8 Tools to Audit and Improve Your Inclusive Language

Why Inclusive Language Matters for Brand Visibility

Diversity, inclusion, and belonging have evolved far beyond traditional human resources initiatives. They are now core components of brand reputation, customer experience, and long-term business viability. For modern businesses, particularly those in service-oriented industries, healthcare, and technology, the way you communicate directly impacts how your audience perceives your competence, empathy, and cultural awareness. In a digital-first world, your words are often the first point of contact between your brand and a potential customer or employee.

Inclusive language is the practice of using words and phrases that do not discriminate against or marginalize people based on their identity, background, ability, or socioeconomic status. It is not about policing speech or enforcing rigid political correctness; rather, it is about removing unnecessary barriers to understanding and connection. By choosing precise, respectful terminology, you ensure that your message reaches the widest possible audience without inadvertently alienating segments of your community.

When you use inclusive language, you signal to your audience that you see them and that you respect their lived experiences. This builds trust, which is the currency of modern marketing. In an era where AI search engines and generative models are increasingly surfacing content based on sentiment, relevance, and user satisfaction, brands that demonstrate authenticity and inclusivity are more likely to be cited as authoritative sources. Search algorithms are becoming sophisticated enough to detect tone and bias, rewarding content that serves diverse user intents effectively.

Consider this: over 70% of potential employees and customers prefer to engage with companies that actively foster diversity and inclusion. This isn’t just a moral imperative; it is a tangible business imperative. Retention rates improve when employees feel seen and respected. Customer satisfaction rises when marketing materials reflect the diversity of the buying public. And your brand becomes more resilient in a crowded marketplace where differentiation is key.

But how do you ensure your communication is truly inclusive? It is easy to have implicit biases slip into everyday language, especially when writing at scale under tight deadlines. The solution lies in combining conscious effort with the right tools and resources. Below, we explore eight practical resources to help you audit, automate, and improve your inclusive language practices, ensuring your brand remains relevant and respectful.

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Automated Tools for Real-Time Feedback

Automation is a powerful ally in the quest for inclusive communication. By integrating specialized tools into your daily workflow, you can catch exclusionary language before it reaches your audience. These tools act as a second pair of eyes, highlighting potential issues and suggesting alternatives in real-time. This proactive approach reduces the cognitive load on writers and editors, allowing them to focus on creativity and strategy while the software handles bias detection.

Better Allies

Better Allies is a Slackbot designed to help teams shift their language toward greater inclusivity. Inspired by the book Better Allies by Karen Catlin, this tool identifies non-inclusive terms in real-time and offers constructive alternatives. It operates within the communication channels where most daily interactions occur, making it an unobtrusive yet effective educational resource.

What makes Better Allies particularly useful is its customizability. You can add specific words you want to avoid, such as “guys” or “crazy,” and set personalized suggestions that align with your company’s specific values. This allows the tool to adapt to your team’s unique communication style and goals, rather than imposing a generic set of rules.

By integrating Better Allies into your daily messaging platform, you create a culture of continuous learning. Team members receive gentle nudges to reconsider their word choices, fostering a more thoughtful and respectful dialogue. Over time, these small adjustments become habitual, leading to a more inclusive organizational culture without the need for heavy-handed enforcement.

Textio

Textio is an augmented writing platform that provides comprehensive feedback on your content. It goes beyond basic grammar checks, offering deep insights on bias, tone, and clarity. Textio uses natural language processing to analyze your writing against a vast database of successful communications, helping you understand how your words might be perceived by different demographics.

With Textio, you can score your content for inclusivity. The platform highlights biased language and suggests improvements to make your writing more engaging and accessible. This is particularly valuable for recruiting materials, where gender-neutral and inclusive language can significantly broaden your candidate pool. By removing subtle biases that might deter qualified applicants, you ensure a fairer hiring process and a more diverse workforce.

Textio also provides team analytics, allowing you to track progress over time. This data-driven approach helps you understand your team’s communication patterns and identify areas for improvement. You can see which types of bias are most common in your organization and tailor your training programs accordingly, creating a feedback loop that drives continuous improvement.

Company Bots

Beyond off-the-shelf solutions, you can create custom bots to enforce your organization’s style guide. For example, a Chrome extension can review content in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or other platforms, flagging terms that do not align with your inclusive language standards. This level of customization ensures that your specific brand voice and values are upheld across all communications.

This approach gives you full control over the vocabulary and guidelines your team follows. It ensures consistency across all communications, from internal emails to external marketing materials. By embedding these checks directly into the creation process, you reduce the need for post-hoc editing and ensure that inclusivity is baked into the content from the start.

Foundational Resources for Guided Learning

While automation helps catch errors, true inclusive communication requires a deeper understanding of why certain terms are problematic. Foundational resources provide the context and guidance needed to make informed choices. They help writers understand the historical and social implications of language, enabling them to communicate with greater empathy and precision.

Inclusive Language Guides

An inclusive language guide is a living document that outlines terms to avoid and alternatives to use. These guides cover a wide range of topics, including gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and socioeconomic status. They serve as a central source of truth for your organization, ensuring that everyone is using the same terminology and understanding the same principles.

Creating or adopting an inclusive language guide is a critical step in standardizing your communication. It serves as a reference point for your team, ensuring everyone is on the same page. When in doubt, writers can consult the guide to find the most appropriate term, reducing ambiguity and potential offense.

Some excellent examples include:

• Buffer’s Inclusive Language Guide for Startups and Tech
• Business Insider’s Race and Ethnicity Inclusive Language Guide
• Everyday Feminism’s Inclusive Language Guide on Ableism and Homophobia
• NASAA Inclusive Language Guide
• Google’s Guide for Developers in Writing Inclusive Documentation
• GLAAD Media Reference Guide

You can use these guides to inform your automation tools, such as adding specific terms to your Better Allies Slackbot or custom company bot. This creates a cohesive system where guidelines and enforcement work together, reinforcing the desired behaviors through both education and technology.

Gender Decoder

The Gender Decoder is a quick, free tool for analyzing gender bias in your writing. Originally designed for job advertisements, it can be used for any text, including marketing copy, blog posts, and internal communications. It helps you identify subtle biases that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Simply copy and paste your content into the tool, and it will provide a score indicating whether your language leans masculine, feminine, or neutral. The tool also offers insights on how your word choices might impact different audiences, helping you understand the potential reach and appeal of your message.

For example, it might flag language that is subtly coded as feminine and explain how this could affect appeal to male readers, or vice versa. This immediate feedback helps you adjust your tone to be more balanced and inclusive, ensuring that your content resonates with a diverse audience.

Educational Content for Deeper Understanding

Tools and guides are essential, but they are most effective when combined with ongoing education. Understanding the root causes of bias helps you recognize it in the wild and respond with empathy and awareness. Educational content provides the narrative and emotional context that dry guidelines often lack.

TEDTalk with Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TEDTalk on the urgency of intersectionality is a must-watch for anyone serious about inclusive communication. In just 18 minutes, she explains how race and gender bias intersect, creating unique forms of discrimination that are often overlooked. This concept is crucial for understanding why a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusion can fail.

This talk broadens your understanding of implicit bias, helping you recognize when multiple identities converge to create harm. It encourages you to speak up against prejudice and to consider the full complexity of your audience’s experiences. By understanding intersectionality, you can create content that is truly inclusive of all marginalized groups.

MTV Decoded

For a shorter, more visual learning experience, MTV Decoded offers a 5-minute video on phrases with racist origins. This concise resource highlights everyday language that may carry unintended historical baggage. It serves as a wake-up call for many, revealing how common expressions can perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Sharing videos like this with your team can spark important conversations and encourage ongoing learning. It is a low-barrier way to introduce complex topics and to foster a culture of curiosity and respect. By understanding the history behind certain phrases, writers can make more informed choices about what to include and what to avoid.

Implicit Bias Test

The Implicit Bias Test is a powerful tool for self-reflection. It measures unconscious biases, revealing associations you may not be aware of. These biases can influence your writing, even if you consciously believe you are being fair and inclusive.

Taking this test is a proactive step toward inclusive communication. It helps you examine your own assumptions and recognize when they might be influencing your language. We recommend sharing this test with your team as a starting point for collective growth. By acknowledging our own biases, we can work to mitigate their impact on our work.

Building a Culture of Inclusive Communication

Inclusive language is not a one-time fix; it is an ongoing practice. It requires commitment, resources, and a willingness to learn. By combining automated tools, foundational guides, and educational content, you can create a robust system for improving your communication. This multi-layered approach ensures that inclusivity is embedded in every aspect of your brand’s output.

Start by auditing your current language using tools like the Gender Decoder and Textio. Identify patterns of bias and areas for improvement. Then, develop or adopt an inclusive language guide and integrate it into your workflow with custom bots. This creates a safety net that catches errors before they are published.

Finally, encourage ongoing learning through videos, talks, and implicit bias tests. Make education a regular part of your team’s development, not just a one-off training session. This multi-faceted approach ensures that inclusivity becomes part of your brand’s DNA, rather than a checkbox on a compliance list. It demonstrates to your audience that you value their diversity and that you are committed to creating a welcoming and respectful environment.

As AI search and generative models continue to evolve, brands that prioritize inclusive language will stand out. They will be seen as trustworthy, authoritative, and human-centric. In a world increasingly mediated by AI, that visibility is invaluable. By taking these steps today, you position your brand for success in a diverse and dynamic future.

What steps will you take today to make your communication more inclusive?