468 486
75 - 100 89 412 385
Low Trust
Businesses who only use
social media (and have no
website) score low on
consumer trust
High Trust
Businesses with a website
and social media score far
higher on trust
Business use of digital has a major impact on consumer trust
Of 1000 consumers surveyed…
Q10 - If you were looking to buy products or services, please rate the level of trust you would put in a business (by using the sliding
scales below) that... (BASE: All respondents n= 1000)
18
Companies with a website score up to
twice as much trust as companies that
rely on social media alone.
Source: Insight Engineers, Annual Trust and Awareness Research August 2016

11. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
0 - 24 25 - 49 50 - 74 75 - 100
TRUST SCORE RATING BETWEEN BUSINESS WITH FREE EMAIL
VERSUS THOSE USING A PROFESSIONAL IN-DOMAIN EMAIL
... only uses a free email address, e.g. Hotmail/ Gmail
... uses professional email, e.g. @companyname.co.uk
No. of
People
Trust Scores
Trust is significantly enhanced by using a professional email address
Q10 - If you were looking to buy products or services, please rate the level of trust you would put in a business (by using the sliding
scales below) that... (BASE: All respondents n= 1000)
19
Businesses using a
professional in domain email
score high on trust, with very
few reporting low trust
Businesses using a free email
(gmail, hotmail etc) score far
lower levels of trust, with
very few attributing high trust
in these businesses
Companies that use a
professional email address
benefit from 61% more trust
than those that use free email.
Source: Insight Engineers, Annual Trust and Awareness Research August 2016

12. Your opportunity is greater with sole traders where digital skills and website ownership is lower and in certain
regions, such as Scotland, South and East Midlands
Do you have your own website? [Yes]
45%
58%
77% 76%
80% 80% 79%
Sole
trader
2-4 5-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50
Websiteownership
Headcount
71% to 73%
62% to 64%
68% to 70%
65% to 67%
Website ownership by UK region
Website ownership varies by headcount & region
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Source: 3GEM Research November 2016

13. 93% of businesses reported that having a website contributed positively to
business improvements, including more customers and better brand awareness
66%
48%
41%
40%
39%
36%
More customers
Better reach
More leads
Increased
revenue
Higher brand
awareness
More profit
n=665
How has setting up a website impacted your business?
Only 7% reported not seeing any
improvements since creating a website
Yes, 88%
No,
12%
n=665
Q: Has increasing your online presence
helped your business to grow?
“88% of businesses claim that increasing their
online presence helped their business grow”
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Source: 3GEM Research November 2016

14. Manufacturing, n=248
Yes, 84%
No, 16%
Manufacturers with a website and exports:
84% of manufacturers report that a website
increases their ability to generate export business
We asked if having a website increased your ability to generate export business
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84% of small manufacturing businesses find that having a
website increases their ability to generate export business
Source: 3GEM Research November 2016

15. So why would any business remain offline?

17. Why do small businesses choose to remain invisible online?
The 6 myths:
• The internet doesn’t apply to me: “I don’t need an online presence, I get enough business already”
• The internet is scary: “I find the idea a bit frightening – I have no technical expertise”
• Don’t know who to ask: “I don’t know where to go for help”
• It’s all a bit confusing: “How do I start?”
• The cost: “Isn’t it really expensive?”
• The time: “It will take a lot of time”
We have created FREE guides and advice that dispelling these myths
… and help support small businesses build their presence online
Many small businesses do have some form of online presence through social media but…
 35% think they are too small to warrant a website*
 24% think it would not help their business
 21% felt they lack technical expertise
 20% thought it might be too expensive
*Research by RedShift Research / Go Daddy
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18. Of the significant % of SME’s still without a website, within this group, 42% report that nothing would induce them
to get online. However the remaining 58% of the digitally disconnected would like to be online if offered the right
support, training and money saving special offers. This is where the opportunity for sustainable growth sits!
No website n=335
32%
28%
22%
16%
3%
42%
Price promotion
Somebody to do it for me
Support to do it
Training
Other
Nothing
Price perceptions and the time or technical
knowledge required appear to be creating a barrier
to website ownership for up to 58% of the SMEs in
the retail and manufacturing sectors
Of those without a website, 40% feel nothing
would encourage them to create a website;
many would do so if given the right support
What would encourage the small business to set up a website?
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Source: 3GEM Research November 2016
1 million businesses across the UK!

19. • Nominet runs numerous press campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits of getting online
e.g. building websites for builders at our ‘Bacon and Web café’ – research, press releases,
articles, special offers
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• Tradespeople get over 21 additional new business leads p.a. via website over similar businesses without any website*
• A sole trader business with a website earns an average £16,500 per annum more than those without a website*
“Bricks V Clicks”
PR Video
Online businesses are simply more successful
http://probuildermag.co.uk/news/watch-set-website-less-time-takes-build-wall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-VYkCoirEY

20. Which domain name is best and most trusted?
• Small businesses & sole traders register a domain name for both professional
email address and website
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73% of UK consumers* when searching online for a product or
service prefer to click first on a website ending in .uk
* Source: Insight Engineers 2016
“That’s 3 out of
every 4 people”
A good website is
important for
customer trust

21. The official home for .UK domain names: www.theukdomain.uk
• Domain Search – is your name still available? Free
check service and ‘Who is?’
• Name spinner options – if your 1st choice name is taken
we’ll recommend similar available great domains
• Tips, best practice & blogs
• Checklists & guides
• Case study videos
• Infographics you can use
• Registrar Selector – to help your local SME’s choose a
trusted, low cost web and email service provider
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Nominet is committed to providing easy free access to useful guides, tips and best practice to help UK
businesses and individuals get online. Always looking for great case studies profiling great local UK
businesses who are benefiting from enhancing their digital presence

22. Refer to our Free guides to make it easy
• Six free downloadable advice guides - available as digital download or printed copies
• Outreach through partner organisations e.g. Digital Leaders, DoItDigital, FSB, Microsoft
• New Guides - SEO, Moving your website guide and Cyber Security Top Tips
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23. How you can benefit?
• Use these stats on your websites to show that the evidence universally
supports that businesses do better when online
• Inform your local offline small businesses that the majority of UK consumers
now regularly search online before purchasing or store selection
• Focus on dispelling the myths preventing getting online: Why get online!
• Refer people to theUKdomain.uk for FREE advice and How to guides
• Remember APT: Awareness, Preference and Trust are key factors
• Many offline businesses want to get online – if offered support and advice
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24. 24
In a typical working week a .UK domain is registered or renewed every 5seconds