How to Review and Respond to Client Feedback

A repeatable pass for working through what clients have left you — and choosing the right way to answer each piece of it.

Atarim team Updated 30 Jul 2026 · 10 min read

Client Collaboration

Replying to client feedback inside an Atarim comment thread

Before you start

Relevant for

Project Managers, Design Leads, and Team Members who work through client feedback as a regular part of the week.

Required knowledge

Familiarity with task statuses, priorities, and filters — see How to Manage Tasks in Atarim if any of those are new.

Tools & resources needed

Access to the Projects screen, the task list, and the board.
Some responding options depend on your plan.

Reviewing feedback and responding to it are two different jobs, and most teams only have a process for the first. Triage tells you what to look at; responding is where the client actually forms an opinion of you. This article covers both, in the order you would do them.

Triage first, then decide how to answer each item — they are different jobs.

The part worth slowing down on is the middle: Atarim gives you three distinct ways to answer a piece of feedback, and they reach different audiences. Picking the wrong one is the most common avoidable mistake in a feedback round.

Start on the Projects Screen

Before opening anything, decide which project needs you. The Projects screen shows each project with its open task count, which is the fastest signal of where feedback has piled up.

Go to the Projects screen.

Scan the open task counts to see which projects have accumulated work. A project whose count has jumped since yesterday is usually where a client has just finished a review round.

Sort or filter to bring recently active projects to the top.

Open the project you are working on today.

*Open task counts show where feedback has piled up*

The Atarim Projects screen showing open task counts on each project — Sort & Filter Projects

Triage at a fixed time, not in response to notifications

Reacting means you handle feedback in the order it arrived. Scanning means you handle it in the order it matters.

Filter Down to What Actually Needs You Now

Open the task list for the project and narrow it before you start reading. Two filters do almost all the work.

Filter by	Values	Use it to
Status	Open, In Progress, Pending Review, Complete	Hide finished work and focus on Open and In Progress.
Priority	Low, Medium, High, Critical	Work down from Critical rather than top to bottom.

Filter status to Open and In Progress. Completed work drops out of view.

Sort or filter by priority and start with Critical, then High.

Work through that set before widening the filter again.

The status filter open on the Atarim task list — Narrow first, read second — the working set is what is left

The priority filter open on the Atarim task list, showing Low, Medium, High and Critical — Filtering by status — hide finished work first

The Atarim task list narrowed by status and priority — Then narrow by priority and work down from Critical

Set priority as you triage, not later

Clients do not set priority reliably — and an unprioritised list means whoever picks it up next has to make the same judgement calls you already made. Learn More About Setting Due Dates And Prioritizing Tasks

Choose How to Respond

This is the step the title of this article is really about. Each task gives you three ways to answer, and they do not reach the same people.

Use	Who sees it	When
Comment	Everyone with access, clients and guests included.	Answering the client, asking them a question, confirming what you will do.
Private note	The project owner, Administrators and Team Members only.	Internal context, scope concerns, anything you would say to a colleague but not the client.
Email	Whoever you address it to.	Continuing a thread the client started by email.

The comment composer on an Atarim task, with the note control beside the send button — A comment is the default — anything sent without the note control is visible to the client

Adding a private note to an Atarim task, visible only to admins and team members — A private note — admins and team members only, and it sends no email

The email composer on an Atarim task, for continuing a thread the client started by email — Email — for continuing a thread the client started by email

Comments reach the client

A comment is the default, so anything you type and send without using the note control is visible to them. Notes also never trigger notification email, which makes them the right home for detail you do not want landing in anyone’s inbox. Discover Best Practices For Client Communication

Recommendation

Save the replies you write every week as canned responses, so the same question gets the same clear answer whoever picks it up. Insert them from the bookmark control in the editor toolbar and edit before sending. Explore Canned Responses

When the Feedback Is Not Clear

You may not need to ask. Claro, the InnerCircle’s feedback specialist, assesses feedback for how clear and actionable it is as it is written, and follows up with the client directly when it falls short — offering them a few specific options they can preview on the page rather than sending them away to write a better comment.

Only the comment’s author can answer Claro

If you see a pending clarification on a client’s comment, you cannot resolve it for them — nudge the client instead. And when you do ask a question yourself, ask one thing and make it answerable in a sentence; a comment containing three questions reliably gets one answer. Discover Claro

Work the Board for the Bigger Picture

The board shows the same tasks grouped by status, which makes it the better view for spotting a pile-up — twenty tasks sitting in Pending Review means you are waiting on the client, not the other way round.

Open the Boards screen for the project.

Read the column sizes before reading any individual task. Where work is stuck tells you what to fix about the process, not just the page.

Move tasks between statuses using the status control on the task, or select several and use Update task status. Selected tasks move together in one action.

An Atarim board grouped by status, showing where tasks have accumulated — Column sizes tell you where work is stuck before you read any single task

An Atarim board switched to priority view, with columns from Low to Critical — The same board grouped by priority instead of status

Recommendation

For more than two or three tasks, use multi-select and Update task status rather than moving cards one at a time. It is a single action and the result is easier to confirm at a glance. Learn More About Kanban Boards

Tag Recurring Themes

Tags earn their keep when the same kind of feedback keeps arriving. Once a theme is tagged, you can pull every instance of it together and deal with it in one pass instead of six.

Open a task and select the tag control.

Type a tag name and press Enter. A new tag is created if it does not already exist, and applied to the task.

Apply the tag filter on the list or board to pull up everything carrying it.

Applying a tag to a task in Atarim, with existing tags suggested as you type — Applying a tag — typing a name that does not exist creates it

Agree the tag names before you start

Keep the list short. Clients and team members can both create tags, so an unmanaged list turns into forty near-duplicates and stops being a filter worth using. If a client has created tags of their own, ask what they meant by them rather than guessing — a client tagging things “phase 2” is telling you something about their plan that is not written anywhere else. Explore Using Tags For Task Organization

Make Sure Nothing Arrives Unnoticed

Notifications are what stop feedback sitting unread. Every type is on by default, which is usually too many rather than too few — the goal is that a notification arriving means something, so people still open them in month six.

From the main dashboard, select Settings.

In the Communication group, select Notifications.

Switch off the types your team does not act on. The panel saves automatically — there is no Save button.

Add any address that should be copied on everything under Additional recipients, separated by commas.

These switches are workspace-wide

Turning one off applies to everyone, not just you. To reduce only your own email, change your personal preferences from your profile instead. Learn More About Email Notifications

Hand the Work Back

Finishing a task is not the same as telling the client it is finished. Which status you use decides what happens next.

Set it to	Means	Use when
Pending Review	Ready for the client to look at.	You want them to check or approve before you close it.
Complete	Done and closed.	The change needs no sign-off, or they have already approved it.

A status change is not a message

Moving a task to Pending Review may generate a status-change notification, but that email does not say what you need or why. If you want the client to do something, add a comment saying so. Discover The Client Approval Workflow

Batch your hand-backs

Moving fifteen tasks to Pending Review across a day means fifteen separate interruptions for the client; doing it once, with a comment explaining what is ready, gets a faster response.

Benefits of a Repeatable Pass

Benefit	In practice
Nothing gets lost	Triage by priority rather than arrival order, so the important items do not sit behind the noisy ones.
Internal thinking stays internal	Notes give scope concerns and QA remarks a home that is not the client’s feed.
Consistent answers	Canned responses mean the same question gets the same reply from anyone on the team.
Bottlenecks become visible	Column sizes on the board show whether you are waiting on the client or they are waiting on you.
Themes get handled once	Tags let you address six instances of the same request in a single pass.

Example Use Cases

Situation	How to handle it
A client left forty comments overnight	Filter to Open, sort by priority, and work down from Critical. Tag repeated themes as you go.
A request is out of scope	Note the concern internally first, agree a position, then comment once with the answer.
The same request keeps arriving	Tag it, filter by that tag, and handle the whole set together.
Feedback is too vague to act on	Check whether Claro has already followed up. If so, nudge the client to answer it.
Pending Review is filling up	You are blocked on the client. Send one comment listing what is waiting.
Your team keeps giving different answers	Write the agreed answer once and save it as a canned response.

Known Limitations

Status changes carry no explanation. A notification tells the client something moved, not what you need.

Notification switches are workspace-wide. There is no per-client notification profile.

Only a comment’s author can answer Claro’s follow-up. Your team cannot clarify on the client’s behalf.

Tags are unrestricted. Clients and team members can both create them, so the list needs managing.

Some responding options are plan-dependent — private notes and canned responses each show a plan badge where unavailable.

Internal tasks suppress all notifications, including to your own team.

FAQs

Can I update task status from the task list?

Yes. Status and assignment can both be changed from the list without opening the task, and several tasks can be updated at once with multi-select.

What if the feedback is unclear?

Claro may already have followed up with the client automatically, offering them specific options. If it has not, ask one specific question in a comment.

How do I reply without the client seeing it?

Use a private note rather than a comment. Notes are visible only to the project owner, Administrators and Team Members, and never trigger notification email.

Should I use Pending Review or Complete?

Pending Review when you want the client to check or approve first. Complete when no sign-off is needed or they have already approved.

What if a client creates their own tags?

Ask what they mean by them. A client’s tags often describe their internal plan, which is useful information you will not find elsewhere.

How do I keep answers consistent across the team?

Save the answers you give repeatedly as canned responses and insert them from the editor toolbar.

Why is nobody being notified about a particular task?

Check whether the task is marked internal. Internal tasks send no notifications to anyone, your own team included.

Common issues

Feedback is sitting unread for days — check the notification settings have not been switched off workspace-wide, and set a fixed daily triage time.
The client says they were not told the work was ready — a status change alone does not explain anything. Add a comment when you hand work back.
You cannot resolve a pending clarification on a client’s comment — expected. Only the author can. Ask the client to open their own comment.
The client saw an internal remark — it was posted as a comment. Use the note control for internal remarks.
The tag list has become unusable — agree a short naming convention with the team and consolidate.
Nobody is notified about a task at all — check whether it is marked internal. That suppresses every notification, including to your team.
Priorities look arbitrary — clients do not set priority reliably. Set it yourself during triage.

Conclusion

The review half of this is mechanical: scan the Projects screen, filter to Open and In Progress, work down from Critical, tag the themes. Once that is a habit it takes minutes.

The respond half is where the judgement lives. Decide whether each answer belongs in a comment, a note, or an email before you type it, and add a sentence of explanation whenever you hand work back. Explore How To Improve Client Satisfaction

Tips & best practices

Triage at a fixed time each day rather than reacting to notifications.
Set priority yourself as you triage — clients do not do it reliably.
Decide comment, note, or email before you start typing.
Ask one question at a time; three questions get one answer.
Use multi-select and Update task status for batches.
Batch your hand-backs and pair them with a comment saying what is ready.
Keep the tag list short and agree the names with your team.
Check whether Claro has already followed up before chasing a vague comment yourself.

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