The short answer: ask early, on the real page, with two questions
Ask before the draft is finished, on the page itself, with two or three questions the client can answer in a minute. Send a link, not a file or a screenshot, and ask them to leave each remark on the part of the page it is about.
"Any thoughts?" gets "looks good" or silence. "Is the price on this page the one we go live with?" gets an answer you can act on.
Ask at three moments, not once
Asking once, at the end, is where the long email thread comes from: the client reacts to the headline, the colour, a missing paragraph and the phone number all at once. Each moment has one job.
First draft. Direction, not detail. Is this the right page for the right person, and is the one thing it asks the visitor to do the thing the client wants? A wrong headline costs five minutes now and the layout three rounds later.
Each round after. The change list. Did the things they asked for land, and is anything new wrong now that the page has moved?
Sign-off. Whether anything blocks going live. Not "do you like it", which reopens the first draft.
The middle moment is the one people skip. Across 2,400 sites published on Birta, the median site takes three versions, one before it goes public and two after (the full breakdown). A site is usually revised twice after the client has already seen it, so each of those rounds deserves its own ask.
Questions that get specific answers
A question gets a specific answer when it names a place on the page and bounds what counts as an answer. "What do you think of the copy?" has no edges. "Is the second paragraph true?" does.
| Moment | Ask this | A good answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| First draft | Who is this page for, in your words, and is that who it reads for? Is the one action we ask for (call, book, buy) the action you want? Is anything on the page not true? | A sentence about the reader, a yes or a different verb, and a list of claims to fix |
| Each round | Did the change you asked for land the way you meant it? Is anything now wrong that was fine before? Which of your remarks can wait for the next round? | Yes or no per change, one or two new pins, and a split into now and later |
| Sign-off | Is anything on the page a reason not to go live today? Is the contact detail (phone, address, form) the one that will be answered? Who else has to see this before it is public? | "Nothing", a checked number, and a name or "nobody" |
Three questions per moment is the ceiling. Past that the client answers the first two and skims the rest. And keep your own decisions out of the list: "blue or green?" is your call, so make it and ask whether it works.
Send a link to the page, not a file
A PDF or a screenshot shows the client a picture of the page. What they are judging is the page: how the headline wraps on their phone, what the button does, where the scroll ends. A link to a version of the page lets them open the thing itself, and if the remarks live on that page, each one stays attached to the button or paragraph it is about, in a version that does not change under them.
Many tools do this: Wix, Webflow and Tiiny Host on their own sites, Pastel and its kind on any site (compared here). On Birta it works like this. Every version, draft or published, has its own permanent address, and your agent hands it to you when it publishes. The client opens it with no account, clicks the heading or button they mean, and types. Their remarks are signed with a two-word nickname, so you know whose is whose. Free plan, nothing to install.
Two limits: remarks work on versions published on Birta, not on a page hosted elsewhere, and the owner can switch open-by-link off, after which the client would need to sign in.
Messages you can copy
Each one points at a link, names the moment, asks two or three questions and says where the answers go. Replace the parts in brackets.
The first draft:
Subject: First draft of the [page], three questions
Hi [name],
The first draft is here: [version link]. It opens on your phone or laptop,
no login.
Three things I need from you, and nothing else at this stage:
1. Who is this page for, in your words? Does it read as if it is for them?
2. The one action we ask for is [book a call]. Is that the right action?
3. Is anything on the page not true?
If a remark is about one spot, click that spot on the page and leave it
there. I read them all in one place. Could you have it back by [day]?
[Your name]A later round:
Subject: Round [2] of the [page], your remarks 1 to [6] are in
Hi [name],
The new version is here: [version link]. Your remarks 1 to [6] from the
last version are in.
Two things to check:
1. Did each change land the way you meant it? If not, say which number.
2. Is anything now wrong that was fine before?
If something new comes up that is not about this round, leave it on the
page anyway and mark it "later". I will pick it up in the next one.
[Your name]Sign-off:
Subject: [Page] ready to go live, last check
Hi [name],
This is the version I plan to publish: [version link].
Three questions, and a "no" to all three means we go live:
1. Is there anything on this page that must change before it is public?
2. Is [phone / email / form] the contact that will actually be answered?
3. Does anyone else need to see this first?
If nothing comes back by [day], I will take that as a go.
[Your name]When the day passes and nothing has come back, one line is enough: "Have you had a chance to open [link]? Two questions in it, five minutes." Do not resend the whole message, and do not add a fourth question.
When five people answer at once
The client's contact sends remarks, a colleague of theirs sends different remarks, a third person replies to both. Two rules, both set before the link goes out.
One place. Everyone leaves remarks on the page, not in replies to your message. Three people commenting on the headline then produce three numbered threads on the headline instead of three emails about "the top part".
One decider. Ask the client to name the person whose answer wins when two remarks disagree: "When two of you ask for different things, whose call is it?" Ask it before the round; asked after, it looks like taking sides.
When the remarks conflict anyway, the numbers do the work. "Number 4 asks for a shorter headline and number 7 asks for the current one with a subtitle. Which one?" is a question one person can answer in a reply.
From remarks to the next version
On Birta the round closes in four steps, and the agent does the middle two.
- The client leaves remarks on the version's page. Each thread has a number and the element it is pinned to.
- You tell your agent the remarks are in. It reads every thread on that version and changes the same draft. "Do number 3, skip number 5" means exactly that, because the numbers never change.
- The agent publishes the new version and gives you its address. The old remarks stay on the old version; the new one opens clean.
- You mark the handled threads as resolved, in the browser. The agent only reads remarks; it cannot post into a thread or close one. Pastel's agent connection can, ours cannot, and that is deliberate: the reply to a remark is the changed page.
If a round goes wrong, the previous version is still at its own address and rolling back is one request. The client's clicks and the agent's words are in leave remarks on a version; how a change is made from a sentence rather than a rebuild is in editing by re-prompting.
Publish the draft and send the review link
The client opens the version with no account, pins remarks on the page, and your agent reads them and edits the same draft.