How to run client feedback and approval rounds

Agree the rules before the first review

The easiest time to set expectations about feedback is before anyone has seen the work. Once a client is reacting to a first draft, every rule sounds like a defence. At the start of a project, the same rules sound like good organisation.

Put the feedback process in the estimate or statement of work, then repeat it at kickoff. Keep it short and specific, so the client’s team can follow it without a meeting to explain it.

• How many rounds of changes are included at each stage.
• What counts as one round: a single, consolidated set of comments on one version.
• Who on the client side gives feedback, and who gives the final approval.
• How long the client has to respond, and how long the agency needs to make changes.
• What happens if more rounds are needed, and how they are estimated.

Consolidate stakeholder comments into one set

Most painful feedback rounds involve several people commenting separately: the marketing manager in an email, the brand lead on a call and someone from legal in a PDF. The agency is left to work out which comments win, and whatever it chooses will disappoint someone.

Ask the client to nominate one person to gather and resolve their team’s comments before sending them. If comments still arrive that contradict each other, don’t quietly pick a side. Send the conflict back as a clear question: “The brand team would like a lighter background and the product team would prefer to keep it dark. Which direction should we follow?”

The same applies inside the agency. The account lead should review internal comments first, so the creative team receives one clear set of changes rather than a thread to interpret.

Good feedback is specific about the problem rather than prescriptive about the solution. “Make it pop” gives the team nothing to work with. “The headline gets lost on mobile; can it be larger or stand out more from the background?” does. It helps to tell clients this at the start.

• React to the brief: does the work do what we agreed it should?
• Say what isn’t working and why, rather than only how to fix it.
• Separate essential changes from personal preferences.
• Send one consolidated set of comments by the agreed date.

Keep version control simple

Version confusion causes some of the most avoidable mistakes in agency work: a client approves an old file, a designer edits the wrong one or a correction disappears between rounds. The fix is a simple, consistent habit rather than a complicated system.

• Give every file a clear name with a version number, such as Northstar_Autumn_Social_v3. Avoid names like “final_final_2”.
• Never overwrite a version that has been shared. Save changes as the next version.
• Add a short note to each version listing what changed since the last one.
• Keep feedback attached to the version it refers to, so nobody applies old comments to new work.
• Make it obvious which version is current, and share only that one with the client.

Limit rounds without sounding rigid

Limits on feedback rounds aren’t about refusing changes. They protect the timeline and the budget the client agreed to, and they encourage the client’s team to give considered, consolidated comments rather than a stream of small ones.

Track rounds openly. When you share a new version, say where you are: “Here’s version three, which addresses your second round of comments. We have one round left within the current estimate.” Clients rarely object to limits they can see coming.

Know the difference between feedback and a change of direction. Feedback refines the work against the brief. A new audience, a new message or new deliverables changes the brief itself. That deserves a conversation about scope, timing and budget, not another round squeezed into the existing plan.

Make approval clear

A thumbs-up in a chat or a “looks great” on a call feels like approval, but it can be hard to rely on later. A clear approval comes from the person named as approver, refers to a specific version and is recorded in writing.

Conditional approvals are common and perfectly workable, as long as the condition is written down. “Approved, subject to legal checking the offer terms” is a clear decision. Record it as conditional and confirm when the condition has been met.

• It comes from the named approver, not just anyone on the client team.
• It names the exact version being approved.
• It is written down, even if it was first given on a call.
• Any conditions are stated and tracked until they are met.

Record decisions where the team can find them

Months later, someone will ask why the headline changed or who agreed to drop a format. A simple record of decisions answers that in seconds: what was decided, who decided it, when and on which version. It also makes handovers easier and conversations about extra work far calmer, because both sides can see the history.

Whatever tool you use, keep that record close to the work itself rather than scattered across inboxes. In Simplr, creative versions, comments and approval decisions stay together through delivery, and a client portal gives clients one place for feedback, requests and approvals.