the dispute
Client denies signing off
The campaign ran, the invoice went out, and now: "we never okayed that spend." Your proof is somewhere in a 47-message email thread.
With ApprovalLayer: export the record. Argument over.
Exhibit A the sentence every agency dreads
"We never approved that."
"We never approved that."
Now you can prove they did.
Send any approval as a link. Your client taps once on their phone — no account, no login — and the yes goes on a record that holds up when it matters.
14 days free · no card · your clients never pay or sign up
you're the client — tap one
Campaign creative — Q3 launch
v3 · final
Made for mornings that start too early.
APPROVED
sign-off record · halloway & co
✓Media plan v2 — k.halloway#a41f…
Exhibit B the three moments this saves you
Approvals only matter on the day they're missing.
the silence
Client goes quiet, deadline doesn't
You asked for sign-off Tuesday. It's Friday. Do you run it and risk the blame, or hold it and miss the window?
With ApprovalLayer: reminders, escalation, and a documented deadline — silence becomes their record, not your risk.
the creep
Scope grows, sign-offs don't
"While you're at it, can you also…" Six small yeses later, you've done a project's worth of unbilled work with nothing in writing.
With ApprovalLayer: every "small change" gets its own tap — and its own line on the record at billing time.
Exhibit C the whole workflow
step 1 — 30 seconds
step 2 — their one tap
step 3 — forever
Send a link. They tap. It's on the record.
Send anything for sign-off
Creative, budgets, scope changes, media plans. Attach the work, name the approver, set a deadline. Send by email, or copy the link into whatever thread you are already in — or trigger it from your own stack.
Clients approve without an account
They get a clean page: the work, the context, two buttons. It works on a phone in a taxi. No password. No "can you resend the login?"
The yes goes on the record
Who approved, what exactly, when, from where — sealed into a record that can't be quietly edited later. By anyone. Including you.
Exhibit D what you show when it matters
The tap is convenient. The record is the point.
Every decision is chained to the one before it — change any line of history and the seal visibly breaks. When there's a dispute, you don't argue from memory. You export.
DateItemDecided byDecision
Jun 12 · 4:02 pmQ3 campaign creative, v3 finalApproved
Jun 10 · 9:41 amPaid media budget increase, +$12,000Approved
Jun 06 · 2:15 pmLanding page copy, v1Changes requested
Jun 02 · 11:03 amScope addition: email nurture seriesApproved
One click exports the whole client history as a clean PDF or CSV — dated, attributed, and sealed. Attach it to the invoice, hand it to the auditor, or end the email thread with it.
The proof isn't only ours.
The moment your client taps approve, they get their own copy of the record reference by email. It sits in their inbox — outside our systems, and outside yours. So a record nobody can quietly rewrite stops being a promise about our database and becomes arithmetic anyone can check.
Exhibit E plays well with your stack
An approval step wherever you already work.
delivery — email · copyable link
signed webhooks
simple REST API
works with Zapier · Make · n8n
exports — PDF · CSV
Exhibit F pricing
MOST STUDIOS
Costs less than one written-off dispute.
Solo
Freelancers & consultants
$29 /month
- 3 active clients
- Unlimited sign-offs
- Email delivery + copyable link
- Full record + PDF & CSV export
Studio
Small agencies, 2–10 people
$79 /month
- 15 active clients
- Everything in Solo
- Your logo on approval pages
- Reminders & deadline escalation
- REST API + webhooks (Zapier / Make / n8n)
Agency
Growing teams & multiple pods
$149 /month
- Unlimited clients
- Everything in Studio
- Multi-approver chains
- Team seats & roles
- Priority support
Clients are never charged and never need accounts — on any plan.
Exhibit G questions, answered
The fine print, in plain words.
Do my clients need an account? +
No — that's the whole point. They get a signed, single-use link by email — or you copy it and send it however you already talk to them. They see the work, tap once, done. No password, no app, no onboarding call with their IT person.
What makes the record "hold up"? +
Every decision is written to a ledger where each entry is cryptographically chained to the one before it. Change any historical line and the chain visibly breaks — which is exactly what makes the unbroken version persuasive. Exports show who approved what, when, and from where.
What can I send for approval? +
Anything with a yes attached: creative, budgets, spend increases, content calendars, scope changes, media plans, final deliverables. If you'd want it in writing, it belongs here.
What happens when a client goes quiet? +
You set the rule per request: remind after a day, escalate to a second contact, or expire at the deadline. Whatever happens is documented — so "the client didn't respond" becomes a dated fact on the record, not your word against theirs.
What if ApprovalLayer disappears? +
Every record exports as PDF and CSV at any time, on every plan, including during the trial. Both carry the full hash chain, so an exported record verifies without us. And your clients hold their own emailed copies of each decision reference regardless. Evidence shouldn't be hostage to a subscription — including ours.
Couldn't you — or I — just edit the database? +
Not quietly. Each entry is chained to the one before it, so altering any past line breaks every hash after it. And because your client received the entry reference by email the moment they decided, a forged history would have to match a copy sitting in someone else's inbox. That's the part that makes this hold up under pressure.
Is this legally binding? +
ApprovalLayer creates a clear, timestamped, tamper-evident record of decisions — which is exactly what most client disputes turn on. For contracts that require a formal e-signature, keep using your signature tool; ApprovalLayer covers the hundred everyday approvals that never get one.
Exhibit H the close
Get every yes in writing.
Get every yes in writing.
Without making clients do anything.
14 days free. Send your first sign-off in the next five minutes — the next dispute will pay for the year.