The client approval workflow for short-form video (agency SOP)

Six steps, each with an owner and an exit condition. Put it in the client onboarding doc, and do not skip the QA step to save an hour — that hour comes back as a revision round.

1. 01

   Intake — one recording, one no-go list

   The client sends one long-form recording (a podcast episode, a webinar, a Loom) and answers one question: is there anything in here we must not post? Import it into the client’s Clipflow workspace — upload the file or paste the YouTube link. Exit condition: the recording is in the workspace and the no-go note is in the ticket.
2. 02

   Cut — let the finder produce candidates, then choose

   Clipflow transcribes the recording and proposes the clip-worthy moments — 3 to 8 per pass on a typical episode; run "Find more clips" if the first pass is thin. Pick the ones that match the client’s voice and platform mix, apply the format and captions, and render. Exit condition: every clip you intend to send has a finished file.
3. 03

   Internal QA — the gate the client never sees

   An editor who did not cut the clip watches every finished file once, at phone size, with sound: first second, caption sync, safe areas, the hook, the last frame. Then they move each post from Draft to Approved on the board — that internal approval is what makes a post eligible for sending. Exit condition: zero posts in Draft for this batch.
4. 04

   Client review link — one link for the whole batch

   Open the post’s publish panel, tick the channels it should go to, and choose "Send to client for approval". Clipflow stores what would be posted — channels, clip, caption — on the post, moves it to Review, and gives you one review link for the recording. Send that link in the channel the client already uses (email, Slack, WhatsApp) with the deadline in the message. Exit condition: link sent, deadline written down.
5. 05

   One revision round — collect, fix, re-send once

   Wait for the deadline, not for the first comment. Then work every "Request changes" note in one pass: re-cut, fix the caption, re-render. Posts the client already approved stay approved; only the changed ones go back out. Exit condition: every post in the batch is either approved or explicitly dropped.
6. 06

   Post — from the approval, or from the board

   If you sent the request with channels ticked, the client’s Approve posts the clip to those channels the moment it lands — once, with the clip’s current file. If the request was made without channels, approval only marks the post approved and you send it from the board. Either way, check the pipeline board the next morning: it says what went out, what is still queued, and what failed. Exit condition: every approved post is live or explained, and the client has the link to the live post.

This section is written from the product’s behaviour on 2026-09-17, not from a feature page. If you are writing your own SOP document, copy it.

What you do

On any post, the publish panel has two doors: "Post now" and "Send to client for approval". The second one needs a clip (or a pasted video URL), a caption, and at least one channel ticked. When you press it, Clipflow saves the request — channels, clip, caption, who asked and when — on the post, reuses the newest active review link for that recording (or creates one labelled "Approval request", with no expiry date), and moves the post to Review. You get the link URL back. Clipflow does not email the client; you send the link.

What the client sees

A page under your workspace name and logo, in your accent colour, with no login and no account. Each post is a card with the clip playing, the caption, and two actions: Approve and Request changes. If you ticked channels when you sent it, the button reads "Approve & post" and a line under it names the channels it posts to right away; if not, it reads Approve and the card says your agency posts it from its side. A header button approves all remaining posts at once, and a general-feedback box sits at the bottom. The client types their name once; the browser remembers it. A small "Powered by Clipflow" line in the footer is the only Clipflow branding on the page.

What happens on Approve

The post moves from Review to Approved in the state log with the reviewer’s name in the note, an "Approved this post" entry lands in the comment trail, and every owner and editor of the workspace gets an in-app notification. If the request had channels, the approval publishes exactly once through the same code as "Post now" — to the channels chosen when you sent it, with the clip’s current file, so a caption fix you re-rendered while the client was reading the link is what goes out. The client’s card then says where it was posted or, if a channel refused it, that posting did not go through on the agency’s side and you will post it for them. A failed post is never retried behind your back: you get a notification with the reason, and "Post now" on the board is the retry.

What happens on Request changes

The client writes a note on a specific post. Clipflow stores it as a comment, marks the post "changes requested" so the board shows an amber chip, and notifies every owner and editor in-app and by email with the note and a link to the video. The post stays in Review. When the client later approves the reworked post, the chip clears itself.

A change request is data — not an insult and not an emergency. The workflow around it decides whether you spend twenty minutes or two days.

First, read the whole batch’s feedback before touching a clip — the amber chips on the board show which posts carry notes, and the review drawer shows the notes. Group them: caption wording (fast — a re-render only if the words are burned in), trim or start-point changes (Editor → Cut, then "Save & render again"), and "drop this one" (reject with a reason so the record says why).

Second, re-send only what changed. Approved posts stay approved; the reworked ones go back out through "Send to client for approval" so the client approves the new file, not the old one. Third, close the round in writing: "Batch 14 is closed — six posted, one dropped at your request. Next batch Thursday."

This is operating advice, not legal advice — have whoever drafts your contracts put it in their language. The point is that the SOP above only holds if the client agreed to its two constraints before the first batch.

The approval SLA

Name the turnaround you need and what happens when it is missed. A common shape: the client reviews each batch within two business days of receiving the link; posts not approved or commented on by then are held until the next batch, and the posting calendar shifts by the delay. Write down who at the client can approve — one name and one backup — so "waiting on Sarah" is never a surprise.

The revision cap

One revision round per batch, included. Changes after the round closes are either the next batch (new material, new brief) or extra work at a rate you state. Define what a revision is (a trim, a caption change, swapping one clip for another from the same recording) and what it is not (a new recording, a new format, a rebrand).

Three more lines worth having

Where feedback is given (the review link, not DMs). What the client is responsible for (the recording, the no-go list, the approver). And what "approved" means: approved posts go to the channels shown on the review page, with the caption shown, without a further check.

Two lists: one you run once per client, one you run every batch. When a batch fails the second list, the cause is almost always on the first — an approver never named, a channel never connected, a link sent without a date. Fix the list item; do not add a step.