Writer for DDI on Medium
- Sep 8, 2020
- 3 min read

Jargons Lack Clarity And Should Be Avoided When Communicating

“Sell the problem you solve” “Sell the internal pain points.” “Sell the problem, not the solution.”

Imagine entering a pharmacy to purchase a box of ibuprofen and receiving a box labeled ‘get headaches’. As stupid as it sounds, “selling the problem you solve” looks like this to diy-er’s.

Sure, as customers we don’t purchase ibuprofen to get headaches, we buy it to get rid of headaches. That’s what the earlier phrases were all saying, sell the solution to the problem you solve. But, why not just say it like that in the first place, right? That’s the disruption experienced by people when jargon is used to communicate.

So let's address the elephant in the room.

What Is Jargon?

Jargon is the term for specialized or technical language that is only understood by those who are members of a group or who perform a specific trade.

Is there a right time to use jargon?

For the sake of helping your target audience understand you, it is best to avoid jargon when communicating because they only create a state of confusion for the person listening or reading. In an article written in 2018, it was noted that 65% of buyers said they will switch brands if companies didn’t make an effort to communicate clearly.

Read Comments From: People Who Use Jargon To Communicate Are Speaking To Themselves

Well, brand language confuses me too, you may interject. But that’s by design.

Insider-terms are there to keep the things people need to pay for protected, while still sharing some information with the diy-er — all families have unique ways they communicate with each other to keep secret things secret, right? Well, the thinking behind using branded language to communicate with an ideal client, in comparison to a slickRicky for example using jargon to communicate, isn’t the same thing. Because they’re trying to protect themselves from appearing ignorant to an unsuspecting buyer about what they’re speaking on.

Building upon this point

…If You Can’t Explain It To A 5 Year Old, You Don’t Have A Handle On What You’re Talking About!

Imagine trying to review the slang dictionary just to follow along with a conversation — the people we serve don’t do what we do. They need us to dumb things down.

For example, someone in my free Facebook group replied "#shotsfired!" to a post on overcoming the fear of sending prospects through your website. I used the nursery rhyme ‘There’s a Hole in the Bucket’ to illustrate how you can waste a lot of time majoring on a minor and he experienced my point in HD.

So, clarity is professionalism. And an inability to explain something in a simple way so its understood only works against your claim to experience dealing with whatever conversation you’re trying to have.

Read: Jargon Barriers to Communication

Two little words threatened Cru Nonpareil’s claim to knowing how their ideal clients feel and what they wanted.

Clients were longing for “variety and comfort” in their shoe choices but the company was on the outside of what that meant. Because of this state of confusion, telling them to “Put Frustration In Their Past By Stepping Into A Variety of Comfortable Dress Shoes” was impossible and its what had the company with 1 client. Subsequent to all the questions we came up with in the design interview, that they needed to ask, to quickly reposition the brand as one that understands the emotional state of who it was targeting, within 1 year they had 17 clients.

80% of consumers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.

A survey of 8,709 Consumers in 29 Countries reported that 76% of consumers are hindered by language barriers.

So to reiterate, as a small service business, there is never a right time to use technical language. And if there are words or phrases disconnecting you from understanding what matters to your ideal clients, or you feel insecure about the meaning behind words or phrases you would like to use in your advertising or marketing, ask yourself these three questions and let your freak flag fly.