One of the greatest movies of all time may not have been as great if the script called for language like this.

Quote Source: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily A New Hope

Now compare that to what Princess Leia actually said. This is the language that helped create iconic lines.

We laugh. But how many times do we see this type of language from businesses? 

“At this time, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for allowing us at Wayne Enterprises to help you leverage your business’s core competencies, meet your revenue goals and expand the reach of your diverse service areas.”

What if, instead, they simply said this:

“Thank you for choosing Wayne Enterprises.”

Compare those two statements. They imply the same message. But one of them is impactful while the other is a turn-off.

If you don’t talk in flowery, jargon-filled statements in real life then you shouldn’t talk like that in your communications, in your copy, in your presentations or in your emails.  If you do talk like that in real life, then…you need to get a life.

In today’s distracted economy the average human’s attention span is 8 seconds. That’s less than the attention span of a goldfish!

That means you’ve got 8 seconds to get your message across. And you’re only able to do that if you use clear, concise messaging and language that’s easy for your customers to quickly understand. 

When you communicate, you have to communicate in a way that your customers want. And that’s usually in the simplest way possible.We’ve all seen businesses that have language they use on their website or even when they’re talking directly to their customers that are just filled with jargon and complex terms. Most of the time, when businesses use that language, they do it to sound smart. But all that complex language does is really just confuse the customer.

And when you confuse, you lose. 

So take out the jargon. Replace it with simple terms that help your customer quickly understand how you’re going to help solve their problems.

When you lose the jargon and use simple language you’ll be much more impactful. You’ll be much more influential. Your customers will be more loyal. And your business will thrive.

P.S. No, I actually didn’t create those Shakespeare-inspired lines from Princess Leia. They came directly from Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily A New Hope. I have the whole collection of books, and I love ‘em. If you like Star Wars or Shakespeare, or both, you may love these books too.