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The changes are rarely the expensive part of a feedback round. The expensive part is working out what each comment means, who has the final say, and whether more is still on its way. This is the process we use on our own client sites to keep those three questions answered.
Decide when to ask
Ask for feedback at the points where an answer can still change something cheaply, and say each time what kind of answer you are after.
| Stage | Ask about | Do not ask about |
|---|---|---|
| Designs or wireframes | Structure, what is on each page, tone. | Exact wording. It will change when real content arrives. |
| Staging build with real content | Everything: wording, layout on each device, forms, anything broken. This is the main round. | Pages you have told them are not ready. |
| Before launch | Whether the agreed changes were made, and anything that would stop the launch. | New ideas. They go on a list for after launch. |
| A few weeks after launch | What real use has shown up: questions customers ask, steps staff find slow. | Reopening decisions that were signed off. |
Do not send a link early “so they can have a look”. A client shown half a site reviews the missing half too.
Brief the client before they start
Most unclear feedback comes from a client who was never told what was wanted. Send a short brief with the link. It should answer six things:
- What to review. The pages or templates that are ready, and the ones that are not.
- What kind of feedback. For example: wording, pictures and anything that does not work, but not the layout that was approved last month.
- Who takes part. Everyone with an opinion reviews in this round, not after it.
- Who decides. One named person settles it when two colleagues disagree.
- The deadline. A date, and what happens to notes that arrive after it.
- Where feedback goes. One place. Not that place and also email.
A brief you can copy and change:
Sample brief
The site is ready for your review at [link]. Every page is ready except the blog, which still has sample posts.
Please tell us about wording, pictures and anything that does not work as you expect, on a phone as well as a computer. The page layouts are the ones you approved, so we will treat layout changes as new work and quote for them.
Please leave every note on the site itself, using the link above, by [date]. If colleagues are reviewing too, ask them to use the same link in the same week. Where two notes disagree, we will go with [name]’s.
When you have finished, tell us, and we will reply with what we have changed and what we need to ask you.
Run one round at a time
A round has a start, an end and one list. Feedback that trickles in for three weeks across four channels is not a round, and it cannot be finished.
- Open the round with the brief and a date.
- Keep one channel. If a note arrives by email or on a call, add it to the list yourself and tell the client you have done so. Do not start a second list.
- Change nothing while the round is open. If the page changes under the client while they review it, their notes stop matching what they see. Collect, then fix.
- Let the client end it. A round is over when the client says “that is everything”, not when the notes stop arriving. Ask for that sentence.
- Agree the number of rounds in advance. Two is common: one main round and one to check the changes. Whatever the number, write it into the proposal, with what a further round costs.
Turn the notes into a task list
A list of notes is not yet a list of work. Before anyone opens an editor, go through it once and sort each note:
| Kind of note | Example | What you do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Wording | “Free delivery starts at £60 now, not £50.” | Make the change. No discussion needed. |
| Design | “Can the photo be bigger?” | Check it against what was approved. It may be a small fix or new work. |
| Something broken | “The menu will not close on my phone.” | Reproduce it first. You need the page, the device and the browser. |
| A question | “Should this say Cornwall or St Ives?” | Answer it before work starts. It blocks a task; it is not one. |
| Outside the scope | “Could we add a store finder?” | Thank them, move it to a separate list and quote for it. |
Then tidy the list:
- Merge notes that say the same thing, and keep a link to each original.
- Split notes that ask for two things. One note, one task.
- Ask your questions on the note itself, where the answer will sit beside the thing it is about.
- Check each task says which element, which page, which device and what should change. If one is missing, ask now. Our guide to annotating a website covers what a note needs.
- Give every task an owner and a status the client can see.
Close the round
Closing is the step that gets skipped, and it is the one that stops the same note coming back in a month.
- Every note has an answer: done, not doing and why, or moved to the list for later.
- The client has a short summary: how many notes were done, which questions are still open, what was quoted separately.
- The client has checked the changes on the site, not in a screenshot.
- The client has confirmed in writing that the round is closed.
- Everyone knows what comes next: the checking round, or acceptance testing and sign-off. For that step, see our UAT template.
Where ClickNote fits
We built ClickNote to run this process without the retyping. It covers the collecting; the brief and the decisions stay with you.
- One channel. The client opens a review link, confirms their email with a 6-digit code and clicks the thing they mean. There is no account, no password and nothing to install.
- Notes you do not have to decode. Each note arrives with the page, the element’s CSS selector, a screenshot, and the device and browser.
- Kinds of note. The reviewer can mark a note as Wording, Design, Something’s broken or Question, and you can filter the list by type, page, reviewer and status.
- An end to the round. The reviewer presses “I’ve finished this round” and your team is emailed.
- Questions beside the note. Every note has a thread, with @mentions for a colleague or for your team.
- Status the client can see. Each note shows as Open, In progress or Done on their side too. Colleagues on the same project can see each other’s notes unless you switch that off, so the same typo is not raised three times.
- Out to your task list. The list exports as JSON or Markdown.
ClickNote does not count your rounds or know what your contract says. Those stay in the brief.
Written in November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.