In business, there’s a constant temptation to convert the phrases we use into acronyms. As we’ve shared before, using acronyms like “SMB” (small and medium business) inside a business can make an acronym seem so normal that soon, you’ll start using those acronyms when you’re talking with customers. Unfortunately, those customers often have no idea what you’re talking about. And worse, they may be embarrassed by their perceived ignorance, they won’t ask what you’re talking about–as they slowly ease out the door.

Acronyms are as old as BC, or BCE

As hard as it may be to believe, the online use of the acronym “LOL” for “laughing out loud” has been around for 25 years. (BTW, LOL for “lots of love” preceded it “offline” by decades.) Acronyms have been around for thousands of years. How long? The word “Tanakh,” the Hebrew name for the collection of writings in the Jewish canon and source of the Christian Old Testament, is an acronym formed from the first Hebrew letters of the words given to the sections of the canon: Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim.

Acronyms are everywhere, and for good purposes: They speed up conversations by eliminating the need to repeat multi-word phrases everyone knows already. Acronyms also help form tribal languages that differentiate authentic members of a group (the “laughing out loud” tribe) from the inauthentic (the “lots of love” folks).

Acronyms can make customers feel like you and they aren’t speaking the same language

However, there is one place where acronyms should NEVER appear: In content you create for customers. That’s because customer content should be focused on helping customers, not confusing them. And acronyms are as likely to confuse as they are to help.

When you are writing ad copy, answering questions or doing anything helpful for a customer, assume they don’t know what any acronym means. Use words and phrases anyone can understand. Effective customer communications comes by following the lesson found in the word HELP, which stands for, well, help.

(A version of this post originally appeared in Idea Email, published by Hammock Inc., the customer and content marketing company that hosts SmallBusiness.com)