If you want to sound professional ditch the buzzwords

‘Please write more obscure corporate-speak and technical jargon that takes us hours to decipher and makes us feel dumb,’ said no reader, ever.

Yet the myth seems to persist: if you write clear and simple words that readers can understand and relate to, you are ‘dumbing it down’. And you won’t sound professional enough.

I’ve spent my professional career writing and editing complex legal content into plain language.

I have never had a reader say they thought we’d made it too clear. Or say they’d rather we didn’t translate concepts and explain what they meant for their business.

There’s been a lot of research on why governments and corporates should write in plain language. Professor Joseph Kimble’s book ‘Writing for dollars, writing to please‘, makes the financial case many times over.

But in case anyone needs more convincing, I went looking for other ways to answer that ‘not corporate enough’ feedback. Here are my top six reasons.

1. Making your clients feel dumb is bad for business

Maybe there was a time you could get away with making clients learn a new language to do business with you. But most of your clients don’t have time, or inclination, for that.

Entrepreneur and global business leader, Russell Dalgleish says ‘I’d always felt inferior to professionals in the UK—corporate financiers or lawyers or doctors. Because they would use words and expressions that I couldn’t quite follow, I struggled. And I felt that, in my position, I should understand what they’re saying.’

Very formal and technical language can be hard to understand. It can also sound like a lecture. As if the writer is laying down rules or making pronouncements, without any need to consider the views of their audience.

Most clients want an adviser they can talk to. And if you make that hard, they’ll choose someone else.

2. Your clients’ time is valuable, don’t waste it

Business clients don’t want to waste time on badly written material that is ‘too long, poorly organized, unclear, filled with jargon and imprecise.’

When I worked in corporate law firms twenty years ago, many were spending millions rewriting documents into plain and accessible language. Clients demanded clear advice that:

explained the implications for their business
they could understand quickly
they could share with decision-makers without having to spend hours writing a summary.

3. Using jargon can make you look less confident

Technical terms can be a useful shorthand. If you’re speaking to another expert you probably don’t need to explain them. But use with care.

Using jargon can also make you look like you lack confidence and are trying hard to impress. One study published in Science Direct concluded that people with lower status within a group are more likely to use buzzwords, complex language, acronyms, and legalese. This seems to be a way of trying to show they belong to the in-group.

The more confident people are of their position, the less they need to rely on jargon.

And isn’t that how you want to come across?

4. Clear and concrete language makes you more trustworthy

The more concrete and factual your language, the more likely people are to believe you. At least according to a 2010 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

It’s a bit like the writers’ adage of ‘show, don’t tell’. Describe something people can see in their mind’s eye, and they’re more likely to trust what you’re saying. Make them flounder around in abstract waffle and passive voice and they’ll think you have something to hide.

5. Being clear will make you easier to find online

SEO writers have always advised using everyday expressions to make sure your content is easy to find online. And with AI search increasing, you also need to make sure your content is well-structure, clear and easy to understand. If you can readers’ common questions clearly and simply, you’re much more likely to be understood and cited by AI crawlers as well as human readers.

6. Simpler language helps you sound like a human

When you’re aiming to build credibility with clients you never want to sound like you’ve just churned out AI ‘workslop’.

The list of ‘tells’ of AI-generated content change regularly. But most of them are lifted straight from the corporate-ese script book:

using generalisations rather than specific details
repeated stock phrases and jargon
unwillingness to take a position or show emotion
no fresh perspective or insight
very structured polished sentences with formal language, rhetoric and grammar.

So even if you have written every word yourself, overdoing the professional language might just make you sound like an AI.

But can writing really be professional and conversational?

Absolutely. In fact, writing conversationally might be the best way to sound like you know what you’re doing.

If you don’t believe me, just ask Warren Buffett.

“Write with a specific person in mind. When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.

No siblings to write to? Borrow mine: Just begin with ‘Dear Doris and Bertie.'”
Warren Buffett – Introduction to US Securities and Exchange Commission Plain English Handbook

Bear in mind, the opposite of a conversation is a monologue.

And you risk that no-one is listening.