Website brief: what an agency needs from you

What a brief has to achieve

An agency can only give you a reliable quote once it knows what should work in the end. Six pieces of information are enough: the goal of the website, the target audience, the existing content and technology, competitors and role models, the budget range, and the timeline with contacts. Everything else can be settled in conversation. A brief does not have to be a long document. Two to three pages, filled in honestly, often save several weeks of back and forth.

The most common mistake is a brief that only describes how the site should look (“modern, clean, light”). That says little about whether the site will bring in enquiries. So start with the business, not the design.

1. Goal: what should the website achieve?

Name one to three goals at most, in order of importance. Well-formulated goals can be checked:

“More enquiries through the contact form for bathroom renovations”
“Make appointments bookable online so fewer calls reach the practice”
“Explain our services so that applicants and customers take us seriously”

Also write down how you will know later that it has worked. It can be a number, such as enquiries per month, but it does not have to be. If you do not know a figure today, note the current situation: how many enquiries do you get now, and through which channel?

2. Target audience: who should do what?

Describe your one to three most important customer types concretely. Not “people between 25 and 60”, but: “homeowners in the Stuttgart area who want to renovate a bathroom and compare two or three firms first”. Add what these people search for, what they want to know before buying and what makes them hesitate. This information is worth more for structure and copy than any colour specification. If you are unsure, ask three to five of your best customers how they found you and what was missing before they decided.

3. Existing material: what is already there?

This is about content and technology. Clarify in advance:

Is there an existing website? Its address, the system (if known), and who has access to the domain and hosting?
Which texts, logos and images are available, and in what quality?
Is there a corporate design with fonts and colours? If not, that is a separate building block, see What belongs in a corporate design.
Which additional functions are needed: appointment booking, shop, multilingual content, integration with stock management?

It is especially important for an existing site: say so if it receives visitors from Google. In that case a clean migration is part of the job, so that rankings are not lost. How that works is explained in Website relaunch without losing rankings.

4. Competitors and role models

Name three to five websites you like and three you dislike, each with a sentence of explanation. The “why” is what matters: “The prices are easy to find straight away” is useful, “looks smart” is not. Also name your direct competitors locally or in your industry. The agency can then see what visitors compare you with and work out what sets you apart.

5. Budget: why a range helps

Many clients hesitate to name a figure for fear that it will simply be used up. Without a range the agency has to guess, and you receive quotes that can hardly be compared. A range such as “€3,000 to €5,000” is perfectly sufficient. The agency can then tell you what is achievable within it and what is not. For a rough guide to typical prices, see How much does a website cost?. Do not forget the running costs either: hosting, domain, maintenance and updates.

6. Timeline and responsibilities

Give a preferred date and the reason for it (an opening, the start of the season, a contract running out). A date without a reason is negotiable; one with a reason is taken seriously. Also name one person who makes decisions and collects feedback. Projects are rarely delayed by technology, but by conflicting feedback from several people and by copy that arrives too late.

Short checklist to fill in

Item	Your answer
Goal no. 1 and how you will measure it
Most important customer type and their need
Existing address, access, content
Three role models with reasons
Budget range
Preferred date and decision-maker

If you cannot answer everything

That is normal. Mark open points as “unclear”. A good agency will settle them with you in the initial consultation rather than glossing over them. If you would like to go through the brief together, you can reach us via the contact page; how we approach websites is described under web design.