Someone told you your work made a difference. You said "no worries" or "just doing my job", and the conversation ended there. It happens to almost everyone, and it costs more than it looks.
Here is what to say instead: a simple three-part reply, thirty examples sorted by who gave you the feedback, and the answers that quietly discourage people from ever doing it again.
Why a weak reply costs more than you think
Giving positive feedback takes a small amount of courage. The person had to notice something, decide it was worth saying, and find a moment to say it. When the answer is "oh, it was nothing", that effort lands on nothing.
People read that as a signal. Not a rude one, just a quiet one: this was not worth doing. So they do it less.
The reverse is measurable. In a four-week study run at Coca-Cola Iberia and published in Emotion in 2018, employees who received small acts of recognition went on to perform almost three times as many themselves as the control group. Recognition spreads, but only when it lands somewhere.
Your reply is what makes it land.
The three-part reply that works
You do not need a speech. Three moves, one or two sentences each, in this order.
- Accept it plainly. No deflection, no minimising, no crediting the whole team when the point was about you. "Thank you, that means a lot" is enough to open.
- Name what specifically helped. Tell them which part of what they said was useful, and why. This is the move almost nobody makes, and it is what turns a polite exchange into a real one.
- Give something true back. Not a compliment for a compliment. Something you actually noticed about them, or about how their feedback changes what you will do next.
The second step matters most. "Thanks" tells the person you heard them. "Thanks, and the part about how I handled the client call is useful, because I was not sure it had come across" tells them their feedback was worth giving.
30 ways to say thank you for the feedback
When it comes from your manager
- Thank you. It helps to hear that, especially on this project, because I was not sure the approach was right.
- That means a lot coming from you. The part about the client presentation is useful, I will keep that structure for the next one.
- Thank you for saying it out loud. I would not have known otherwise, and it changes how I will handle the next handover.
- I appreciate you taking the time. Can I ask what you would want me to do more of?
- Thank you. Honestly, that came at a good moment. It has been a long month.
- Glad it landed. I took the approach from watching how you ran the March review, so some of it goes back to you.
When it comes from a colleague
- Thank you. I did not know it had made a difference on your side, so that is good to hear.
- That is kind of you to say. And for what it is worth, your notes on the shared doc save me an hour every week.
- Thanks. The bit about the timeline is useful, I will do the same on the next one.
- I appreciate that. Genuinely, it is easier to work on this with you than with most people.
- Thank you for taking the time to say it. Most people think it and never do.
When it comes from a client or a customer
- Thank you, that is good to hear. I will pass it to the two people who did most of the work, they will want to know.
- Thank you. If there is one thing we could do better next time, I would rather hear that too.
- That means a lot. We changed the process after your last project, so it is useful to know it worked.
- Thank you for taking the time to write it. It goes further than you think inside a company.
- Glad it helped. Would you be comfortable if I shared that with my team?
When it comes in a performance review
- Thank you. The point about how I handle escalation is the one I want to build on, so that is useful.
- I appreciate the detail. It is easier to act on than a general comment, and I will.
- Thank you. Can we come back to that in three months and check whether it held?
- That is good to hear. I want to be honest that I found the first quarter hard, so it helps to see it from the outside.
When it happens in public, in front of others
- Thank you. That is generous, and I will take it.
- Thank you. I would just add that the data work behind it was Sarah's, and it made the whole thing possible.
- Appreciated. I will admit I was not sure about it until the end.
- Thank you. Coming from this room, that is worth something.
When it arrives in writing, by email or chat
- Thank you for writing this. I have kept it, which tells you how often it happens.
- This is really good to receive. The specific example you gave is what makes it useful, so thank you for that detail.
- Thank you. Short reply because I am mid-deadline, but I read it properly and it helped.
- Appreciate you putting it in writing. It travels further than a corridor conversation.
When the feedback is positive but you do not fully agree
- Thank you. I will take the part about the delivery. On the timing, I think we got lucky more than we got it right, and I want to fix that properly.
- That is kind. I would be more comfortable if the credit went to the team on this one, and I mean that literally rather than politely.
Six replies to avoid
- "It was nothing." The person just told you it was something. Contradicting them ends the exchange.
- "Just doing my job." True and useless. It tells them the standard was already expected, so noticing it was pointless.
- Immediate deflection to the team when the feedback was clearly about you. Share credit where it is real, not as a reflex to avoid being seen.
- Returning a compliment straight away. It reads as a transaction and it cancels what you just received.
- Explaining what could have been better. Save it. Right now you are being told something worked.
- No reply at all to a written message. Silence after praise is the single most reliable way to make sure it does not happen twice.
What to do after the thank you
Two things turn a single exchange into a habit.
Write it down. Keep a file, a note, an email folder. Not for your ego. For the day you need to explain what you actually do, in a review or an interview, and your memory serves you nothing but the last three weeks.
Pass it on within the week. The person who told you something useful showed you it was possible. Do the same for someone else, with the same level of specificity. That is where the chain starts, and it starts with whoever moves first.
The point behind all of this
Responding well to feedback is not etiquette. It is recognition in the other direction. You are telling someone that noticing other people's work is worth their time, and that is the belief an organisation either builds or erodes, one exchange at a time.
On our platform we measure what people actually write to each other at work. Half of the messages are kindness and compliments, a quarter are appreciation, and only 18 % are recognition in the full sense: a specific fact, a named effect, a named person. The willingness is there. The practice is what is missing, on both sides of the exchange.
Common questions
How do you respond to positive feedback?
Accept it plainly, name the specific part that was useful to you and why, then give something true back. Two or three sentences is enough. The middle step is the one that makes the person want to do it again.
What should you say when your boss gives you positive feedback?
Thank them, tell them which element helps you most, and if it fits, ask what they would want to see more of. That turns a compliment into information you can use.
Should you reply to written feedback?
Always, even briefly. Silence after a written compliment is read as indifference and it is the fastest way to make sure nobody writes to you again.
Is it wrong to credit your team when you are praised?
Only when it is a reflex used to avoid being seen. Share credit where it is real and name the people specifically. Deflecting everything erases both you and them.
Go further
If you want to get better at the other side of the exchange, our guide to 50 thank-you messages and positive feedback for a colleague covers what to write when you are the one giving it, and 15 thank-you message examples shows the strengths-based method in practice.
For the broader picture, see recognition at work, what happens when it is missing, and what the research actually shows.