We believe feedback is one of the most important resources available to us as content professionals. It’s an invaluable tool that helps with career progression, success on new projects, developing different skill sets and broadening experience – all while creating copy that’s interesting, insightful and on-brief. All too often, this step can be missed when working freelance with agencies, and we’re pleased to stand out from the crowd in this way.

We take feedback seriously and we always want it to be a positive and constructive experience. That’s why we train all of our copy editors to give feedback in the most effective and helpful way. However, that’s only half of the story. Applying feedback can be a tricky exercise, so we’ve created this handy guide to help you to get the most out of it.

Subbing standard is the level we ask all copywriters and transcreators to reach on their projects. When your work is subbing standard, it’s ready to go into editing with no amends and each piece you submit is:

Of course, each project is different and we don’t expect you to be able to nail it with no support. That’s why we have a dedicated training week at the start of each new project, designed to help you to reach subbing standard and remain on the project long term. It’s also why our copy editors consistently send feedback and amends when pieces aren’t quite there, giving you the opportunity to make revisions in line with the brief.

When our copy editors give feedback, they’re not simply asking you to change one thing in one place – they’re focusing in on the larger issues that might be holding you back from reaching subbing standard. They’re looking to help you to build a skill that can be used on this piece, and the next one, and the one after.

Feedback should help you to:

This way, your writing or transcreation is more likely to be at subbing standard the first time, which means fewer rounds of amends and a speedier process for you next piece.

We know that nobody ever submits something they think isn’t quite right, which is why feedback along the lines of ‘The tone of voice doesn’t meet the brief’ isn’t super helpful. When you receive feedback, it should contain an explanation of why something doesn’t quite work, how you can tell, and what you can do to improve it.

For example, perhaps the tone of voice isn’t meeting the brief. Maybe it’s too formal. An example of good feedback would be:

The tone of voice here is a bit more formal than we’re looking for with this brief. You can tell by looking at the word choices. Words like ‘impeccable’ and ‘circumspect’ are a bit too high level – focus on finding alternatives with fewer syllables like ‘precise’ and ‘careful’. A look in the online thesaurus can help if you’re stuck.

From this feedback, you can tell that word choice is a key indicator of tone of voice, and that longer words tend to point to a more formal one. The next time you work on this brief, you can have this in mind from the start and can scan through during your final checks for any words that could be simplified, reducing the chances of having amends requested.

We ask our copy editors to structure their feedback for you in quite a specific way. It’s designed to explain what the issue is, where it’s come up and how you can solve it going forward. Here’s an example of what it might look like in practice:

This final section – practical solutions for solving the problem – is very helpful for giving you new ways to approach the text. If these are missing in your feedback, get in touch with the copy editor to check whether they have any tips for you so you can be sure to nail it next time.

Because the focus is on skills rather than single issues, you should never receive more than three different skills to work on in your feedback (unless they’re very, very small). This is designed to give you a chance to really work on those things, seek out other instances in your allocation and make sure to nail them in time for the next submission.

There might be more than three things to work on overall, and if that’s the case, it’s likely that the work will come back to you for a second round of amends, and even a third. This is not unusual – especially if you’re new to a project – so don’t be disheartened. The process is created this way to give you the best chance of success. The first few weeks on a project might feel quite intense, but the next new project will be easier, and the next, and the next, until you only need a couple of tries on a new brief to get to grips with it.

As noted above, copy editors are rarely pointing out something to change in one place. When they give an example, it’s to help you identify a broader issue so you can read through every piece before you submit and see where else the issue applies.

It’s very important to take this step, as the pieces will need to be sent back to you again if the changes aren’t broadly applied. If you’re not sure you understand the feedback, or if you’re not clear on how to identify the issues elsewhere, you can message your copy editor on Slack to check. It’s better to ask than to assume, so don’t be shy!