Many website projects start with either too little information or a document full of technical words copied from somewhere else. Neither helps the business choose the right scope.
Your brief should make the problem understandable. It should give a designer or developer enough context to ask useful questions, while leaving room for them to recommend the most sensible solution.
Begin With the Business Reason
Write one short paragraph explaining why the project is happening now. Perhaps the current site no longer reflects the service, enquiries are poor, the business is entering a new market, staff struggle to update content, or customers cannot complete an important action on mobile.
Avoid goals such as make it modern unless you explain what modern should improve. A clearer goal might be helping commercial property owners find the right service and request a survey without calling several departments.
Describe the People Who Will Use It
You do not need invented customer personas with stock photographs and fictional hobbies. Describe the real groups who visit the site and the questions they bring.
A visitor who already knows the company needs a different journey from someone comparing three providers. Staff members updating pages may also be important users even though customers never see the admin area.
- Who is the primary customer?
- What are they trying to decide or complete?
- What makes them hesitate?
- Which information helps them trust the business?
- Who inside the company will maintain the website?
List the Important Actions
Separate essential actions from ideas that would simply be nice to have. Essential actions may include requesting a quote, booking an appointment, purchasing a product, finding a location, submitting documents, or contacting the right department.
Rank these actions. When every button and page is treated as equally important, the finished website often feels confusing.
Be Honest About Content
Content is frequently the largest hidden delay. State what can be reused, what is inaccurate, what needs writing, and who can approve it. Include product data, photographs, testimonials, policies, staff profiles, service details, downloads, and translated material where relevant.
If writing support is required, say so before the proposal. Design cannot compensate for missing service information or weak proof.
Name the Systems That Must Connect
Mention any CRM, booking system, payment provider, email platform, analytics account, stock system, customer portal, or existing database that affects the website. You do not need to explain the API. Share the product name, access situation, and the result you expect.
Also identify ownership. A project can be delayed for weeks when nobody knows who controls the domain, hosting, analytics, or current website account.
Explain Timing and Decision Making
A meaningful deadline has a reason, such as a campaign, event, contract, seasonal period, or product launch. If the date is flexible, say that too. A supplier can then recommend a full release or a smaller first phase.
Name the person who gives final approval and the people who provide specialist input. Clear decision ownership usually saves more time than asking the development team to work faster.
Copy This Into Your Brief
Project purpose
- Why are we changing or building the website now?
- What business result should improve?
- How will we recognise a useful first release?
Customers and actions
- Who are the main visitor groups?
- What questions must the website answer?
- What are the three most important actions?
Content and proof
- Which pages, photographs, products, testimonials, and documents already exist?
- What must be rewritten or created?
- Who checks facts and gives approval?
Technical context
- Which business tools need to connect?
- Who controls the domain, hosting, current site, and analytics?
- Are there privacy, accessibility, language, or regulatory needs?
Delivery
- Is there a real deadline and why?
- Who is the final decision maker?
- What can wait until a later phase?
Ways to Build or Improve It
Website Development
Business websites and landing pages planned around clear offers, useful journeys, enquiries, and dependable ownership.
Continue Planning
Website Budget Planning
See how scope and responsibility shape a dependable quotation.
Website Project Timing
Understand what controls a realistic delivery schedule.
Website Development
Discuss the business outcome without choosing a programming language.
A Brief Should Start a Better Conversation
The purpose of a brief is not to solve the project before speaking to a development team. It is to make the business context clear enough for responsible recommendations and comparable proposals.
If you can explain the customer, the important action, the current problem, and the people responsible for decisions, you already have the foundation of a useful brief.
Editorial note: This template is intentionally written without platform or programming requirements. Add technical constraints only when they are genuine business constraints.