Dealing with Conflicting Feedback
Your boss or client reviews your copy and returns it to you with comments and suggestions scribbled all over it. You're able to deal with most of this feedback (an edit here, a revision there) fairly easily. However, there are a couple of comments that conflict. In the second paragraph, one reviewer says that the copy is too “salesy,” while another reviewer writes, “This section isn't strong and motivating enough.” Who's right? Who's wrong? And who decides?
Feedback from more than one person is normal on most copywriting assignments. If you are writing copy for even a small company, then your words are going to be scrutinized by a few people. The marketing manager might review your copy first, then the sales manager might take a turn, and finally the company president might run his eyes over it. By the time you get your copy back, it's bleeding with comments, and they will not always be in sync.
If you're freelancing or working for an advertising agency, public relations agency, or major design firm, a whole committee — everyone from the creative director to the account executive — vets your copy. And that's before it gets sent to the client for even more reviews. So be prepared for plenty of feedback.
There's a natural instinct to make comments and offer suggestions when shown a piece of writing. If Harper Lee's Nobel Prize — winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was passed around an ad agency or marketing department, there would be a flurry of requests for revisions! So don't take it personally.
Get Clarity
The best way to deal with conflicting feedback is to be proactive. Ask your boss or client upfront, before you begin writing, who will review the copy. Hopefully, it will be no more than two or three people. But if the review committee is large, be sure to ask who makes the decision should there be conflicts in the feedback. Then at least you'll know who has the final word.
And don't forget that your opinion counts, too. Speak up! If the art director wants to lose a headline because he thinks it will make the piece look nicer, and the marketing manager wants to keep it, don't be afraid to take sides. “In my opinion, we should keep the headline in,” you might say. “It's a proven principle in direct marketing that a headline helps to gain attention and encourage readership.”
But what do you do if you can't get anyone to make a decision regarding conflicting feedback? Not much, unfortunately. There is no practical way to integrate two opposing comments into your copy. So you must make it clear to your boss or client that a decision needs to be made. Make your best recommendation on which way to go. Then say, “That's my suggestion. What's your decision?”
