How to Draft a "Thank You for the Feedback" Message

Feedback can be crucial for personal, educational, and professional growth. Responding positively to feedback can help you improve your work and establish positive relationships with colleagues, clients, and managers. Learning to write an effective thank-you note in response to feedback can help you communicate better and build an excellent reputation for yourself. In this article, we explain the importance of "thank you for the feedback" notes, list the different types of feedbacks, explain how to thank somebody for their feedback, and provide some examples of thank-you messages.

Why are "thank you for the feedback" messages important?

It's essential to write "thank you for the feedback" messages in various professional settings because it helps foster good communication among team members, colleagues, and clients. Sometimes thanking somebody for the feedback serves the simple purpose of confirming that you received their feedback or relaying that you're grateful to them for taking time for you. In other circumstances, thanking somebody for their feedback is an acknowledgement of an error you may have made and that you understand how to avoid making that error in the future.

A thank-you message can also demonstrate that you've taken any criticism given to you with a positive mindset. Criticism is often necessary to learn and become better at your job, so a thank-you message tells people that you're committed to learning and improving. A thank-you message is sometimes necessary to accompany an explanation for something or even to correct a mistake somebody made in the feedback they gave to you.

What are the different kinds of feedbacks?

The type of feedback you receive determines the type of thank-you message you can write in response. People give feedback for different reasons, and it's essential to recognize what their feedback is trying to accomplish. Some different types of feedback include:

Thankful feedback

Some feedback you receive functions as a simple thank-you itself. This type of feedback usually thanks you for your effort or initiative. This feedback not only feels good to receive, but it also lets you know that you're doing a good job and that whatever you did is something worth repeating because the team leader, client, or colleague appreciates it.

Corrective feedback

Some feedback you receive corrects mistakes or errors you made. This might be a typo you've made, a mathematical mistake, or a simple error. This type of feedback usually acts as a notification. They're a way for somebody to bring a small error to your attention so you can correct it.

Coaching feedback

Unlike corrective feedback, which rarely provides a way to fix an error, coaching feedback helps you learn. Corrective feedback doesn't always require explanations or coaching because the writer of the feedback assumes you know how to fix the minor issue at hand. The purpose of coaching feedback is to notify you to correct your mistakes in the future.

Coaching feedback is most often given to people who are new to their jobs and still learning how to perform their duties. It's also useful when you start new programs, use new software and tools, and when you're working on new projects. Coaching feedback can be pretty in-depth, but this feedback can be incredibly helpful.

Related: How To Ask for Feedback After an Interview (With Tips and FAQ)

Evaluative feedback

Evaluative feedback is an assessment of something or a situation. Unlike coaching feedback, the purpose of an evaluation isn't necessarily to help you learn and better yourself. Instead, this type of feedback might assess the feasibility of a project you've suggested or evaluate the merits of a presentation you've made. This feedback focuses more on what you've written, said, or done, and not on you or your abilities and skills. This type of feedback might rank or rate your work against a set of standards, coordinate expectations, or inform decision-making.

Related: A Guide to Constructive Criticism With Tips and Examples

What if you disagree with the feedback?

Nobody always agrees with all the feedback they receive. Sometimes the person giving the feedback may misunderstand or misread something. In such cases also, it's essential to thank them for their feedback. This is important because, firstly, it's a professional courtesy, and secondly, they still took the time to try to help you, even if you disagree with the points they made. If it is important to you or the process, you can then correct the mistake they made in their feedback or provide a counterpoint to their feedback after you've thanked them.

Related: How to Handle Criticism in the Workplace

How to write a "thank you for the feedback" message

Giving a courteous and professional thanks for the feedback you've received reflects well upon your professionalism. Follow these steps to write formal "thank you" messages for different kinds of criticism or comments:

1. Determine what kind of feedback you've received

To draft a suitable "thank you" message, it's essential to understand the nature of the opinion or observation to which you're responding. Try to classify the feedback into one of the four categories, namely thankful, corrective, coaching, or evaluative. Then, draft your message accordingly.

2. Consider the contents of the feedback

Carefully read each point the person made and ask yourself if the facts are correct or if you agree with them. If they're verifiably incorrect, you can let them know of their mistake along with a "thanks" for their input. If you disagree with a subjective point they've made, try to see the issue from their point of view and strongly consider its merit.

3. Take a moment to compose yourself

This isn't necessary in all cases, but if you strongly disagree with some of the feedback you've received, take some time to ensure your response isn't an emotional one. Receiving criticism is complex, and it's natural for people to want to defend themselves. You don't want your response to sound defensive, though, so it's important to respond rationally and calmly. After taking a break, you may find you agree with their criticism even though you didn't initially.

4. Thank them for their feedback

After writing a greeting to your email, text, or letter, the best first thing to write is usually the thank-you itself. Thank them for taking the time to provide you with feedback. Then, you can move on to more specific points, if necessary. If they didn't write to you with a concrete solution or advice on what to do next or how to fix an error, you can suggest some potential solutions and ask them what they think about these ideas.

5. Sign off professionally

After you've written everything you wanted to say, make sure to sign off professionally with "regards", "sincerely", or "best" and your name. If you've written a lengthy response, you may want to finish with a second thank-you before signing off. This exhibits professionalism and courtesy.

Related: How to Address A Cover Letter (With Examples)

Thanks for the feedback examples

It can help to see some examples of thank-you messages to help you craft your own. Here are some examples of thanks for various types of feedback:

A thank-you for positive feedback

Hi Dave,

Thank you kindly for the positive feedback. It's great to know that you appreciate my work and contribution to the team. I'm going to continue putting in the same effort consistently.

Thanks again, Sherry

Related: How to Practice Gratitude While Working Remotely

A thank-you for corrective feedback

Dear John,

Thank you for pointing that out to me. I missed that mistake, but I've now corrected it. If everything else looks good, we can move ahead with the project.

Regards,
Muhammed

A thank-you for coaching feedback

Dear Ammal,

Thank you for taking the time to give me that detailed feedback and advice. I hadn't seen the report formatting document until now. I've made a note of it, and I've entered all your corrections and advice in a document I can reference for future work. Do these formatting rules apply to reports we send to clients as well, or just to internal documents?

Thanks again for all the feedback!
Kelvin

A thank-you for evaluative feedback

Dear Jack,

Thank you for the assessment. I also think the project is a good idea, and I suggest we move ahead with it. I'm going to forward the project pitch along with your proposed changes to the program director, and we can see what they say. Ultimately, it can be feasible, but I like your suggested ideas. That ought to give us a better chance at success.

Thanks again for your evaluation.

Regards,
Taylor

A thank-you for feedback with which you disagree

Dear Alex,

Thank you for taking the time to provide me with feedback. While I appreciate your point of view and your insights, I don't think all the changes you suggested are an improvement on my original copy. I can make some changes you suggested to enhance the article's readability, but some alterations you made would negatively affect the SEO score of the copy. If your priority is still to achieve a high SEO score, then all those repetitions of the keywords are necessary.

Please let me know if this is acceptable to you.

Regards,
Nigella