Client approval process: getting sign-off on a site at each stage

How does a client approval process work for a website?

A client approval process for a website works by pausing at set stages, showing the client the work, and moving on only after a named person approves it in writing. You agree the stages and the approver at the start, before any design begins.

Here's how the yes points fall in one build partner's published steps. DeskTeam360 lists these steps for a white label site:

1. On a call, the agency tells the team what its client wants and needs.
2. Content and assets come from the agency, unless the team is making them.
3. The team shares mockups of the design.
4. The agency goes over the mockups with its client and sends back notes.
5. The team makes the design changes the client asks for.
6. The design is approved, and only then does the build begin.
7. The team builds the approved site and tests it.
8. The agency and its client go over the finished site together, and the team handles the changes they ask for.
9. Once the site is approved, the team puts it live.

DeskTeam360 also lists unlimited revisions on every plan. A revision changes work that's already in scope. A new page or a new feature is a new request, so write it down as one and agree its effect on the dates.

Before the client sees any stage, check the work yourself. For the team's own checks before review, see the website QA checklist.

How do you collect website feedback from a client?

Collect website feedback from one person on the client's side, in writing, in one place, by a set date. Ask them to gather everyone else's notes first, so you get one list instead of several that clash.

Ways to keep feedback clean:

• Name one person who sends all feedback for the client.
• Give a review window with an end date, and say what happens after it closes.
• Ask for notes tied to a page and a spot on that page, using a shared document or screenshots.
• Number each note, so you can reply to each one.
• Send back a short list of what you'll change and what you won't, with the reason.

Keep yourself between the client and the people building the site. In DeskTeam360's setup, the agency is the one its client talks to and the one who carries the notes, while the team works out of view behind the agency.

Words and images get their own review. For checking the content before launch, see the website content checklist.

What does useful website feedback from a client look like?

Useful website feedback names the page and the spot, says what's wrong, and says what the client wants in its place. It ties each change to the goal of the site, so you can weigh it.

Compare these pairs:

• Vague: make the home page pop. Useful: on the home page, move the booking button above the photo so visitors see it first.
• Vague: we don't love the colors. Useful: the blue headings look dark next to our logo, so try the lighter blue from our brand file.
• Vague: the about page feels off. Useful: on the about page, swap the team photo for the newer one and add the new manager's job title.
• Vague: fix the text. Useful: on the services page, the second paragraph lists a service we no longer offer, so cut that line.

Share a pair like these with the client before their first review. It shows them the kind of note that gets acted on quickly.