Revision rounds sprawl for predictable reasons. Feedback arrives from several people who disagree, notes change direction between rounds, and nobody is sure whether a request is a correction or a new idea.
None of that is the client being difficult. It is what happens when the process leaves room for it.
These are the habits I'd put in place to make feedback converge.
Name the rounds in the contract
Agree how many rounds a video includes before work starts, and write it down. The right number depends on the job and what you can deliver at the price; what matters is that it is agreed.
Naming the rounds tells the client their feedback has a shape. It also gives you something neutral to point to later, instead of a fresh negotiation every time.
Put the number in the scope and in the first delivery email, so nobody has to dig for it.
One consolidated set of notes per round
A round is a single set of feedback, delivered together. If notes trickle in over several days from several people, the editor acts on the first ones only to have them contradicted by the last.
Ask the client to gather everything for a round and send it as one list, by an agreed date. Make it clear the round starts when the consolidated notes arrive, not when the first comment does.
One approver on the client side
Ask the client to name one person who signs off each round. Others can contribute, but that person resolves the disagreements before the notes reach you.
This is often the change that matters most, because so much sprawl comes from conflicting opinions arriving separately. An approver also means one person can say “yes, this is final” — the sentence that actually ends a project.
If the approver changes partway through, treat it as a reset. Agree the remaining rounds again with the new person before the next cut goes out.
Version every cut
Label each cut with its round and version, and keep a short note of what changed from the one before. When feedback says “the last version”, everyone should know exactly which file that means.
Versioning protects you too. If a client asks for something that came out of an earlier cut at their request, you can show when and why.
Send the label with every delivery, so the client's notes come back pointing at the right cut.
Decide what is a new round and what is a fix
Not every change is a round. If the cut doesn't match notes that were already agreed — a missed change, a typo in a caption, the wrong logo — fixing it is your job and shouldn't use up a round.
If the client changes their mind, adds a new idea or reacts to something a stakeholder has just seen, that is new feedback for the next round. Agree the distinction up front, next to where you name the rounds, so it isn't invented halfway through.
Saying “that's round four” without friction
With the steps above in place, this conversation is mostly factual. Keep a running count the client can see, so the number never arrives as news.
When you reach the last included round, say so before you deliver it: “This is round three, the last one included. Anything after this is charged at the agreed rate.”
When a request does fall outside, name it plainly, give the price and let the client decide. A client who knows where the limit is can plan around it; one who finds out from an invoice feels caught out.
Said calmly and early, the boundary usually makes the next set of notes more careful. The aim was never to charge for round four. It was to make round four unnecessary.