…users are wrong.

They call things the wrong name. They have a vision of the structure of your organization that is different – sometimes radically so – than the truth. The act in irrational and unpredictable ways. And guess what? It’s OK.

The trap companies fall into too often is trying to correct the user. “That’s not really what that department is called”, “That’s not the language we use here” are the all-too-common cries of stakeholders innocently protecting the institutional structure and language. The problem with doing this is that trying to teach a user the right way to think rarely ends up in the intended goal. Instead, users get confused, projecting those bad feelings onto the brand that was simply trying to preserve it’s organizational purity.

The key to preventing this? Stop insisting that people use your terminology and structural metaphors, and instead, design how the user thinks about you. You’ll use incorrect language (organizationally, anyway), and it’ll eat at the operations-manual devotees in the organization, but ultimately, it’ll get you where you want to be: a positive relationship with your customers – one that will be much more likely to result in some type of transaction.

So, next time you’re quarreling over how to label something or how to structure the information on your site, resist the temptation to reach for the manual. Instead, listen to how people actually talk about you, and cater to them. After all, if you can’t communicate with your users effectively, all your branding work is for naught.