ApproveThis manages your Pastel Integration approvals.

When Design Feedback Meets Approval Muscle

Let's be real – getting final sign-off on website designs feels like herding cats. Stakeholders leave vague comments in Pastel like "make it pop" while project managers chase emails. ApproveThis flips this chaos into a clear process where feedback actually leads to decisions. Connect them via Zapier, and you've got a system where design comments trigger approval workflows, deadlines get enforced automatically, and nobody falls back on "I didn't see the email."

Pastel's strength is capturing specific feedback (think: annotated screenshots, contextual comments). ApproveThis adds the layer of "Okay, but who needs to greenlight these changes – and by when?" Together, they turn subjective design debates into trackable business processes. Especially useful when you're dealing with external clients who don't need (or want) access to your internal project tools.

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Teams

Companies between 50-5k employees hit a sweet spot: complex enough to have 4+ people signing off on a homepage redesign, but small enough that "just Slack everyone" becomes a liability. Here's where the integration cuts through:

Speed Without Chaos

Marketing agencies: When a client drops 12 comments in Pastel at 5 PM Friday, ApproveThis can auto-route each to the right designer, developer, or legal reviewer based on content. No Monday morning scramble to figure out what's urgent.

Client-Friendly Without the Seat Tax

Key point: Clients can approve/reject changes via email without needing a Pastel login. ApproveThis handles the decision tracking; Pastel remains your team's single source of truth for actual feedback. Saves money on software licenses, saves your team from access request tickets.

Killing the "Who Approved This?!" Mystery

Ever launched a design only to have a VP ask why their pet feature got axed? The audit trail in ApproveThis shows who signed off on each version – including clients. Pastel's comment history plus ApproveThis' approval records = less blame game, more accountability.

Real-World Use Cases (Not Just Theory)

Use Case 1: The Over-Enthusiastic Stakeholder Committee

Situation: A healthcare company's homepage redesign needs sign-off from compliance, marketing, and a third-party legal team. Pastel comments pour in from all sides, some conflicting.

Integration Fix: Zapier triggers an ApproveThis workflow only when all 3 parties comment "Final" in Pastel. ApproveThis routes the consolidated feedback to the CMO with calculated fields showing number of requested changes. If compliance marks something urgent, it auto-escalates.

Use Case 2: The Client Who Can't Stick to a Decision

Situation: A design agency's client keeps adding "one last tweak" after approval. Each change blows up the project timeline.

Integration Fix: Pastel comments after the approved deadline automatically trigger a new ApproveThis request requiring PM sign-off and a change order approval from finance. No more free work because someone forgot to check dates.

Use Case 3: Scaling Feedback Without Adding Meetings

Situation: A SaaS company's product team uses Pastel for internal design reviews but wastes hours in meetings debating minor UI elements.

Integration Fix: Any Pastel comment tagged "UI-Change" starts an ApproveThis poll to the product team. They vote directly in email – if 70% approve (via thresholds), it moves to dev. Meeting time cut by half.

Setting This Up Without an IT Degree

Zapier's the glue here. You'll create a Zap that:

1. Trigger: "New Comment in Pastel" (filter by project/tag if you only want certain boards to start approvals)
2. Action: "Create Approval Request in ApproveThis" – map Pastel's comment text, screenshot URLs, etc., into the request.

Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis' calculated fields to count how many Pastel comments exist per design version. Set thresholds so 10+ comments auto-route to a senior designer instead of juniors.

Time Investment: 23 minutes if you're new to Zapier. Most of that is setting up your approval rules in ApproveThis once – then it's reusable.

Which Teams Get the Most Mileage?

Marketing Teams

Stop letting legal hold up campaigns because of font size debates. Route Pastel comments on ad designs to compliance first, then creative, with hard deadlines. If legal doesn't respond in 48h, ApproveThis auto-approves based on your rules.

Product Teams

Connect user feedback (via Pastel's public boards) to feature prioritization. Example: 50+ user comments on a new UI element? Auto-create an approval task for the product lead, pulling Pastel screenshots into the request.

External Collaborators

Freelance designers? Clients? They stay in Pastel. Internal approvers get the structured process in ApproveThis. Translation: No more chasing clients to "reply all" on emails – they comment, you handle internal routing automatically.

Features You'll Actually Use (No Bloat)

We know you're not here for checkbox features. Here's what matters when paired with Pastel:

Email Approvals with Context

Approvers get the Pastel screenshot and the specific comment in their approval email. No hunting through old threads.

Vacation Delegation

Legal went offline? ApproveThis reassigns their pending design reviews to a teammate without you lifting a finger. Prevents "waiting on..." delays.

Conditional Paths

If a Pastel comment includes "urgent", route the approval to the on-call designer. Otherwise, next business day. You define the logic once.

Common Objections (And Real Answers)

"We Already Use [Other Tool] for Approvals"

If your current process involves PDF markups or Excel sheets, you're losing feedback context. ApproveThis + Pastel keeps approvals tied directly to the actual design – no more "Which version is this?"

"Our Clients Won't Learn a New System"

They don't have to. Clients comment in Pastel like usual. ApproveThis handles the approval side internally, with optional email updates to clients. No new logins for them.

"We're Too Small for This"

If you have 2+ people approving designs and have ever launched something with unaddressed feedback, you're big enough. The Zapier setup takes less time than your next team meeting.

Getting Started (Without the Sales Fluff)

1. Sign up for ApproveThis – free trial covers 5 workflows.
2. Connect to Pastel via Zapier – pre-built templates here.
3. Set up one approval workflow (start with design final sign-off).
4. Test internally, then add clients if needed.

Biggest mistake we see? Teams overcomplicate the rules upfront. Start with one Pastel project and a simple "All approvers must agree" workflow. Expand once you see the time saved.

Bottom Line

Pastel's where feedback lives. ApproveThis is where feedback becomes decisions. Together, they prevent designs from getting stuck in review limbo – especially when external clients are involved. If your team spends more than 3 hours/week chasing approvals, this pays for itself in a month.

Next step: Book a 12-minute demo to see how conditional approvals work with Pastel. Or, poke around the free trial – no CC needed.

Schedule a Demo | Start Free Trial