Money talks (and it’s pedantic)
The case for incorporating jargon
Most etiquette experts agree that talking about money is taboo. That’s because money is often a deeply personal topic. It touches on people’s sense of self-worth, which can make frank conversations about finances potentially painful. This can lead to lower financial literacy and decision paralysis.
So, if you’re like me, and you spent the last two years building financial products that can trigger these deep-seated anxieties, it’s important to be intentional about the balance between transparency, plain language, and information overload.
Experience at scale
In my time as the content strategist on Shopify’s financial solutions UX team, I worked on products that help merchants manage their cashflow. This included things like Capital, Payments, Fraud Protect, and billing. As I learned more about the space, I had to confront my own biases about money, and my newfound empathy helped me use language to lower the barrier of entry for entrepreneurship. We can’t assume that everyone knows the nuances of payouts or shipping rates or charging taxes. However, we do know that the long-term success of their business relies on building this knowledge.
This is where things can get tricky. While it’s true that most business owners start with little-to-no e-commerce experience, some are already deeply knowledgeable industry leaders. Throw in the fact that money is already an incredibly sensitive topic, and we’ve got our work cut out for ourselves in finding a common language.
It was our job as a UX team to navigate these murky financial waters and preemptively address complex questions. It soon became obvious that I had to reframe my thinking to account for things like compliance, stress, and financial literacy (or lack thereof). Almost every project had external, legally mandated constraints built in from the outset, so we needed to get creative.
The ideas below are what became my compass over time. The thing that surprised me most was how I changed my approach to plain language. As a content strategist, I was used to evangelizing plain language to anyone who would listen — but I’ve come to realize that this isn’t always possible. I needed to find ways to convey technical requirements or complicated financial concepts without alienating or confusing merchants.
Educate when it makes sense
Aside from etiquette, one of the reasons money talk is so off-limits in polite company is that it’s just plain confusing. People’s experience and expertise can vary wildly, and there’s a high potential for lopsided power dynamics that makes it hard to find common ground.
In his preface to A Plain English Handbook: How to create clear SEC disclosure documents, Warren Buffett tells writers to have a specific audience in mind. “When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters… 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.”
The crucial point here is that Buffett doesn’t conflate his sisters’ lack of experience with a need to provide less information. They rely on his report to make financial decisions, and he ensures that those decisions are well-informed. In his recent annual report, he provides factual financial analysis, with terms like “impairment of intangible assets,” “acquisition-related amortization,” and “accretion”.
Buffett’s writing is peppered with informal anecdotes and historical precedents that give readers a chance to expand on their knowledge. Experts are validated by the technical precision, and novice investors gain a better understanding of the industry, along with some fancy new words.
Plain…to a point
With over a million merchants using Shopify, it’s not feasible to lump them all into a single group, nor is it possible to consistently address each of their individual needs. We need to account for a broad range of people without being too simplistic for some, or prohibitively complex for others. Not only that, but as merchants build their businesses they’re constantly leveling up their financial acumen, both within Shopify and from external sources. As they learn new processes, tools, and technical terminology, it’s next to impossible to pinpoint their experience at a given moment.
Buffett’s approach caters to more readers by appealing to a variety of expertise levels. It doesn’t even matter whether they could spell “accretion” before the report, since Buffett surrounds it with enough context to give it meaning. And while he advocates for plain language, it doesn’t come at the cost of accuracy and (the appropriate level of) complexity.
The Nielsen Norman Group suggests choosing words that are familiar to your audience, and only using jargon for specialized user groups. Generally, this is sound advice, but when users are tasked with making important financial decisions about their businesses, simple (or even familiar) language can erode trust. In these cases, ask yourself a few questions to determine whether a niche term is required:
- Is there only one standard term for the concept that is widely accepted in the industry? If so, would using a simpler alternative mislead those who are familiar with it?
- Is there a decision to be made with the information I’m providing?
- Where would a user go to find out more? Would they get more details or explanation if they did a web search of the term?
- Could users have encountered the term anywhere else in the product? In the Help Center? In forums? If so, how is it used in those places?
- Can I find out how users talk about the concept by reading support tickets, testing transcripts, or through conversations with them?
If you answer “yes” to a few of these questions, then you can start to build a rationale, and think about how you’ll avoid alienating general audiences with technical language. Here are some strategies that have worked for me:
Leverage context
If the technical content is part of a larger flow, think about ways you can introduce pieces of it earlier, before users are expected to interpret it and apply it to decision-making. Stress makes people prone to more irrational decisions, so injecting complexity when the stakes are still low creates familiarity and coherence as they heighten.
Lean on documentation
Link out to help articles that can provide more details. Users who want this information can take time to learn more about their use case, and maybe even gain some knowledge that will be useful to them in the future.
Build financial literacy
Terms are only jargon until you know what they mean. If you’re not confident that users are comfortable with a term, explain it to them. Don’t shield users from difficult financial concepts even when they’re part of an automated process. If there’s something they will eventually need to know, start small, connect it to a more familiar term, and show it in more than one context, so users are able to apply it in different situations.
Rethink readability
If you generally aim for your content to be at a specific reading level, know that technical terminology can often infect surrounding language. Run the string through a readability tool without the term, and get it to at least a grade level or so below your usual recommendations. This will keep you in check and ensure that you’re not on a slippery slope of complexity.
First money, then the world
Money is tied to where we live, to the food we eat, and to our leisure, but there’s a strange dissonance between its importance and the reticence it inspires. Most of the things I learned from thinking about money also apply to other industries, like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, or anywhere that users must comply with legal regulations. However, very little guidance or UX best practices exist about how to do this kind of work well. I’d love to hear about the strategies that have worked for you (or not!).
Huge thanks to Ryan Bigge for his help with this blog post. He played a big role in informing my thinking while providing thoughtful edits and ideas throughout the process (and in general) ♥️
