Blog · October 28, 2026
What to say when a client is not responding.
“Just checking in on this.” Sent twice. The cut has been sitting there nine days.
Ask one small question with a date, not “just checking in.” Before you write it, work out why they went quiet. Often the link was never opened. Sometimes your client is waiting on someone else, or isn’t sure what you need from them.
By Vitaly Kibenko
First, see whether they opened it.
On DropYourFiles, Client links lists every link you’ve sent and what happened to it: Opened today, Approved, Downloaded or Not opened. The count of links not opened yet sits at the top, and your bell flags a project nobody has opened two days after you sent it.
Three messages, for three silences.
Never opened
It’s buried, so send it somewhere new: a text if the first went by email. “Sending this again in case it got lost: the first cut of the launch film. Takes three minutes on your phone.” Under Who has it, the Send button emails a person their link again.
Opened, but no notes
Give them an easy yes. “Anything you’d like changed? If it’s good as it is, Approve on the page and the files are yours.”
Waiting on someone else
Ask who, and offer to bring them in. “Should I send this to whoever signs off? I can give them their own link.” Under Who has it, Give someone their own link makes them one, with its own count of opens.
Make the answer one tap.
Approve sits under the film on your client’s phone. On a job with photos and film, Approve the photos and Approve the film are separate, so the part that’s ready doesn’t wait for the part that isn’t. When your client approves, you get an email and the watermark comes off.
A date for notes, in the next contract.
A line in the contract saying notes come back within a set number of days for each cut, in one batch, turns chasing into reminding. The videography contract template asks for notes in one batch per round; add the days that fit your schedule.
Questions.
How do I follow up on an unanswered email?
Ask one specific question with a date, in a different channel than the first message. “Can you look by Friday?” is easier to answer than “any update?”
How do I know if my client opened the link?
Client links shows each link you’ve sent with what happened to it: opened, approved, downloaded or not opened.
What if my client never approves?
Point to the rounds and the dates in your contract. If you want the files with them anyway, turn on Download before approval for that project.
Keep reading.
- Client approval software where Approve opens the finals
- How to send a video to a client for review
- When your client keeps asking for revisions
- How to share a video privately with a client
- How to stop clients screenshotting proofs
- Frame.io for photographers: what fits and what doesn’t
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