Apr 6, 2022
How To Give Good Feedback: Part 2
How To Give Good Feedback: Part 1 is here, if you missed it.
Here’s the difference between bad feedback and good feedback:
😡Bad feedback:
“I don’t like the word ‘glamorous.’”
“You’re a great writer, I just don’t think you’re hitting the mark for a busy professional.”
“ALL PAGES SHOULD BE COMPLETE WITH PROPER GRAMMER(sic)”
“I like this!” (and then when I look at the site two months later all my copy has been completely rewritten and butchered)
^^ this is all real shit people have said or done to me btw
😇Good feedback:
>> “‘Camcorder’ is outdated; this should say ‘videography.’”
>> An hour-long conversation about what it’s really like to have endometriosis and have it misdiagnosed by your gyno
>> “This isn’t really how my coaching service works: I realize now why it was unclear. What happens is, (xyz)”
In the first examples, these people are either attacking me personally and directly, nitpicking tiny word choices that don’t really matter, or ignoring all the creative direction we did at the beginning and letting their own opinions get in the way.
None of them are offering tangible, actionable changes I could begin to make to their copy.
In the second examples, there is specific critique based on accuracy, OR we’re needing to talk through one of the more complex ideas we want to get across because the first draft didn’t quite get there.
Or, through seeing their work & service offerings reflected in the copy, the client has gained a lot more clarity about what it is they really need to be saying and/or showing.**
None of it is making *me* wrong, but all of it is providing critical information that I can use to make the next draft that much better.
** That last one trips up a lot of service providers, because it’s frustrating to get new information after we did so much work. But, it’s just how people’s brains work sometimes. A really thorough intake process with lots of check-ins helps. But even the best of us have to field late-stage changes. Just build that shit into your pricing, and remember that it’s all in service of a really stellar final product.
About Sam
Samantha Pollack is a Copywriter & Creative Director who works with ethically minded, mission driven businesses who are actively trying to reshape our culture (and possibly tear down the patriarchy). She’s also the founder of The Highly Sensitive Business Owner, a 12-week online program that helps HSPs & neurodivergent business owners create healthier, more sustainable systems in their work.
Sam also writes about feminism, privilege, pop culture, entrepreneurship, the creative process, and whatever else is on her mind. She currently lives in Asheville, NC.
Emails for cult thought leaders.
(Personality included.)
Want to learn how to craft emails that inspire action and engagement WITHOUT the “tried and true” (cough: patriarchal) norms we’ve all been taught?
I’m doing it, and I can show you how to do it, too.
(But sometimes, I also like to write about the books I’m reading, or the creative process, or the entrepreneurial experience, or why I hate Steve Jobs, or how I met my BFF. I’ll send you emails like that, too.)
*Just kidding. It’s only an email list.
Books. Cats. Rants. Drawrings.
(and every couple months or so, an unexplained absence 🤷🏻)
