How to manage website revisions with clients.
Revisions are part of every website project. Endless revisions are not. Here's how to define revision rounds, collect feedback that's usable, and handle requests that fall outside them.
Define a Revision Round
A revision round is one consolidated set of feedback from the client, followed by one round of changes from you. The important word is consolidated: the client gathers everything they want changed and sends it together. Your proposal should say how many rounds are included at each stage, typically two for the design and one or two for the full build.
Spell out what counts as a revision. Adjusting spacing, swapping a photo, rewording a heading: revisions. Adding a new page, a booking system or a second language: new work. Clients don't mind the distinction; they mind finding out about it after the fact.
Collect Feedback in One Place
Feedback that comes by email, text, a phone call and a comment from the client's business partner can't be tracked as a round. Pick one channel for revisions and say so at the start. Whatever the channel, each piece of feedback should answer three things:
- Where: which page, and which part of it.
- What: the change, stated as an instruction ("make the heading shorter"), not a feeling ("it feels off").
- Why, if it isn't obvious: so you can suggest a better fix than the one requested.
When feedback is vague, ask a question back before you start. Twenty seconds clarifying saves an extra round redoing the wrong thing.
Track Every Change as an Item
Turn each piece of feedback into its own item on a list, with a status. A long email of twelve changes becomes twelve items, each one either done, in progress, or waiting on the client for an answer. That list is what you send back at the end of the round: here's what changed, here's what's still open, here's what I need from you.
Tracking items individually also shows you the pattern. If one page has had four rounds of changes to the same section, the problem probably isn't the design; it's an unresolved decision on the client's side. Raise that directly rather than doing a fifth round.
Keep the list visible to the client, not just to you. When they can see that eight of ten items are done and two are waiting on their answer, they stop asking for status updates and start answering the questions that are holding things up. A shared list also settles the common disagreement about whether something was asked for: either it's on the list or it isn't.
Handle Requests Outside the Rounds
Some feedback will be out of scope, and some will arrive after the rounds are used up. That's a change request, and it should be handled as new work: acknowledged, priced, agreed, then done. A simple script helps: "Happy to do this. It's outside the revision rounds we agreed, so it's $80. Shall I go ahead?"
Price before you start, not after. A cost agreed in advance is a decision the client makes; a cost added to the final invoice feels like a surprise. For more on this, see how to get paid for website change requests.
Mark the occasional freebie as free on your list anyway. A visible record of goodwill work makes it easier to explain the paid work later.
Set Response Times for Both Sides
Revision rounds stretch out when nobody knows how long the other side has to reply. Agree turnaround times at the start: for example, the client sends consolidated feedback within five business days of a review, and you deliver the changes within three. Put those numbers in the proposal next to the number of rounds.
If the client misses their window, the schedule moves, not your other commitments. Say so plainly and early: "Launch was planned for the 20th, based on feedback by the 10th. If feedback comes on the 14th, launch moves to the 24th." Most clients accept this readily when it was agreed up front.
Hold yourself to the same standard. When a round will take longer than you said, tell the client before the deadline, not after. A designer who is reliable about their own dates has a much easier time asking clients to be reliable about theirs.
Mark items that are stuck waiting on the client separately from items you're working on. It keeps the conversation about the schedule factual instead of personal.
Close Each Round Clearly
End every round with a short summary and a question: "These are the changes from round two. Is there anything else, or are we ready for approval?" Without a clear end, rounds blur into one long conversation. With one, the next step is either the next round or client approval.
After launch, revisions don't stop; they turn into maintenance. If clients keep asking for changes, that's a good sign for a recurring arrangement. See how to run a Squarespace website care plan.
Where Bridge Fits
Bridge is built around this exact workflow on Squarespace. Your client pins feedback to the spot on the page in their Squarespace editor, and each pin becomes a task with a screenshot and their browser and screen size. Feedback that arrives in chat or by email to the project can be turned into a task too. Tasks move through Open, In progress, Waiting on client, Resolved and Cancelled, in a table or a board.
For change requests, each task can be marked No cost, Fixed cost or Hourly, with a task timer for hourly work. The client sees the cost on the task and pays from the widget or portal through your own Stripe account. Bridge doesn't count revision rounds for you; rounds are still an agreement you set out in your proposal, which Bridge doesn't write either.
Common Questions
How many revisions should a web designer include?
Two rounds for the design and one or two for the full build is common. What matters more is defining a round as one consolidated set of feedback.
What counts as a revision on a website project?
Changes to work already in scope, such as spacing, wording or swapping an image. New pages, features or integrations are new work, not revisions.
How do I charge for extra website revisions?
Treat them as change requests: quote a fixed price or an hourly rate before you start, get the client's agreement, then do the work.
How do I stop endless revisions?
Limit the number of rounds in your proposal, ask for consolidated feedback, close each round with a summary, and price anything beyond the agreed rounds.
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