When you’re immersed in something, it’s hard to know what other people don’t know. You’re so ingrained in it that you think everybody has the same understanding of it that you do.
My brother owns his own business, so years ago I sent him a book on web marketing. I though it would help him better understand some of the things we were doing for him at the time, and perhaps get some more buy-in on the things we wanted to achieve.
I had already read the book and thought it to be one of the clearest and easiest to read marketing books available. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so clear to my brother.
To his credit, he said he read it. But he also said most of it flew right over his head!
And therein lies the danger of industry and corporate lingo. What you think is common isn’t so common to the commoners.
The danger in using corporate lingo is that it alienates the people you are trying to reach. That may be fine at the bar after work, but it doesn’t go over so well on your website.
You have to talk to your visitors using language they understand. You don’t have to dumb it down, but rather focus on the terminology they use in order to reach them at their level of understanding.
When you cause your visitors to struggle to understand you, that’s where you’re going to lose them. You want their experience on your website to be as easy as possible. Yes, educate them. But make sure they know they are being educated. Don’t make them have to look up words just to understand what you’re talking about.
*NOT my actual brother