An agency creative turnaround SLA is a written promise about how long each type of request takes, what the brief must contain and how many rounds of revisions are included. Tier your requests by urgency, give each tier a clock, and put that clock in the contract along with whatever stops it.
TLDR: Use three tiers (urgent, routine, strategic), each with a response time and a delivery time. Count turnaround from a complete brief, cap revisions and name who approves. In Mydrop's data, the median client approval took 6 hours, so it is fair to include review time in the clock.
Use three tiers, not one number
A single "48-hour turnaround" fails because a caption tweak and a campaign concept are not the same job. Use a traffic-light model instead.
| Tier | Typical request | Response time | Delivery (starting targets) | Revisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green (urgent) | Reactive post, small edit, crisis reply | 1 business hour | Same business day | 1 |
| Yellow (routine) | Scheduled posts, resizes, caption sets | 4 business hours | 2 business days | 2 |
| Red (strategic) | Campaign concept, new templates, video | 1 business day | 5 to 10 business days | 2 rounds per stage |
The delivery targets are starting points, not industry standards. Adjust them after you have measured 4 to 6 weeks of real work, and let the agency say which tier each task belongs in.
Define when the clock starts
Most SLA disputes are really about when the clock starts. Write that it starts only once the request is complete. A complete brief includes:
- Goal and audience in one line
- Required deliverables and formats
- Source files and approved copy
- The deadline and the tier
- The name of the approver
If anything is missing, the agency replies within the response time with a list of what it needs, and the clock starts when the client provides it.
Measure the part you control: review time
Slow review often causes more delay than slow design. In Mydrop's data on posts that went through client approval, the median time from submission to approval was 6 hours, and 66% were approved within 24 hours.
Here is how to use that. If your own clients take 3 days to approve, a 2-day turnaround SLA means nothing. Put a review window in the contract, such as 1 business day for routine work, and say what happens once it passes. A common choice is that a full business day of silence counts as approval for the green and yellow tiers, with strategic work left out.
Contract language to copy and adapt
These clauses are a starting point. Have a solicitor review them before you use them.
- Tiers. "Requests are classified as Green, Yellow or Red by the Client at submission and confirmed by the Agency within [response time]."
- Complete brief. "Turnaround starts when the Agency receives a complete brief as defined in Schedule A."
- Revisions. "Each deliverable includes [number] rounds of revisions. Further rounds are billed at the agreed rate."
- Review window. "The Client will approve or comment within [window]. Delays beyond the window extend the delivery date by the same amount of time."
- Missed targets. "If the Agency misses a delivery target in more than [x] of [y] requests in a month, the parties will meet to agree a corrective plan."
Avoid financial penalties for the first quarter. A corrective plan keeps the relationship intact while you learn what the numbers look like.
Track three numbers each month
You don't need a big dashboard. Track:
- Percentage delivered inside the target, per tier
- Average number of revision rounds per deliverable
- Average review time on the client side
Keep the brief, the comments and the approval trail in one place. Mydrop's approval workflow keeps a timestamp for each stage, and comments on the post keep revisions attached to the work. For templates that cut turnaround, see 7 templates to halve agency turnaround.
Agree the tiers in your next client meeting
Bring the three-tier table to your next agency or client call and ask one question: "Which tier would you put these five recent requests in?" That conversation settles 80% of the SLA. If several people on your side approve client work, start free with Mydrop and see where the clock really runs.
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