Whether your business does screen printing, embroidery or DTG printing – proofs are essential. At Printavo, we've heard from hundreds of owners that face an uphill battle with their art approval process. It's a challenging intersection of customer management, clear communication, production, procurement, and design. One of the keys to a smooth screen printing production process is to develop a strong system for proofs & art approval. That's why Mike Chong from Merch Monster shared his insights into developing a clear process for proofs. Better proofs lead to more production time – and printing more jobs with less spoilage. Try Printavo for free: https://www.printavo.com

1. Use Proofs, Save Money
in Your Screen Printing
Business
Printavo – Simple, online shop management software
www.printavo.com

2. Introduction
Whether your business does screen printing, embroidery or DTG
printing – proofs are essential.
At Printavo, we've heard from hundreds of owners that face an uphill
battle with their art approval process. It's a challenging intersection of
customer management, clear communication, production,
procurement, and design.
One of the keys to a smooth screen printing production process is to
develop a strong system for proofs & art approval. That's why Mike
Chong from Merch Monster shared his insights into developing a clear
process for proofs.
Better proofs lead to more production time – and printing more jobs
with less spoilage.

3. What’s a Proof?
o A proof is a detailed visual mockup of the job that you're tasked
with producing. It’s your team’s functional blueprint for executing
the job. The finished product should exactly match the
specifications on the approved proof.
o The customer must approve the proof before production begins –
no matter what! Without proofs & approval, you are putting your
company in danger of losing customers, production time, and
money.
o The goal of a proof is simple: create a shared understanding of the
expected outcome of every detail of the job.

4. What Does a Proof Contain?
o Our proofs contain all of the information required to produce the
job correctly:
• Specific measurements for the art placement on the garment
• The type of decorating: screen print, embroidery, DTG, etc
• The exact size of the artwork
• Instructions for production: ink colors and types, thread
colors, production date
• Finishing options
o The clearer the proof, the smoother the process.

5. Capturing Customer Requirements
o This is the first step in the proofing process: listening to exactly
what your customer wants. With clear communication, the person
responsible for customer service sets expectations – but also
captures the exact job requirements.

6. Capturing Customer Requirements
o You need to ask the right questions to collect the right
information.
• How big should the art be on the shirt?
• Where will the artwork be placed?
• Which garments will be required?
• What color will the art be printed in?
• What quantity & sizes are needed?
• Where should this be shipped?
• When do you need it?
• How do you expect payment to proceed?

7. Capturing Customer Requirements
o If you've ever played the game of telephone, you know that every
time a message gets passed along something gets lost along the
way. That’s why proofs are sent out for customer approval before
starting the job: you show them in writing precisely what you
know about the job.
o Proofs are a problem as old as the printing press. But you've got
this!

8. Creating the Proof
o To start the proofing process, the person that worked with the
customer creates a ticket in our help desk system for the designer.
This action creates an automated message to remind the
customer service person to check for exact requirements like:
• For each imprint location: verify that size, placement and ink
colors & types are added to the work order
• For each garment type: verify that garment style numbers,
colors and quantities are added correctly to work order
o Then, we collect artwork from the customer. This is uploaded to
our file storage system, Box.com.
o From there we enter all of the relevant info into the Printavo work
order. Our designer takes this information and creates a proof
from the artwork using a design template.

9. Internal Proof Review
o After the designer creates the proof – but before it’s sent to the
customer – the proof is reviewed internally for two things:
o Check the designer’s proof to ensure that it aligns with our
understanding of the customer’s requirements.
o Check that the job's specifications meet our internal standards for
production.
o For internal standards, you need to consider whether the job's
details make sense. If we are printing youth shirts, how big is the
design? Is the design sized appropriately to fit on youth shirts?

10. Customer Proof Review
o We send our proofs and work order to the customer for approval
before production begins. We also require the customer to sign a
terms & conditions agreement. It includes the following:
• The customer accepts full responsibility for any errors or omissions
in the artwork or procurement
• All project specifications are correct
• Garment manufacturer, style number, and quantities for each size
are correct
• Artwork size and placement in inches is correct
• The customer acknowledges that artwork placement may vary up
to .5" in any direction
• The customer acknowledges that the spot colors specified in the
artwork are correct
• The customer's shipping address is correctly entered on the invoice

11. Revisions & Change Requests
o Customers often respond to proofs with requests for revisions.
Maybe your staff captured some customer information
incorrectly, or the customer has changed their mind about a detail
of the order.
The most productive way to handle revision requests to capture all
of the details for the requests at the same time.
o Reducing the number of feedback and revision cycles will save you
money: you'll spend less time per job negotiating about artwork
and requirements.

12. Revisions & Change Requests
o To do this, you have to capture customer feedback & revision
requests accurately.
o Tip #1: Reduce revision cycles. If something the customer is
requesting doesn’t make sense, continue asking specific questions
until you completely understand what they want.
o Tip #2: Repeat what they say, in writing. If the customer feedback
is verbal or over the phone. write down the feedback and resend it
to the customer in an email that thanks them for the feedback
and repeats their instructions. "We will do x, y, and z." Ask for a
reply to verify that you've understood the changes they want.

13. Revisions & Change Requests
o Tip #3: Use clear language for your designers. Don't just forward a
customer's requests and expect your staff to understand. If the
feedback is written, clean up and reorganize the feedback for
clarity & specificity. Most customers are not trained on how to give
the right kind of feedback. Write the request so your designers
can understand it quickly & easily.

14. Revision Management & Fees for Changes
o Managing your communication about revision fees will help you
when customers want changes.
o We always include the first change to the customer’s proof for
free. We also make a point to inform the customer multiple times
that the first change is free – but any subsequent changes are
billed at the cost of $75 per hour.
o We've even included that specific language in our email template
for responding to revision requests.
o If you've told the customer multiple times that subsequent
changes will add to their bill and cost them money, they're more
understanding when they're charged for revisions.

15. Change Request Email Response Template
o Here’s our standard change request template. Nice and simple –
just email a list back to the customer and show them their
changes.
Thanks for your feedback!
Before we print, let's go over your request.
We will make the following changes you requested: (changes go here)
Important note: We offer one free revision with every proof. Additional
changes are billed at a rate of $75 per hour for artwork services.
You must reply to confirm your changes.
- Merch Monster

16. How to Handle The Second Change Request?
o It invariably goes like this: you make the changes correctly but the
customer comes back with another change.
o Do you charge them for the change?
o If it’s a small and easy change, consider dropping the charge.
o If it's a large change that alters the scope of production, you
should absolutely charge for changes.

17. Second Change Request Email Template
(Affirmative)
Thanks for your feedback. We’ve already completed your
complimentary change that's included with your order. However,
we'd like to make this change at no cost – assuming it’s your last
change! Please note: we will bill any additional changes at our rate of
$75 per hour for artwork.

18. Second Change Request Email Template
(Negative)
Thanks for your feedback. We’ve already completed your
complimentary change that's included with your order. Since this
second round of changes requires more significant adjustments, we
will bill your additional changes at our rate of $75 per hour for
artwork. We expect it to take # hours. Please reply to confirm that
you understand the charges.

19. Process for Change Requests
o You can develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with revisions &
changes. Some shops utilize forms on their websites, others
prefer phone calls. Creating a simple process to follow – with
email templates and clear terms – means customers have specific
and realistic expectations that you can repeatedly meet.
o After revisions and changes are complete, we essentially start the
proofing process over from scratch. It goes back to the designer,
then is internally reviewed for production standards, then travels
to the customer for the final approval.
o You can see why you want to limit revision cycles: it's time-
consuming!

20. Scope of Work Approval
o Approving your scope of work means signing off on the job and
officially starting production.
o Your scope of work is the comprehensive and detailed document
for the job. It's your plan for producing the job on-time that
accounts for every detail and aspect of production. It's not a
planning document, but a guide for executing the job after all
revisions & changes are complete.
o The approved scope of work should include the final approved art
for preparation and separation, and the list of final approved
garments for your procurement team.

21. When Customers Don't Approve: Chasing
Proof Approvals
o Don't get hung up waiting for customers to approve their proofs!
This can stop production in its tracks.
o This happens for multiple reasons:
• The customer didn't see the email because it went to spam
• The customer is simply busy & not prioritizing
communicating with you
• The customer needs approval from an internal stakeholder
• There's confusion about billing, requirements or
communication
• There's problems with art or garment requirement on the
customer's end

22. When Customers Don't Approve: Chasing
Proof Approvals
o Proof approvals have an expiration date. You can quickly
mismanage production timing if proofs aren't rapidly approved by
customers.
o Here are the scenarios that happen when approvals aren't tightly
managed.
o The slowdown. If your approvals are slow, it can create a
production lull. You've sold jobs, but don't have enough approved
jobs underway to keep your staff productive.
o The flood. Or on the other end of the approval process Purgatory
– you've scheduled your staff for a moderate workload, but a
flood of approvals comes in. Suddenly you have too much
production work in the queue.

23. When Customers Don't Approve: Chasing
Proof Approvals
o So you want to keep pushing approvals along as quickly and
steadily as possible. The three methods we use are simple:
• Rapid-fire automated email reminders. “Hi, we've waited for 12
hours to start production. Approve your proof & let's get going!”
• Text message reminders. "You have a pending proof. Please check
your email!“
• After 24 to 48 hours, call the customer.
o Communicate to your customer that you won't do anything until
the proof is approved.
o When you're waiting for approval, your job is to keep
communicating. "I won't start production, and can't print your
shirt until you approve your proof!"