You send the draft. The marketing head replies that it feels too bold and wants it toned down. An hour later the founder writes that it is far too safe and needs more edge. Both are senior, both sound certain, and both have copied each other. You now hold two sets of feedback that cannot both be satisfied, and the deadline has not moved.
When two people at your client give opposite feedback, do not guess who is right and do not average them. Make the conflict visible and get one named decision-maker. Here is how to do that without blaming anyone.
Return the decision to the client, because the disagreement is theirs
Your job is to give the decision back to the people who own it, with the conflict stated clearly and an easy way to resolve it. Opposite feedback is usually not about your work. It is two people inside the client's organisation who have not agreed with each other, and the disagreement arrived with your brief.
If you quietly pick one side, you risk being wrong with the other person for the rest of the project. If you try a middle path, you often end up with something neither of them wants.
Reply to everyone at once, and state both positions neutrally
Send one message to everyone involved and summarise each position in a sentence, without attributing blame: "I've received two sets of feedback that point in opposite directions. One asks for a bolder tone, the other for a safer one. Before I revise, could you confirm which direction you'd like, ideally by Thursday so we keep the delivery date?" Naming a date, such as two working days, gives the client a reason to settle it quickly.
A private answer to one person looks like taking sides, and it hides the disagreement from the person who needs to resolve it. If one person is your usual contact, tell them first that you are sending a combined note, so they are not surprised in front of their boss.
Ask who has the final say, and ask it plainly
If the combined message does not settle it, ask directly: "Who should I treat as the final decision-maker on this?" Most clients can name an answer, and being asked prompts them to commit to one. Once you have a name, keep sending drafts to everyone, but treat that one person's approval as the sign-off, and confirm that in writing.
A good kickoff settles this before it happens. The guide on onboarding a new client as a freelancer lists identifying who reviews and approves work among the things to establish before you start. If you skipped it, you can still recover it mid-project.
Pause the next revision until you have one direction
Hold the next revision until the client picks a direction. Without a decision, conflicting feedback becomes an endless loop in which each round pleases one person and upsets the other. Say so: "I'll hold the next revision until we have one direction, so we don't spend a round on changes that get reversed." If your agreement includes two revision rounds, conflicting feedback can use both of them before anything is approved. Tell the client that the delivery date moves with the pause: "If we settle this by Thursday, delivery stays on the 20th, and every extra day moves it by a day."
The guide on handling scope creep without losing the client shows how to keep a revision count meaningful, including what to do when extra rounds become additional paid work.
Do not confuse this with a client who hovers over everything
One over-involved person who checks in constantly has a trust and visibility problem, covered in the guide on handling a client who micromanages. Several people disagreeing is an alignment problem inside the client. The first needs a rhythm and a place to look, and the second needs a decision-maker.
Keep each person's feedback and the file it referred to together
Paste each person's feedback into a task comment and attach the file it referred to. Rinto tasks have comments, an activity log and file attachments, so you have the whole thread in one place on your side when you ask the client for a single decision. For the wider toolkit worth having in place, see the roundup of the best tools for freelancers in India.
Frequently Asked Questions
The client's boss and their marketing head want different changes. Who do I follow?
Follow neither until the client decides. Reply to both together, state each position neutrally, and ask them to confirm one direction by a set date. If that does not settle it, ask who has the final say, then treat that person's approval as the sign-off while still copying everyone on drafts. Seniority alone does not decide it, because the person who signs off on the work is often not the most senior voice. Record whoever you name in writing, so the arrangement survives if the disagreement returns later in the project.
Can I charge extra when a client's team keeps changing direction?
Check your agreement first. If it includes a set number of revision rounds, such as two, then extra rounds caused by changing direction are additional scope, and you can say so before you start them. Raise it early and calmly: "We've used the included rounds, so further changes would be billed as additional work." Raising it after you have already done the extra rounds makes the conversation much harder, so flag it as the pattern appears. Keep a simple count of the rounds used, so the conversation rests on a number instead of an impression.
How do I tell a client two of their people disagree without blaming anyone?
Describe the feedback, not the people. Say that you have received two directions instead of naming who wants what, copy everyone on one message, and end with a single question the client can answer in one line. If your usual contact might feel exposed, give them a quiet heads-up first. Leave out any view on who is right, because the aim is a decision, and keep the note short enough to read in under a minute. When they reply, act on the answer the same day, so the pause stays short.
What if the client never picks a decision-maker?
Give them a default and a date. Write: "If I haven't heard by Thursday, I'll proceed with the direction in the original brief, and I'll treat feedback from [name] as final." Choose the person who wrote the brief or signs off your invoices. A clear default prompts the client to correct you if you have picked wrongly, and that correction is itself a decision. Keep the message on record, so the arrangement is documented if the disagreement returns later in the project.
How can I prevent conflicting client feedback in future projects?
Settle it at kickoff. Ask the client to name one person who gives final approval, and put that name in writing before work starts. Agree that feedback arrives as a single combined message instead of separate notes from each person, and agree a reply window, for example two working days. Establishing this early costs a few minutes and removes the most common source of endless revision loops. Put both agreements in your kickoff message, so the client has them in writing from day one.