Add to Slack

72% of leaders say tone matters most

Poor message tone costs 100-person companies €420K yearly. 91% of workers have experienced misunderstood Slack messages.

Fix it before you send. Flat pricing from €10/month

Based on workplace communication research: CPP Global, Grammarly & Harris Poll

AI Disclaimer: Tone uses AI technology to analyze messages and provide suggestions. While we strive for accuracy, AI-generated responses may contain errors or inaccuracies. Please review all suggestions carefully before sending messages, as Tone is not a substitute for human judgment.

The Science Behind Tone in Text Messages

Research shows that text messages are fundamentally different from spoken communication—and that's why tone gets misunderstood.

Why Text Messages Are Misunderstood

In face-to-face conversation, we rely on non-verbal cues to understand tone:

  • Voice prosody: pitch, rhythm, volume, pauses
  • Facial expressions: smiles, frowns, raised eyebrows
  • Body language: gestures, posture, eye contact

In text messages, all of these are missing. Without these cues, people compensate with "textisms"—punctuation, spacing, capitalization, emoji—but these can be misinterpreted, especially by people who don't know you well.

Negative Interpretation Bias

People tend to read neutral or ambiguous messages more negatively than intended—especially when they feel uncertain or don't trust the sender. In professional settings, matching emotional tone significantly affects satisfaction and communication outcomes.

Source: Communication research, ScienceDirect 2025

Sarcasm & Humor Are Hardest

About 18% of misinterpretations occur when receivers miss playful or sarcastic intent in text messages. These subtle cues are the most challenging to convey and interpret accurately.

Source: Computers in Human Behavior Reports, ScienceDirect 2025

The Hidden Cost

Misunderstood tone leads to conflict, hurt feelings, and damaged relationships. In professional settings, it affects collaboration, trust, and career growth.

Common Tone Problems We Detect

These are the most common tone issues that lead to misunderstandings in workplace communication.

1. Passive-Aggressive Tone

❌ Problematic:

"I guess if you have time, maybe you could look at this. No rush though."

✅ Improved:

"Could you review this by end of day? Let me know if you need more time."

Why it's problematic: Passive-aggressive messages create confusion and resentment. The recipient senses the underlying frustration but can't address it directly.

2. Defensive Tone

❌ Problematic:

"I already explained this. Did you even read my last message?"

✅ Improved:

"Let me clarify: [restate key point]. Does this help?"

Why it's problematic: Defensive messages escalate conflict instead of resolving it. They make the recipient feel attacked and less likely to collaborate.

3. Unclear or Ambiguous

❌ Problematic:

"We should probably discuss this."

✅ Improved:

"Let's discuss the Q4 budget. Can we schedule 30 min this week?"

Why it's problematic: Vague messages create uncertainty and require back-and-forth clarification, wasting everyone's time.

4. Too Formal or Cold

❌ Problematic:

"Per your request, please find attached the document. Kindly review at your earliest convenience."

✅ Improved:

"Here's the document you requested. Let me know if you have any questions!"

Why it's problematic: Overly formal language in casual channels like Slack can come across as distant, unfriendly, or even sarcastic.

Why Tone?

Your team's privacy. Your manager's peace of mind.

Managers pay for the workspace. Everyone gets better at communication. Nobody gets monitored.

Tone analysis helps you communicate more effectively by catching problematic language before you send—reducing conflict, improving collaboration, and building stronger workplace relationships. Get real-time feedback on passive-aggressiveness, defensiveness, and unclear messaging.

Real-Time Analysis

Get instant feedback before sending. AI-powered analysis detects passive-aggressiveness, defensiveness, and unclear communication.

🤖

AI Suggestions

Intelligent recommendations powered by Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude to improve clarity and professionalism.

📊

Context-Aware

Considers channel context, recipient info, and thread history for personalized, relevant feedback.

🔒

Private by Design

Only YOU see your analysis. No surveillance, no reporting. Messages analyzed in real-time, never stored.

📈

Track Progress

Monitor improvement over time with personal stats and insights to identify growth areas.

🌍

Global Teams

Perfect for non-native speakers. Ensures correct tone and catches cultural nuances in translation.

How It Works

1

Install

Click "Add to Slack" to install Tone to your workspace

2

Authorize

Grant Tone permission to analyze and suggest improvements

3

Analyze

Run `/tone Your message here` or use "Analyze tone" shortcut

4

Improve

Review suggestions and send your improved message confidently

Example of Tone usage in Slack showing tone analysis interface

See Tone in action: Real-time tone analysis directly in Slack

Simple, Flat Pricing

One flat price for your entire workspace. No per-user fees. Unlimited messages for all team members.

Free

10 tone checks/month

€0/month

Perfect for trying out Tone

Starter

1-5 users

€10/month

Unlimited usage

Team

6-15 users

€39/month

Unlimited usage

Business

16-30 users

€89/month

Unlimited usage

Professional

31-50 users

€149/month

Unlimited usage

Enterprise

50+ users

€249/month

Unlimited usage

✅ 14-day free trial • ✅ Unlimited messages • ✅ Cancel anytime

The Future: Beyond Tone Analysis

Tone analysis is just the beginning. We're building toward a comprehensive conversation and negotiation assistant for written communication.

Negotiation Principles

Help you write messages that focus on interests, not positions. Suggest win-win language and collaborative phrasing that leads to better outcomes.

Difficult Conversations

Prepare for challenging discussions with calibrated questions and emotional intelligence techniques—proven methods from world-class negotiators, adapted for written communication.

Built specifically for written communication—where tone is harder to control and misunderstandings are more common than in face-to-face conversations. We're bringing proven negotiation and communication frameworks into the digital age.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can managers see how their team uses Tone?

No. Never. Only you see your tone analysis and usage. Managers pay for the workspace subscription, but they only see their own personal usage—just like everyone else on the team. No reporting. No surveillance. No individual tracking.

Why we built it this way: Communication improves when people feel safe to learn. The moment it becomes surveillance, trust disappears and the tool stops working.

What languages does Tone support?

Tone analyzes messages in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and more (powered by multilingual AI models). It's especially helpful for non-native English speakers who want to ensure their tone comes across correctly when communicating with international teams.

How is this different from Slack's built-in features?

Slack doesn't analyze tone. We integrate directly into Slack via the `/tone` command, giving you real-time analysis before you hit send. Think of us as a communication coach that helps improve your message tone in real-time.

Do you store our messages?

No. We analyze your message in real-time and immediately discard it. We only store aggregated statistics (like "you checked tone 5 times this week")—never your actual message content. Your messages are sent to AI providers (Claude or Gemini) for analysis and automatically deleted from their systems within 7-55 days per their retention policies.

Why not just use Grammarly?

Grammarly is excellent for grammar, spelling, and writing polish across documents and emails. We're laser-focused on improving message tone in Slack—helping you communicate more effectively in real-time team conversations.

Feature Grammarly Business Tone
What it does Comprehensive writing assistant Tone improvement in Slack
Best for Documents, emails, all writing Real-time team messages
Privacy Individual accounts Manager pays, team stays private
Price (50 users) ~€750-1,250/month €149/month
Focus Grammar + tone + style Message tone in Slack

Think of it this way: Grammarly = Your writing editor | Tone = Your communication coach. Both are valuable. We're not competitors—we solve different problems.