How to stop chasing clients for approval

You sent the work for approval on Monday. It's Thursday, the print slot is Friday, and you're writing your third "just checking in" email of the week. Chasing clients for approval eats hours, strains the relationship and still doesn't guarantee an answer.

The fix isn't a firmer tone. Most slow approvals come down to how the request was set up, and that part is yours to change.

Why clients don't answer#

Clients rarely ignore an approval on purpose. They put it off because something about the request makes it hard to answer now:

• There's no date on it, so it loses to everything that has one.
• It's unclear what they're being asked. "Thoughts?" invites a long answer, so it waits until there's time for one.
• Too many people have been asked, and each assumes someone else will reply first.
• Answering takes effort: find the email, find the attachment, remember a password, write a reply.
• Nobody on your side knows whose turn it is, so the chase starts late and goes to the wrong person.

Each of those has a fix. None of them involves a sterner email.

1. Give every request a due date#

A request without a due date is a request for "whenever". Put a date on it, even a generous one, and say it when you ask.

Choose the date from your own plan backwards. If the print slot is Friday and you need a day to make changes, the approval is due Wednesday, not Thursday. Due dates in Skybase are calendar days, so "due Wednesday" means Wednesday for everyone.

In Skybase the date goes in the Due field when you Ask for approval. It's optional, but it's what switches on everything in the next step.

2. Let reminders do the follow-up#

The worst part of chasing isn't the writing. It's remembering to do it, at the right time, for every open request. That's a job for software.

With a due date set, Skybase reminds the approvers who are still to decide:

• the day before it's due
• on the day it's due
• one day after it goes overdue
• three days after it goes overdue

Each reminder goes at 9am in the approver's own time zone, so a client in another country isn't woken by it. Anyone who has already decided isn't reminded. The person who asked is told once, the day after the request goes overdue, so you hear about it without checking.

3. Nudge once, then leave it#

Sometimes you need an answer before the reminders would send one: a meeting moved, or the printer brought the slot forward. That's what Nudge is for. On a request you made, it reminds the people still to decide, and nobody else.

A nudge can go at most once a day. After you've used it, the button tells you when it can go again, for example "Nudge again tomorrow". That limit protects the relationship: if one nudge a day hasn't worked, three won't either, and it's time for a phone call.

4. Ask fewer people, and choose whose yes counts#

Every extra approver adds a chance for the request to stall. Before you ask, decide who really needs to sign off, and leave everyone else to comment or watch.

Then choose the rule under Decided when:

• Everyone must approve suits two people who must both agree, such as a marketing manager and a managing director. One request for changes sends the work back, even while others are still to decide.
• Any one approver suits a group where anyone can speak for the client. The first answer decides, so the request doesn't wait for the slowest reader.

If the client can't tell you who decides, ask them before the work goes out. "Who signs this off?" is a much easier conversation on day one than on the day it's due.

5. Make the ask answerable in a minute#

A request that takes a minute to answer gets answered. One that takes an afternoon waits for an afternoon.

Three things help:

• A clear title under What needs approval, like "Homepage hero" rather than "Latest designs".
• A short brief under What should they look at? that says what to decide, what's settled and when you need the answer. "The headline and the crop. Copy is final." is enough.
• One decision per request. A 30-page PDF of options invites a reply that approves some of it, and you're back to chasing for the rest.

The answer itself should be quick too. In Skybase, an approver chooses Approve, Approve with changes or Request changes. The last two ask for a note under What needs to change?, so a request for changes always says what to change, and you don't have to chase for the detail either.

6. Let them answer from the email#

The fewer steps between the email and the decision, the sooner you get one. In Skybase each approver's email carries their own secure link. It opens that one request on a phone or a laptop without signing in or a password, and they can pin comments and decide right there.

The client is added to the project once, as a guest. As a single-project guest they're free, so you never have to weigh the cost of asking the right person. After that, every request reaches them the same way, and they never have to remember where to log in.

7. Know whose turn it is#

You can't chase well if you don't know what's waiting. In Skybase the Inbox has an Approvals filter with three lists:

• Waiting on me: requests you've been asked to decide.
• Waiting on others: requests you made that are still open.
• Recently decided: what came back, and how.

On the board, a job waiting on a decision shows Awaiting approval with its due date, in red once it's overdue. Five minutes on Waiting on others each morning replaces the mental list of who owes you what. Inbox triage in ten minutes covers the rest of that routine.

A worked example: Harbour Studio#

Take a small studio, say Harbour Studio, rebranding a client called Northwind. Harbour is made up: it's the example in Skybase's sample workspace.

Leo, a designer, has "Brand guidelines v3" ready. He doesn't email the PDF. He chooses Ask for approval on the job and sets it up:

• What needs approval: "Brand guidelines v3".
• Who must approve: Tom Becker, Northwind's contact. Just Tom: the rest of Northwind's marketing team can read it with him, but Tom decides.
• Due: Wednesday, two days before the printer needs files.
• What should they look at?: "The colour ratios and the logo misuse page. The typefaces are settled."

Tom opens it from the email on Monday and starts reading with his team. Then a launch takes over his week, and Wednesday passes. Leo doesn't write a chaser. Tom got a reminder on Tuesday and another on Wednesday morning. On Thursday morning he gets a third, and Leo is told the request is overdue.

Leo uses Nudge once, on Thursday, because the printer has asked. Tom answers from the email on his phone: Request changes, with the note "Darker navy for print, please." Leo adds Deep Harbour (#0B2545), uploads a New version and Tom is asked again. He approves the same afternoon.

Nobody wrote "just checking in". The reminders did the chasing, and the request held all of it in one place.

What to stop doing#

• Chasing in three channels at once. An email, a chat message and a call about the same file make the request feel bigger than it is. Let the reminders run, then pick one channel.
• Re-sending the file. Every new attachment starts a new thread and a new chance of the wrong version being approved. Point them back to the request.
• Asking "any thoughts?" It reads as optional. Ask for a decision, by a date.
• Adding approvers late. Someone added on the day it's due won't have time to read it. Agree who decides before you ask.

A checklist before you ask#

• The request has a due date, set back from your real deadline.
• It names only the people who decide, with the rule chosen.
• The title says what it is, and the brief says what to decide and what's settled.
• It asks for one decision, not twenty.
• The client is a guest on the project, so they can answer from the email.
• You check Waiting on others each morning, and nudge once only when you need to.

If you're still choosing a tool, how to choose client approval software has the ten questions I'd ask. Or see how approvals work in Skybase, from the ask to the sign-off.