The Importance of TPT Feedback

When I first started my TPT store, I was literally just giving everything away. In real life, I've always been happy to give any of my lessons to co-workers and friends. This comes from my mentality that none of us get where we are alone. I was gifted with a plethora of teaching resources from my teammates during student teaching and in my first year teaching.

I almost never take something at teach it verbatim. No, that would be the easy way. Instead, I always have to tweak things to make them work for me. And honestly, that's how a lot of my products were created. 

And I will admit freely that I grab images from all sorts of places to use as clipart since I don't know how to make my own (and use pop culture references to relate to my students). This isn't a problem in my own classroom, but unfortunately, this means I can't share a lot of my work on TPT. At least not until I learn how to make my own images.

Recently, I analyzed my product statistics and saw that I had some products with many downloads and great feedback. In an effort to actually start generating some money on my site (so I can buy other peoples' products), I decided to start selling some of these items for a couple bucks.

I can't tell you how excited I was when my first few sales started to trickle in!

And then this weekend, I was notified that a buyer had left me feedback on one of my most-downloaded items (when it was free). At first, I will admit, I was defensive when the buyer gave me a less-than-stellar review.

But then I started thinking about her feedback. And even though this buyer clearly didn't understand my original intention, she was right. There were things I could change to make my product better. So, first thing this morning, that's what I did.

So, anyone who has downloaded my protagonist/antagonist/foil activity, there are now pretty task cards included with the set to use for whole-group, small group, and scoot activities I know you all love so much! Make sure you download the newest version!!

I would advise any seller on TPT to truly consider the feedback of your buyers. You many not always agree with everything they say (in this case, I didn't), but it also may help you find ways to reach a broader audience.

In addition, I want to encourage buyers to leave constructive feedback for our sellers. It doesn't always have to be done in a public manner (especially in a way that negatively impacts their rating), but I think I speak for many when I say that we genuinely want to create products that will help other teachers.

Help us help you!