Client approvals without WhatsApp

An approval is a decision about a specific crop, caption, and time. "Looks good" under an unnamed screenshot is a mood. Next week nobody can tell which export that mood belonged to, and the designer has already saved three newer ones.

Start by naming the version out loud. If the client is reacting to a picture, say which export it is and where it lives. When they reply approved, you should be able to point at that same file without guessing.

The client should not be the person who catches a typo you already knew about. They also should not watch design and strategy disagree in the same thread they use to say yes. Finish that inside the agency. Send one version.

Internal review and client review are different jobs. Mix them and you train the client to art-direct the first draft. That feels collaborative for a week. It becomes unpaid rounds for the rest of the retainer.

"Logo feels tight" is useless unless you can see the logo they mean. A pin on the frame survives better than a voice note. If you are still in chat, reply with a marked image and ask them to confirm that mark.

Comments that float beside the work get lost. Comments that sit on the work travel with the file into the next round. That is the whole difference between a markup tool and a group chat.

After they approve, stop editing the file that was approved. If a legal line changes, that is a new version and a new yes. Silent improvements are how agencies ship something the client did not sign.

Give them one link, not a tour of your task board. The calendar date should be the date of the locked version. If the calendar and the chat disagree, the calendar loses until you update it on purpose.