Every industry, including yours, uses specialized terms and expressions known as jargon. Because you are an expert in your field, you might forget that these words are like a foreign language to anyone without experience in your industry. Here are some industry-specific examples of jargon.
Marketing
- Deep Dive
- Low Hanging Fruit
- Think Outside the Box
- Agile
Construction
- Punch List
- Lean Construction
- Scope Creep
- Shoring
Senior Care
- Skilled Nursing Care
- Sub-Acute Care
- Transitional Care
- Palliative Care
Sometimes We Don’t Even Know What We Are Saying
According to a recent online poll of 1,087 U.S. employees by myPerfectresume, 86% said they’d used business buzzwords, and 33% said they sometimes don’t even know what they mean. It is essential to keep jargon off your website as much as possible because it can make it less useful for a general audience and create unnecessary barriers for your readers.
Jargon Limits Your Reach By Alienating Readers
Most people look at content on the web by scanning a page or blog post visually for key points of interest. However, readers may not understand specialized terms in your content. When they come across jargon or acronyms, they must stop, think about the term, and even look it up if it is essential. This makes your content less scannable.
Including jargon on your site can make the reader feel like an outsider. Readers don’t want to learn technical terminology while browsing the internet; they want to discover how your business can help them.
Jargon Is Also an Accessibility Issue
Figurative terminology can make it challenging for website visitors with disabilities and language barriers to understand your brand message. These visitors include people who don’t speak fluent English (assuming your website is in English).
For example, take the phrase “cutting edge” (which has recently evolved into the term “bleeding edge”). From a literal standpoint, these words make no sense in the context in which they are typically used. And usually, when someone encounters an unfamiliar expression in a new language, they will look it up.
A Spanish speaker looking up “cutting edge” would get a translation that depicts the sharp part of a knife, el filo. They may also find the intended meaning, la vanguardia, which means “the forefront.” It would be better to simply use the timeless term forefront, to begin with.
Why Do You Use Jargon?
As a rule, you should avoid jargon entirely. Always ask yourself whether it improves your content. Does the term give your audience essential information, or are you using it to fluff up your content and make it sound more intellectual? It is a significant possibility to consider.
According to an academic paper in the November 2020 issue of ScienceDirect, a study of 64,000 dissertations found that authors from lower-status schools used more jargon than those from higher-status schools. Furthermore, the researchers found that writers who rely on jargon do so because they are more concerned about how they are perceived than about “conversational clarity.”
More than one-third of respondents to the myPerfectresume’s survey said they feel pressured to use jargon to fit in or to appear competent. Half of them said they think jargon makes a person sound more professional or intelligent.
When You Must Use Jargon, Use It Wisely
There are times when you need to use jargon, like when using industry-specific terms to differentiate services or processes. However, you can do this in a way that doesn’t alienate your readers but educates them. Here are some helpful tips for using jargon wisely.
- When using specialized terms, do so sparingly within a single piece and define them wherever possible.
- If you use a term repeatedly throughout your article or page, explain it immediately at the beginning of your content so your reader knows what you are saying.
- Define acronyms by putting the entire word that the acronym represents next to it in parentheses the first time it appears on the page or post—for example, ABL (atmospheric boundary layer). Now, you can use ABL throughout your article because your reader knows what it means.
- Does your website use a lot of jargon? Consider adding a glossary of terms to your site. Then you can link to it from every page or instance of the terminology.
Do You Need Content That Connects With Your Ideal Customers?
I write content that draws your customers into your brand’s message rather than alienating them with jargon and fluff. Contact me today for a free consultation on professionally written content that converts.
