How to Get Feedback on Videos as a Freelance Editor

How do you get feedback on videos & projects you deliver to your clients?

Getting feedback about the project you’re working on can lead to an incessant back and forth with a client, especially if you rely on email.

In the end, you’ll potentially lose track of what’s been going on and what else will have to happen for final approval to be received.

Luckily, technology comes to the rescue once again.

Getting feedback on videos is fairly easy with the right review / collaboration tool. There are a couple of excellent choices out there you should definitely consider.

In this guide, we’ll pinpoint the best ways to get feedback on your videos and we’ll also provide suggestions on handling negative comments like the true rockstar that you are.

The Best Video Feedback Tools and Platforms

Let’s start with the software products and platforms developed for the purpose of simplifying the provision of video feedback.

Some of the best options include the following:

Frame.io is a video review and collaboration software especially created for the needs of creators and the people that they partner up with. Some of the key features of the platform include the following:

• You can use the platform to upload dailies, clips, stills, storyboards, scripts and other types of work in progress files
• Effortless version management
• Frame-accurate comments to ensure clarity and precision with feedback provision
• Annotations
• Real-time approvals
• Excellent control over team permissions and who has access to a certain media
• Advanced search and filtering tools to access and sort through all your projects
• Secure file sharing
• Side-by-side version comparison capabilities

Price for Frame.io

Frame.io is free from freelancers, as long as a single plan is being used by up to two users.

The Pro plan (that gives you access to extra features) costs 15 dollars per user per month, the Team plan is available at 25 dollars per user per month and the enterprise plan comes at a custom price.

Shortcomings of Frame.io

Frame.io is incredibly user-friendly and probably one of the best choices for feedback receiving and video collaboration.

A couple of shortcomings that need to be mentioned include the following:

• There’s no way to set general admin permissions (these are assigned for each individual project)
• Some clients have experienced slow video load times
• Can be somewhat expensive for bigger teams
• Some functionality issues when viewed through a mobile device

Not specifically created for video feedback provision, Filestage enables sharing, commenting and collaboration on just about any kind of file.

Let’s start by mentioning some of the best Filestage features:

• Tapping to add comments or annotations right where they need to be
• Unlimited file sharing
• Version history available to keep track of progress
• Cloud-based, so you can log in from any device that has internet connectivity
• You can invite unlimited reviewers and collaborators
• File approval with a single click

Price for FileStage

You can decide to pay on a monthly or annual basis (obviously, the annual plans are a bit more affordable because you’re making upfront payments).

The monthly plans start at nine euro per month and go up to 195 euro per month (enterprise plans are once again custom and need to be discussed with support).

Shortcomings of FileStage

This is another great solution for video professionals who want to keep track of progress and communicate with clients effortlessly.

A few of the noteworthy shortcomings, however, are:

• Many email notifications will be generated for each step (more of an annoyance than a shortcoming)
• A bit more challenging to learn than other feedback provision and collaboration tools
• No calendar for the purpose of project scheduling

Vimeo isn’t just a video uploading platform, it also allows easy collaboration with your clients.

There are various tools and functionalities allowing you to interact with your clients:

• Tap to add comments right inside the video to ensure accuracy and easy tracking of feedback
• Vimeo record allows the visual communication of feedback
• Various permission levels when inviting collaborators to projects
• Secure and private video file sharing
• No registration required for collaborators
• No limits on video size
• Access to detailed version history
• Customizable portfolios and playlists
• Custom reports and detailed stats

Price for Vimeo

A demo version allows you to test Vimeo for free. When the trial period is over, you’ll need to choose one of the available plans – Pro at 20 dollars per month, Business at 50 dollars per month and Premium at 75 dollars per month.

Shortcomings of Vimeo

Packed with lots of features, Vimeo has just a couple of shortcomings:

• Upload process can take a while with larger files
• Some complaints about the speed of customer service provision
• Analytics and reports aren’t the most detailed or user-friendly ones

The final entry in our list is Wipster – another dedicated platform for the reviewing of audio, video and other kinds of files. Wipster excels with the following functionalities: 

• Share by email or private URL
• Track the review status of your files
• Feedback in the form of comments is instantly added to a list of tasks
• Side-by-side version comparison
• Effortless version control and toggling between versions
• Ability to create project folders and add PDFs, audio or video files to them

Price for Wipster

Individuals and freelancers can use Wipster for free but they will have access to limited functionalities.

The Team package starts at 22.5 dollars per user per month and the Enterprise package comes with a custom-set price.

Shortcomings of Wipster

A few negatives that have to be pointed out include:

• Some issue with functionalities when viewed on a mobile device
• Occasional playback issues
• Some slowdowns and problems with customer support

Handling Negative Feedback from Clients

Now that you know how to collect feedback on videos, it’s important to come up with a strategy that will enable the addressing of negative comments in a professional manner.

Let’s face it – nobody likes being criticized and most people are likely to take a bad review personally. It’s important for you as a professional to separate your personal feelings from your work.

Assessing errors and shortcomings objectively when you’re the creator can be difficult.

It’s also far from easy to decide whether a client’s request for changes/additional work is justified or not.

To handle negative feedback in the best possible way, you’ll need to prioritize a few key steps:

Don’t get defensive

As soon as you find out that a client is dissatisfied, you’ll probably go on the defensive.

After all, your work is being attacked. It’s essential to control this emotional response. The fact that a client is unhappy has nothing to do with you.

Sit down, take a breath and go through the information in the client’s comment.

When you try to process the feedback in a neutral way, you’ll potentially find an opportunity to make your video better.

Ask additional questions

Do your best to understand what a client dislikes, what their expectations are and if you’ve missed the mark in any way.

Telling them that they’re wrong right off the bat will get them equally defensive. In the end, such communication isn’t going to contribute to anything productive.

By asking more questions, you can determine whether there’s an actual issue and what the best fix is going to be.

Try to put yourself in your client’s shoes

That’s most definitely an incredibly challenging task.

You’ll have to completely shift your perspective and look at your work from a different angle. In the end of the day, however, everybody wants the same thing – to complete the project successfully.

So, what could be keeping a client from being 100 percent happy?

If you attempt viewing your work impartially, you could actually find the answer to that question by yourself.

Offer a solution and a new timeframe to get things don

If you have a freelance contract in place, you’ll have most aspects of a collaboration figured out.

There should be a point about the number of revisions you’re going to make and the timeframe for fixes.

Based on those terms, offer your client a proactive solution and let them know what the new timeframe for project completion is going to be.

Try to reason with unreasonable clients

There will be situations in which negative feedback is definitely going to be unwarranted.

In such instances, it’s important to be polite, keep the lines of communication open but stand your ground.

That’s why you need to have well-defined project parameters before getting started.

Let clients know exactly what you’ve accomplished and the reasons why their negative feedback is unwarranted.

Try to come up with a compromise that will make everyone happy. Do understand, however, that some clients will be impossible to deal with.

You should be prepared for some difficult communication. Eventually, you’ll have to determine if you’ll keep on going or “fire” a challenging customer.

Conclusion

These are some general guidelines but obviously, you’ll have to handle the situation in a personalized way.

Try to keep an open mind and view feedback as a growth opportunity. You can always improve as a professional and a communicator.

Don’t be discouraged by client dissatisfaction. If you respond in a good way, you can easily turn a disgruntled customer into one of your most loyal fans.