Building a brighter future for the domain industry
Turning challenges into opportunities.
With limited competition due to outdated transfer processes, a rise in the volume of abuse, and slow innovation, the domain industry is at a turning point. But with 21+ years of experience behind us, we’ve seen time and again that there’s always room for optimism.
After exploring the challenges of inefficient domain transfers, abuse management, constrained innovation, and under-used AI in our previous newsletter, it’s time to explore how these obstacles can be turned into opportunities.
By addressing them with clear strategies, the industry can create a more efficient, resilient, and competitive ecosystem.
Domain transfers: frictionless movement for growth
Increased competition is the fastest way to eliminate complacency and push the domain industry forward - and the most effective way to encourage that competition is by opening the market to new players through a dramatically simpler, unified approach to domain transfers.
Today, moving domains between registrars is still slow, manual, and error-prone. This discourages resellers, web hosting providers, and agencies from switching even when they’re dissatisfied with service.
This is why we’re calling on the industry to come together and adopt a standardized, streamlined transfer process that works across registries and registrars. The question is: is there enough political will within the industry to make such a decision?
Nonetheless, there are already promising examples. As Arno Vis, CEO of Openprovider, noted in a recent episode of The Openprovider Podcast:
“With .nl domains, you can do a bulk transfer or a partial bulk transfer portfolio, and it takes maybe one day. It doesn’t involve the end-user because nothing changes for them - the domain is still theirs, and DNS settings remain the same. You just move from one registrar to another, and that is a very simple process.”
Yet the pains of manual bulk transfers - especially around expiration dates and authorization codes - continue to persuade many resellers and digital agencies to stay with their current registrars even when better options exist. In this scenario, everyone loses: domains are left to expire, brands suffer, and even registries and registrars miss out on long-term revenue.
A unified, frictionless transfer system would make the ecosystem more competitive, improve service quality, and encourage providers to create new ways to attract and retain customers.
When switching to a competitor is easy, complacency disappears - and the entire domain industry moves forward together.
Practical steps for the industry:
Expand bulk transfer capabilities across registries and gTLDs.
Enable one-click transfers.
Automate validation processes to reduce errors and administrative effort.
Maintain DNS continuity to ensure uninterrupted service during transfers.
Abuse management: building trust and security
Just as easy transfers fuel competition, robust abuse management is essential for a healthy domain industry. Threats are evolving - from phishing scams to AI-powered content - and outdated frameworks leave registrars navigating legal uncertainty, which can damage reputations even when they act correctly.
People also need education on best practices for reporting abuse. In the offline world, crimes are reported to the authorities, and the online world should be no different.
Tackling abuse requires clear frameworks and shared industry standards, supported by strong political leadership - it cannot be left to the private sector alone.
“We have to shift from the industry handling abuse on its own toward a very mature government-supported approach,” said Arno Vis.
He notes that, despite the internet being more than 30 years old, governments are still not fully aligned with online realities. Very few have a clear vision for the internet or include it meaningfully in their policies. This creates a disconnect: governments hold verified ID data, while registrars struggle to verify the identities of domain holders.
The solution is clear: there should be open, government-supplied identity verification services that registrars can use to validate domain ownership. This isn’t about creating a perfect system immediately, but about adopting a more consistent approach to crime, making it as difficult as possible for malicious actors to operate online.
At the same time, the domain industry must continue to invest in technology, particularly AI, to tackle abuse more efficiently, often through partnerships with organizations that have the expertise and tools to manage these risks. Predictive monitoring, automation, and proactive compliance help reduce risk and give customers confidence that their portfolios are secure.
Practical solutions for stronger abuse management:
Standardize abuse-handling frameworks across registrars, resellers, and registries.
Adopt predictive monitoring and automation to detect risks early.
Partner with cybersecurity specialists for rapid, expert response.
Educate customers on reporting processes, legal limitations, and best practices.
Collaborate with governments to enable open, verifiable identity systems that registrars can use to validate domain ownership.
Innovation in action: escaping the straightjacket
In the high-volume, low-margin domain industry, registrars are often bogged down by operational maintenance and incremental registry updates, leaving little room for meaningful innovation. To create real value, registrars need to focus on tools, processes, and services that help resellers and end-users, rather than incremental system tweaks that go unnoticed by most.
Achieving this requires closer collaboration between registrars and registries. If registries focus only on critical updates, registrars would face less maintenance work and could concentrate on essential tasks - from improving sales processes to helping resellers grow. Increased sales would, in turn, also benefit registries.
This push for innovation naturally connects with artificial intelligence, which can deliver more than just small improvements. AI can rethink processes entirely, reduce repetitive tasks, and build new capabilities at scale, allowing registrars to focus on initiatives that directly improve the customer experience.
By prioritizing customer-focused tools, collaborating openly with registries, and using AI and automation, registrars can break free from legacy constraints that have long limited innovation. The industry cannot grow if it is constantly in maintenance mode - the aim must be to deliver services that increase reseller success, enhance customer satisfaction, and lead to new revenue opportunities across the ecosystem.
Practical solutions to drive innovation:
Registries should help registrars dedicate more time and resources to transformative projects, like the implementation of AI, rather than focusing solely on operational maintenance.
Greater collaboration between registries and registrars for the creation of new customer-facing tools and services that support ecosystem-wide growth.
Enable open APIs and shared platforms to encourage new solutions and integrations.
Invest in automation, analytics, and AI-driven insights to simplify operations and enhance the customer experience.
Artificial intelligence: simplify processes, reduce errors, improve speed
While the future of artificial intelligence is difficult to predict, Arno Vis is clear about one thing: AI is no longer optional:
“It’s not a matter of wanting or willing - it’s a matter of necessity. The choice is stay alive or die. Some of the biggest companies died because of innovation or evolution that they didn’t see coming or thought it wasn’t going to be so serious.”
AI offers the domain industry the chance to rethink processes entirely, simplify operations, and build new capabilities at scale. When used right, it can free teams to focus on initiatives that directly improve the customer experience while ensuring operational reliability and resilience.
Here are some of the major ways AI can support and transform the domain industry:
Predictive monitoring to prevent system failures or detect abuse early.
Automation of portfolio management, renewals, transfers, and DNS updates to reduce errors and administrative effort.
Intelligent content generation to speed up website development and support resellers.
Analytics help adjust resources automatically to match traffic and keep hosting performance optimal.
With the right tools, a small team can run a domain business while AI handles much of the heavy lifting.
Practical adoption tips:
Start by applying AI to operational tasks to reduce errors and free human resources.
Expand AI applications to customer-facing services to improve speed, reliability, and satisfaction.
Monitor industry trends and integrate emerging AI capabilities to maintain a competitive edge.
Combine AI with innovation initiatives to develop tools, processes, and services that deliver tangible value for all parties.
Conclusion
The domain industry stands at a pivotal moment.
“When competition is limited by design, there is a big risk that eventually the industry will die because it’s not attractive for newcomers to challenge existing businesses,” said Arno Vis.
The wake-up call is clear: complacency is a major threat to the survival of the domain industry.
It can no longer rely on legacy practices, outdated systems, or slow regulations to grow. Without simpler transfers, clear abuse management, and faster AI adoption, it risks stagnation and missed opportunities for new players and long-term growth.
Companies that embrace these priorities will be better positioned to succeed, building stronger, more competitive businesses that deliver real value to resellers and end-users.
The next generation of industry leaders, meanwhile, will be those who combine forward-thinking strategy with practical execution - turning today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities.
We want to hear from you, our readers: how do you assess the current state of the domain industry, and which changes do you consider most critical for its future growth and sustainability?