(Forbes) - We’ve all done it. It’s so easy to slip “corporate speak” into conversation, telling someone you’ll “circle back” on a topic or “scale up” your efforts. You may even casually drop acronyms like ESG, SRI, HNW, and HENRYs when chatting with your friends from outside the financial services world – receiving confused looks in return. Hopefully, you’ve never dropped “synergies” into a casual chat, but the temptation may have been there. Jargon has infiltrated our lives.
We may bemoan annoying jargon as much as we catch ourselves using it, but we also may not realize how detrimental these language choices are in marketing and communications. This is particularly true in the world of financial services, as dealing with money and numbers is often confusing and intimidating for current and prospective clients.
There are reasons why jargon exists, of course. Those in a given industry like to create shortcuts to discuss topics that regularly come up in conversation. Using the “secret language” of an industry also shows that you’re an insider. You know what people are talking about.
But this latter reason for using jargon is dangerous in marketing. Rather than showing your insider knowledge of a topic or your firm’s specialty, jargon may cause a potential client to turn away. To them, your marketing material, stuffed with acronyms and words like “beta” and “hedging,” is not a sign that you understand the industry; it’s a sign that you can’t communicate in a way that they need you to.
Keep it Simple
Part of why I started the wealth management marketing firm The Rudin Group was because I wanted to de-jargonize the industry. I was disappointed with the marketing efforts I saw, which made wealth management seem out of touch with the very people advisors were trying to attract. The digital transformation of the industry brought the opportunity to democratize and reach new clients. But almost as soon as wealth management went digital, the industry began developing new words like “digital transformation,” “robo-advisors,” and “fintech” – complicating the business yet again.
These meaningless and misleading cliches do little to inform potential or existing clientele. Instead, they add yet another layer of confusion, encouraging readers to look away. A quick Google search of financial jargon shows article after article from industry professionals and journalists defining words and concepts for the average reader. This should not be necessary. Marketers should know that in the digital age, attention spans are short. We owe our readers clear content that gets straight to the point in outlining client benefits. What our consumers don’t understand can easily be interpreted as a lack of transparency.
Now is not the time to leave clients feeling unmoored and confused. As McKinsey & Co wrote in a blog in the early days of the pandemic, “In the context of COVID-19, superior customer experience means clarity and transparency, support for digital tools with which many customers are still unfamiliar, and new products and services for customers in distress.” Clients today are likely to be stressed out and concerned about their investments. They want easy answers and clear insights.
As surprising as it may seem, the average literacy rate in the US is estimated to be around the eighth-grade level. Professional medical associations recommend that medical information and news be shared at this level, ensuring understanding by readers. The financial world needs to take a similar approach. The average investor or wealth management client is not likely to know most financial jargon. What seems like daily conversation to us is likely to be an opaque read for them. Think of it this way: your firm’s current and prospective clients shouldn’t need to Google words from your communications with them in order to understand what you are saying.
The clarity needed in marketing communications goes beyond just cutting out the use of jargon. Smart marketers will opt for shorter sentences, the use of an active voice, simpler words and general improved readability. Marketing materials don’t need to read like Harry Potter, but they shouldn’t be the Harvard Law Review either.
It’s easy to forget that what our consumers don’t understand can easily be interpreted as a lack of transparency. Finance and banking has long had a reputation as being opaque and evasive. The winning wealth managers will make sure that they defy that reputation, giving their clients a reason to trust them.
