Woakes, who took three wickets against Pakistan but also conceded 71 runs in his eight overs, added that England were probably better off for getting their first defeat of the tournament out of the way early.
"You probably want to lose one earlier rather than later," he told reporters. "You don't want to produce a performance like we did against Pakistan in a more high-pressure game, maybe a must-win or something.
"The good thing about this group is that when we've had a bad performance or lost a game of cricket, we bounce back very well."
England next face Bangladesh in Cardiff on Saturday and Woakes said the squad would try and put a stop to the fielding errors that had cost them against Pakistan.
"Against South Africa we put in an unbelievable fielding performance," the 30-year-old added. "We know that's our standard, so whenever you drop below that you're always going to be a little bit disappointed.
"Fielding creates momentum for a team – if you're fielding well, constantly taking diving stops, stopping those twos and putting the batsman under pressure then it makes a difference.
"I don't think it was a car crash by any means, we just left a few out there. We'll get back on the practice field, put in a hard shift and try and practice some of the things we didn't get quite right."
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Jennings)
