Team communications tools come in handy when you want to spare yourself a meeting—especially when that meeting could have been an email. On the other hand, it’s frustrating when you want to meet face-to-face, but not everyone can be in the same place, at the same time.
In both cases, you’ve got to be able to work asynchronously (async)—otherwise known as working together effectively while not in the same space together. The right tech stack will allow you to do this seamlessly. The trick is to pick tools that work well together.
Morale & productivity: Why is good team communication so impactful?
Good communication can make or break your team’s morale and productivity—people have a hard time staying motivated when they feel misunderstood. According to Forbes’ The State Of Workplace Communication In 2023, almost half of workers say their productivity takes a hit because of ineffective communication.
These days, we’re mostly communicating online, which means it’s a lot easier to get in touch. Workers are spending almost 20 hours a week on digital communication tools, and 45% of them feel more connected to their team as a result. But ease and connection aren’t necessarily the key to effectiveness.
Where is team communication most challenging?
Team communication is most challenging online. Maintaining digital connections can be exhausting, which gives productivity the opportunity to break down.
The same Forbes survey revealed that 60% of workers feel increased burnout as a result of communicating digitally, and 42% of workers experience stress when trying to form responses that convey the right tone of voice.
Your team communication tools should work to overcome these burdens by bringing back casual face-to-face interactions, eliminating unnecessary updates with automation, and by working together so employees don’t have to send the same message more than once.
10 team communication tools for seamless async workflows
We’ve selected the 10 best communication tools based on different business needs, but also on the likelihood that they’ll integrate with tools you’re already using.
Even the most elegant tech solution will be ignored if it requires too steep a learning curve. Choosing tools that integrate with each other, or those your team already uses, is key to working async.
1. Loom
We know, we’re a bit biased here—but hear us out. Bad communication breaks down productivity. And folks waste a ton of time at work wording their emails and chat messages just right to nail the perfect tone.
Those issues almost always become nonexistent when you’re together in person. Loom is the solution to bringing back face-to-face interaction when distributed teams can’t be together. Plus, it integrates with all the other tools on this list, so you don’t have to uproot your tech stack to use it.
When you create a Loom video, you record your screen and yourself simultaneously. This functionality makes the viewer feel like you’re talking directly to them and can react or comment as they watch.
Over 21 million people across 200,000 companies choose Loom to create screen recordings and videos to collaborate better with their teams.
You can record your screen—and your face—on any device using our desktop and mobile applications or the Chrome extension.
You’ll never lose those recordings either. They all live in your Loom library so you can access them at any time, and continue to share them again and again.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about recording and re-recording if you make a mistake. We have easy-to-use video editing features like auto subtitles, summaries, chapters, tasks, word removal, silence removal, and more.
You can tailor videos to your brand, trim them, stitch them together, and add custom thumbnails if you’re looking for something a bit more polished.
Pricing
Starter: $0 per month
Business: $12.50 per month (annual plan)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
We integrate with many of the most popular team communication tools already, so your workflow isn’t disrupted—just optimized. Our partners include the following and more:
Airtable
Asana
Atlassian (Jira)
Calendly
Canva
ClickUp
Figma
Gmail
Google Workspace
Notion
Salesforce
Slack
Slab
Zendesk
Zoom
2. Canva
Canva has a suite of popular collaboration tools for easily designing web and print graphics—without the need for advanced design skills. It’s also a great tool for collaborating on those designs with your team. You can comment and work together in real-time on presentations, whiteboards, docs, videos, and more.
The “Canva for Teams” plan comes with a library where you can share files and store your designs, brand assets, and templates, so even remote teams can find them.
Pricing
Canva Free: $0 per month
Canva Pro: $14.99 per month
Canva for Teams: $29.99 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Canva has an app marketplace with a treasure trove of possible custom apps you can use within their tools, as well as integrations. At a glance, you’ll see popular names like Mailchimp, Dropbox, OneDrive, Slice, DALL-E, and many more.
You can even integrate your Loom account with Canva, which will allow you to access Loom’s Quick Record directly in the app. A record button will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, so you can quickly start a recording at any time.
3. Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a suite of business applications that allows you to get your work done efficiently, wherever you are. In comparison with competitors like Microsoft Office 365 and Apple, it’s a clear leader when it comes to async communication.
Tools like comments, track changes, people chips, and version history make it easy to work with cross-functional team members when you’re not all in the same room. Video conferencing tools like Google Meet make video chat easy and integrate with Google Chat, an instant messaging solution for 1:1 conversation or a group chat.
Pricing
Business Starter: $6 per month
Business Standard: $12 per month
Business Plus: $18 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Google Marketplace has a huge library of applications you can use to integrate with their Workspace tools, like Docs, Sheets, Analytics, and even Google Calendar. Some include Loom, SAP, Tableau, Atlassian, Microsoft Teams, and Figma, but there are hundreds more.
4. Slab
Slab is a knowledge base for your employees—a one-stop shop where they can read or watch documentation even when they’re not together in an office.
A knowledge-base tool is essential for seamless asynchronous communication, and Slab shines due to its intuitive technology. It automatically sorts information for employees and is built to work with other applications you’re already using—not replace them.
Pricing
Free: $0 per month
Startup: $6.67 per month
Business: $12.50 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Because Slab was built with an integration in mind, it’s easy to streamline remote work. There are over 50 commonly used applications it’ll work with, including Loom, Github, Google Drive, Slack, Wrike, and many more.
5. Notion
Notion is a new kind of workspace and team communication software built to increase productivity by housing everything in one place—you can write, plan, and share pages with AI writing tools, automated workflows, and advanced search capabilities.
It’s a great tool used by large and small businesses for asynchronously communicating the status of projects, new tasks, or knowledge base articles with your team.
Pricing
Free: $0 per month
Plus: $8 per month
Business: $15 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Notion’s library of possible application integrations spans 80 categories—analytics, design, marketing, and security, to name a few. At first glance, you’ll see popular names like Loom, GitHub, Slack, Amplitude, and Atlassian’s Jira.
6. Zendesk
Don’t pigeonhole your tools into simply facilitating internal communication—your customers and partners are just as important. Zendesk is a service desk tool that helps you do that across chat, email, and social media sites.
You don’t have to worry about missing that Twitter comment or losing track of that forwarded email from an angry customer with Zendesk. Plus, team collaboration goes smoothly too, because everyone’s task management solution is in one place.
Pricing
Suite Team: $55 per year for 5 agents
Suite Growth: $89 per year for 5 agents
Suite Professional: $115 per year for 5 agents
Suite Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Zendesk integrates with over 1,600 applications, including tools like Loom, Harvest, Shopify, Mailchimp, and popular social media platforms. Their integrations make it easy to collect customer communications across different channels and escalate issues internally so they’re solved quickly.
7. Slack
Slack is a popular chat app used by companies around the world. It’s based on a simple principle: You should be able to easily find people, direct messages, docs, and files (yep, it’s got file storage, too)—and automate everything else.
It does more than just chat and file sharing, though. You can send audio and video clips, jump into a huddle for video calls for screen sharing, or talk things out live. It’s built around notifications and organized workspaces called channels that help to keep relevant information in one place.
Pricing
Pro: $7.25 per month
Business $12.50 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Slack also has a substantial library of applications that integrate with their tools. You’ll see popular names like Loom, Gmail, Zoom, and Salesforce on the list, but there are hundreds more.
8. Atlassian (Jira Software)
Atlassian’s Jira is a tried and true project management tool used for business communication and teamwork by over 250,000 companies. It allows you to break down big projects into manageable chunks for team members. You can use it to prioritize your list and discuss your team’s workload.
Jira software is an incredibly powerful tool that uses cloud storage to keep your data secure and scale with your organization as you grow. You can work with project management methods like Scrum, Kanban, and more, depending on your unique needs.
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Pricing
Free: $0 per month
Standard: $8.15 per month
Premium: $16.00 per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
You can integrate hundreds of apps from over 25 categories into Atlassian’s Jira Software. Some of those applications include Loom, Zephyr, Slack, Figma, Miro, Windows, and many more.
9. Gmail
Email is one of the oldest digital communication tools out there, and Gmail is one of the most popular email tools on the planet. Nowadays, it’s also integrated with Google Chat, Google Meet, and Workspace tools to make workplace communication even easier while working async.
New AI tools like smart compose make communication easier by writing emails faster and filling in the blanks as you write. It also uses gentle nudges for emails that have been sitting too long, so you stay on top of everything that comes through your inbox.
Pricing
If you already use Google Workspace, the cost of Gmail is built into that pricing model. If you’re just using Gmail as a part of Google One, you’ll use a free plan or one of their paid plans based on the amount of storage you need.
15GB: Free
100GB: $1.99 per month
200GB: $2.99 per month
2TB: $9.99 per month
Integrations
Within Google’s Workspace Marketplace, you can filter for the applications that work with Gmail. You’ll see recognizable names like Loom, Box, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Wrike alongside custom-built applications that make Gmail more powerful.
10. Zoom
More often than not, there are times when you’ve got to meet face-to-face, even when you’re not in the same room. Zoom is the best tool for a reliable video connection, and video conferences in a virtual or hybrid space.
It’s also got features like a team chat, the ability to record meetings and store them in the cloud for those who can’t join, and reactions to help you make your virtual meetings as personable as possible. You don’t have to show your face, either. Zoom supports audio calls by turning off your camera.
Pricing
Basic: $0 per year
Pro: $149.90 per year
Business: $199.90 per year
Business Plus $250 per year
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Integrations
Zoom is customizable when you integrate your account with over 2,400 apps, including tools like Loom, Kahoot, HubSpot, Salesforce, and more.
Async team communication: More strategies for success
The key to working effectively and asynchronously is to remember you’re working with other humans. That can be hard when you’re not bumping into each other at the water cooler every day to chat about your weekend plans and share family stories.
The best team communication tools work to bring a personal touch back to asynchronous collaboration. Those tools should work with your entire tech stack, keep you organized, and ease the burdens that accompany digital communication.
Replace your next meeting-that-could-have-been-an-email with Loom when you sign up for free.