Website sign-off template
A short template freelancers and agencies can paste into the handoff email — with evidence attached, so the approval names a version instead of a feeling.
What a sign-off should pin down
Most "approved" outcomes fail later for the same reason: nobody can say which version was approved. A usable sign-off names five things:
- What was approved — the captured version of the deployed pages, not "the site".
- Who approved it — one named person, not an unspecified client team.
- Per-page status — each page approved or carrying a specific change request.
- The change policy — what happens when pages change after approval.
- What is out of scope — content truth, third-party embeds, hosting uptime.
The template (copy-paste)
SIGN-OFF — [Project name]
Approved version: [review link] (captured [date])
Pages approved: [N] of [M] — Home, About, Pricing, ...
Requested changes: [page + note] — or "none"
Change policy: if a page changes later, only that page is
re-approved. Unchanged pages keep this sign-off.
Out of scope: factual accuracy of page content, third-party
embeds, hosting uptime. Evidence records what was observed
at capture time; it is not legal certification.
Client sign-off: [name], [date]Fill it in one sitting and send it with the review link. If a page is still in dispute, leave it out of "Pages approved" and put it under "Requested changes" — partial sign-off beats a stalled blanket one.
Attach evidence, not adjectives
The template works because the review link it references points at evidence: desktop and mobile screenshots, a capture timestamp, and a content hash per page. When the client clicks approve, the decision attaches to that captured version — so two months later, "what did we approve?" is a link, not an archaeology project.
Common failure modes
- "LGTM" in chat with no version reference — the approval cannot be checked later.
- A blanket approval that silently covers edits made after it.
- No change policy, so every future tweak reopens the whole site for review.
- Logged-in or private pages inside the approval scope, where captures and reviews cannot reach.
The change policy line matters most: it is what lets later work move fast without renegotiating trust.