Name one approver
Agree at the start who gives the final yes, and who stands in when they are away. Others can comment, but one person decides. When feedback arrives from several people who disagree, ask the approver to settle it, rather than trying to please everyone.
Share one current version
Send a single link to the version you want approved, and make old versions clearly out of date. Feedback on an old draft is one of the most common causes of wasted rounds.
Ask a clear question
"Thoughts?" invites an open-ended conversation. Ask for a decision instead: approve, approve with small changes, or request changes, with the changes listed. Say what the approval unlocks, such as "once this is approved we will start building the pages".
Set a deadline, and say what happens after it
Give a date for feedback and send one friendly reminder before it. Agree in advance what happens if the date passes: the schedule moves by the same number of days, or the work is treated as approved after a set time if your contract says so.
Ask for feedback in one place
One combined list per round is far easier to act on than comments spread across email, chat and calls. Sort what comes back into required changes, questions, preferences and new requests outside the scope, and reply to each group.
Make approving easy
Tell the approver exactly what to look at. Point out what changed since the last round, and what is still open. A reviewer who knows where to focus answers faster and gives more useful feedback than one handed a whole file with no guidance.
When the approver changes mid-project
People change roles and new managers arrive. When a new approver joins, walk them through what has already been approved and when, before they review anything new. Changes to work that was already signed off are new requests, and can be priced like any other change.
Record every decision
When something is approved, write it down: what was approved, which version, by whom and when. A short confirmation email is enough. If the decision is ever revisited, you can point to it calmly and price the change.
A free approval workflow to adapt. The free Client Approval Workflow Template covers approval setup, review rounds, the decision itself, and what happens when a deadline passes, an approver is unavailable or a decision is reversed, in Word and PDF.
View in the StoreFrom the Stelaah Store
- ✓Client Approval Workflow Template. A free, editable client approval workflow template in Word and PDF for requesting, reviewing, revising and approving client decisions.
- ✓Client Welcome Packet. A four-page client welcome packet in Word and PDF, in four editions, that tells a new client how working together goes, the timeline, approvals and how to pay.
- ✓Website Project Workflow. A website project workflow with every stage and task: a project plan in Excel and Google Sheets, a checklist PDF and a client timeline PDF.
We build Stelaah and the Stelaah Store. These guides cover the everyday problems our planners, kits and tools are made for, in plain steps you can use with or without them.
