How to collect and manage client feedback in Client Portal

A question we get fairly often: can you collect and manage client feedback inside Client Portal?

Yes, in a few ways, depending on what you need. They all use the comments feature on content pages, so that's where we'll start.

Collecting feedback with comments on content pages

Everything here relies on one feature: comments on content pages. Switch comments on for a content page and your client can leave feedback right there on the page, next to the work itself.

Worth knowing before you start: comments only work with the WordPress Block Editor, not the Classic Editor. If your site runs on the Classic Editor, you don't have to switch everything over. There's a way to keep the Classic Editor for the rest of your site and use the Block Editor just for Client Portal.

There are three main ways to use it.

Option one: a dedicated feedback or chat page

Create a content page that exists purely for communication: a single spot where you and your client can talk things through, rather than scattering it across email.

The handy part is the threading. Each top-level comment keeps its own replies nested underneath, so you can run a few separate conversations on the same page without them tangling together. One thread for the homepage copy, one for the logo, one for whatever keeps coming up. Each stays self-contained.

It works well as a simple, predictable place to keep individual threads of information. The client always knows where to go, and you always know where to look Here's an example set up this way.

Option two: comments on each deliverable

Put each deliverable on its own content page (a design, a layout, a document) and turn comments on there. Feedback then stays attached to the specific thing it's about.

Where a feedback page keeps everything in one place, this gives each deliverable its own. It's the better fit when you're sharing several things and want the comments on each kept cleanly apart. Comments on the homepage mockup stay with the homepage mockup, rather than everything landing in one pile.

Option three: a module per revision round

Say your proposal promised two rounds of amends. Set up a module for each round in advance (a content page works well), then open and close them as you go.

Deliver the work and open round one. When that round's feedback is in, lock it. Your client can still see everything that was said, they just can't add to it. Then open round two. When that's done, that's the rounds used up. Build it into a portal template and you only set it up once.

The point isn't to be strict for the sake of it. It's that your client can see they've had their two rounds. So when "just one more small thing" turns up, and it will, they already know a third round means another invoice. Nobody has to have the awkward conversation, because the agreement was clear from the start.

Not sure which to use?

Roughly:

Getting notified about comments

Comments aren't much use if you don't notice them, so Client Portal sends an email automatically when one's left. It works both ways: when a client comments, and when you reply. There's no extra plugin to install and nothing to set up in WordPress.

To turn it on, go to Client Portal Settings → Notifications and open the New Comment tab. You can switch the notification on, edit the subject and message, and choose who gets it: your client, you, or both.

So that's three ways to collect and manage feedback in Client Portal: a dedicated chat page, comments on each deliverable, or a module per revision round. Same comments feature underneath, used three ways. Pick whichever suits the project and enjoy having all your feedback in one place.