ToneCheck is an Outlook plugin that checks the tone of your email to prevent unintentional angry emails from exploding into workplace disasters. With more corporate communication relying on emails instead of phone calls and face to face conversations it can be easy to unintentionally send an email that sounds angry or demeaning to a fellow employee. That’s where this Outlook plugin steps in.
ToneCheck will “read” your email before you send to figure out if you have used phrases or terms that would convey anger or sound humiliating to the recipient. The plugin automatically scans for these key phrases and terminology to figure out if your email is angry, bitchy, arrogant or mean and can help you figure out how a recipient will respond to your email.
This is an important functionality since many users cannot correctly figure out the tone of emails they receive. In the business place an email that accidentally conveys anger or makes the recipient upset can affect the bottom line in terms of lost productivity and even in turnover down the line.
The ToneCheck tool essentially replaces asking another user to read your email before you hit send, which is very helpful for supervisors who may not want to share a sensitive email with a third party.
The tool will identify key phrases that could upset or humiliate the email recipient, but it won’t change the email automatically. So, if you want to be a bit demeaning the software will still let you, but you won’t be able to feign ignorance later.
If you find that ToneCheck is suggesting too many changes, you can adjust the sensitivity of the tool to make it less sensitive, or if the complaints continue to pour in, you are able to make ToneCheck more sensitive.
Right now the ToneCheck plugin is free, but the company hopes to see adoption by businesses down the line as HR departments and managers recognize the cost of upsetting and angry emails. The company is working on versions of the tool for Google Apps and for Lotus notes according to CNet.
ToneCheck works with Outlook, so it is designed for a corporate setting and you should be able to integrate it with your workflow and your IT system.
You can see a review of ToneCheck from CNet below.