7 Tips to Help You Review B2B Copywriting

Your B2B copywriting is ready to review.

But if this is the first time you’ve worked with a copywriter. Or your first time working with me. You may have some questions about how to review your draft copy.

This post aims to give you the answers and guide you through the copywriting review process.

Because it’s completely normal to have changes you want to make. After all, copywriters aren’t mind-readers!

1) What to Look For in Your B2B Copywriting Review

The review stage is your chance to make small changes to polish the details, to improve the flow and to complete your project.

To start, it can help to read through the draft copy once without making any changes.

Then re-read the copy to make your comments and changes. Because otherwise, you may comment on something that’s covered later in the copy.

These are some good questions to ask yourself during your copywriting review:

• Are all the facts correct?
• Is there any information missing?
• Is there anything that should be deleted?
• Does the copy flow easily?
• Are you happy with the organisation of the copy?
• Are there any awkward paragraphs or transitions between paragraphs?
• Are you happy with any quotes attributed to you or others in your business?
• Are all the features and benefits of your products/services explained clearly?
• Does the style, tone and language fit your target audience?
• Are the internal and external links suitable?

Remember that your review covers:

• Headlines
• Body copy
• Buttons
• Links
• SEO title
• Meta description

2) What Does a Good Review Comment Look Like?

The best type of review comment is specific.

If you want to change some of the copy, say what existing wording you want to change and what you want to see in its place.

Here are some examples of clear and specific review comments:

• “Change the 3rd benefit from ‘no set-up costs’ to ‘24/7 support’”
• “Add a statistic about the market share held by managed service providers”
• “Can you move this sentence to the introduction”

Try to avoid vague comments.

For example, saying that you dislike some wording without saying why or what you want to see instead.

Because this makes it harder for the copywriter to address your review comments and so can slow down your project.

I can usually make the changes from a review without needing to speak to the client. But when the review comments are unclear, I’ll suggest a call to talk through them with the client.

3) What’s the Best Way to Record Your Review Comments?

The best way to record your review comments is in the draft copy document.

Tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs let you insert comments. These are shown in a separate colour and mean the copywriter can easily see your comments.

Another option is the Track Changes feature. And here’s how to do that in Word and Docs.

Try to avoid making changes without showing what you’ve changed. Because the copywriter may miss the changes you’ve made to the document.

4) How Long Should the Review Process Take?

Take as much time as you need to review the draft copy.

Whilst the amount of time depends on the size of your project, plan at least an hour for each document to read through the draft copy and make your comments. Larger projects like website copy or white papers will obviously need much longer.

I ask my clients to review copy within 14 days of receiving the draft. That’s so we can complete the project whilst it’s still fresh in the client’s mind.

And I’ll make the edits from review comments as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours of being returned by the client.

If there are comments to discuss on a call then the review process may take longer.

5) How Many Reviews Does Your Project Include?

You receive up to 2 rounds of reviews when you work with me. These are included in the fixed price of your project.

Other copywriters may have different review policies.

6) What Happens if More Than One Person Reviews the Copy?

When several people review the draft copy, ask them to put their comments in the same document.

It also helps to have one person in your company to coordinate the reviews to avoid duplication or missed comments.

7) What’s the Difference Between an Edit and a Rewrite?

Edits are minor changes identified from the review process. These are the answers to the questions posed in 1) What to Look for in Your Copywriting Review and usually affect less than 10% of the draft.

Rewrites are major changes that alter the direction or scope of the project from the approved copywriting brief.

For fixed price copywriting projects, like those I deliver for my clients, rewrites are not within the scope of the project and so can mean extra cost.