Creative alarm bells

How to give feedback

Whenever I get feedback on copy I’ve written—certain warning signals, certain phrases — preceding client-requested changes alarm me.

“Client feels…”

“Client thinks…”

“Client wants…”

Why? Because there is a certain set of tried and tested criteria you can turn to when evaluating creative work. And none include feelings, thoughts or desires.

Great creative feedback comes from comparing the delivered work against the brief. Does it answer the single-minded proposition? Is it new? Or at the least, does it say the same thing we’ve heard before but in a new way?

Here’s an example: “Client feels the red is not the right colour for this audience.” (Actual feedback).

If the piece in question is an anti-communist campaign, perhaps the client’s feelings are worth heeding. And if your creative team used red for an anti-communist piece, bend ‘em over because the client gets to kick them in the arse. But in the context of a price promotion eDM for a retail product? Then feelings have no bearing whatsoever on the effectiveness or appropriateness of the use of red.

So what does?

Tested work. Has red worked before? Why? Why not? What’s the subject line? How much do you know about your reader? Will they give a toss about the colour? Is the offer competitive? Relevant? Timely?

At a certain point, communication stops being an art and becomes a science.

There are many ways to evaluate the quality of the solution to a given problem, but feelings are not one of them.

Being aware of the language you use in communicating also serves you in another way. Consider the confidence the following phrase instills in you:

“I think the play button should be on the right hand side.”

Now gauge your confidence in this one:

“Play buttons positioned on the right hand side, above the fold, deliver 17% more click-through.”

I made that percentage up, and digital “folds” are dubious at best, but the point is you can’t argue with solid evidence, whatever the number.

That said, I’ll caveat with this: “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” — Neil Gaiman.