Think about your reader before adding an acronym

Acronyms. One of the most loved and hated features of business writing. Writers love them, readers not so much, but why? And do they have a place in clear communication?

What: An acronym is a word made from the first letters of a series of words. For example, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

For the non-word nerds among us, initialisms often get lumped into this category too. But an initialism is where you say each letter of the abbreviation. For example, ROI (return on investment). And some words could be either depending on your pronunciation preferences, such as ASAP (as soon as possible).

Dr Neil James says that acronyms are ‘a short cut for the workplace writer.’ But John Sweller’s cognitive load theory shows that unnecessary complexity reduces a person’s ability to process new information. According to Aston University, this includes acronyms and initialisms, ‘which can lead to mistakes and misinterpretation’. Think about your relatives confusing LOL ‘laugh out loud’ with ‘lots of love’.

Who: Readers with low vision, cognitive disabilities and perceptual disabilities, such as dyslexia. (Books without Barriers). As for readers who use a screen reader, these programs do not always recognise acronyms and often read them as if they were full English words. This can make them incomprehensible.

Who else: Time-poor managers and customers, and readers for whom English is a new language. Attila Vágó and Aston University suggest that readers may feel too embarrassed to ask what an acronym stands for, which can alienate your colleagues and customers.

What now: Our advice applies to acronyms and initialisms in written and spoken communication. Let’s take our lead from the international standard for clear communication (ISO 24495-1) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

These resources say to put readers first by choosing words they are familiar with. This means you need to think carefully about your readers. For example, your clients may not be familiar with ‘ROI’, but your colleagues may be. Similarly, some public readers may know what ASAP stands for, but others, for whom English is a new language, may not.

For consistency, the Australian Style Guide™ recommends:

• choosing familiar acronyms that appear in the Macquarie Dictionary
• spelling out unfamiliar acronyms on first use, with the acronym in round brackets
• using all caps, but following any brand or product-specific capitalisation
• leaving out full stops between letters
• forming plurals and possessives as you would an everyday word.

For internal readers, Aston University recommends listing the acronyms your company uses and making that list part of the induction process.

For readers using screen readers, Books without Barriers recommends testing how a screen reader may sound reading an acronym by using Word’s Read Aloud tool.

If you’re writing for a broad audience, consider leaving out unfamiliar acronyms all together.

Want more information about strategies for reducing strain on readers and making your message quicker and easier to understand? Read our ebook, Write for Every Brain.

This series is about encouraging you to take small steps toward better communication. You don’t need to change everything about your communication style right now, just one small thing each week – trust the snowball effect to take care of the rest.