Business jargon serves a useful purpose internally, but when communicating externally to the department or organization, it is best to avoid using jargon and acronyms in communication.
Abbreviated terminology is helpful for those who work intimately within the industry or field because it is fast, efficient and useful in most circumstances, however does not fit well with the outside world.
Industry speak does have its time and place, but if used in outside communications, this has a tendency to undermine the effectiveness of the messages being sent. When people use acronyms and abbreviations when writing or speaking to an audience not familiar to the business jargon, it can be counterproductive and result in diminished communication.
There are several reasons for this. The most prominent being the message is going to be unsuccessfully delivered to its intended recipient. It can also lead to misunderstandings, misconstrued information, cause barriers and feelings of division, and lost confidence.
Here is how inserting business jargon and acronyms can cause problems in external communications:
• Unsuccessful message
If you don't clarify jargon and acronyms and translate these into an understanding language, this is going to immediately ensure your message is not delivered as intended which means your communication fails.
If the audience you want to convey a specific message can't decipher what you're saying, they aren't going to absorb any of what you've said and the communication effort will be fruitless.
It is better when communicating with people not familiar with industry speak to use general layman's terms so the information is easily understood.
• Misunderstandings and misconstrued information
Businesses that insert their company jargon and abbreviated acronyms into their external communications are likely to experience misinterpreted messages. In everyday conversation words generally have the same meaning, and if it varies, the context in which it is said typically qualifies any question.
Not the case with acronyms and jargon because the recipient will not have a way to try and translate based on context since the words are nonsensical to them. Instead they may try and derive their own interpretation and this quickly will turn to misunderstandings and misconstrued information.
In addition to diminishing communication, using lingo can be costly. Just imagine the consequences if a partner, supplier or other involved party misinterpreted your message!
• Lingo creates barriers
Using industry specific abbreviations tends to cause feelings of division, and this leads to the emergence of barriers. The point of communication is to share information, be understood and/or nurture a relationship; businesses who alienate their recipients are not going to grow relationships, but stifle them due to the language barriers they put up.
Alienating customers, partners, suppliers, colleagues or any other work relationship is a bad idea because along with a barrier, mistrust usually isn't too far behind.
• Lost confidence and mistrust
Using jargon and acronyms to customers is another no-no. You aren't going to impress your target market with industry lingo, instead you're likely to turn people away and see your bottom line decrease.
Think of politicians, as a business person, do you want to be perceived as deceitful, untrustworthy or as a cheat? Throughout history politicians tended to use jargon, big words and other language not easily understood as a way to impress, but instead had the opposite effect. Politicians for the most part have lost the confidence of people. Businesses who use similar tactics are likely going to lose trust with their patrons and other business relationships.
These are several good reasons to avoid business jargon and acronyms in communication. For internal purposes, these terms are useful because they help get a message across quickly and yield faster results, but generally for most audiences, it is not appropriate.
Basically what it comes down to is, if your audience understands the jargon and acronyms through familiar usage in their daily transactions, it is likely OK to insert some of this lingo into communications. On the other hand if you aren't sure, or know the audience does not participate in the industry as a part of a normal day, it is best to break things down in layman's terms so the communication can be understood.