According to the makers of the new Outlook plug-in called ToneCheck, studies show that tone and language choices cause e-mail messages to be misinterpreted 50% of the time.
Tone is very hard to get right in an email and to some degree is influenced by individual interpretation. Nonetheless Microsoft has developed an Outlook plug in that checks the tone of emails for you and aims to prevent angry or misunderstood email.
It’s seamlessly integrated in to your email so it doesn’t slow you down.
It’s currently free whilst it is in beta; preview phase allowing for usability testing.
ToneCheck is used like spell checker. It analyses your e-mail and make suggestions about which sentences which have strong emotional components based on the intensity of 8 primary emotions. As with spell checker it is up to the user to decide whether changes are made.
“As a business the wrong tone can turn-off customers, tick people off, cause you to lose sales. ToneCheck™ helps people write better and prevent them from saying stupid things.”
ToneCheck.com
It may not be necessary to use all the time but perhaps useful when sending a particularly stressful email whether it be late at night, towards the end of a product or to particularly sensitive business partners.
“You might be the most diplomatic person around, but the fact remains that people tend to misinterpret what others say. Picking the right words to use in an email is never easy, and the chances of you coming up with something that will have a negative value if the reader wants to look for it can never be subjugated completely. They can, however, be minimised considerably by using a tool like Tone Check."
Killer Start Ups, July 2010
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