What Should a Website Brief Include?

Most website projects that go wrong do so before a single line of code is written. The brief was vague, the scope was assumed rather than agreed, and both sides spent the project working from different versions of what was supposed to happen. A clear brief does not guarantee a good outcome, but the absence of one almost guarantees a difficult one.

The brief does not need to be long. It needs to be specific. A single page that answers the right questions is more useful than a ten-page document full of aspirational language and no concrete decisions.

Start with what the business does and who its customers are. Not the marketing version — the plain version. What do you sell, who buys it, and why do they choose you over the alternatives. This context shapes every design and content decision that follows, and most agencies will ask for it anyway. Providing it upfront saves a meeting.

Next, what the site needs to do. Not how it should look — what it should achieve. The most useful briefs are written in terms of outcomes rather than features. More enquiries from local customers. A professional first impression for clients who have been referred. A place to send people after a trade show. The specific job the site is doing for the business determines the structure, the content, and the calls to action.

Then scope. How many pages, roughly, and what they cover. A list does not need to be exhaustive but it needs to be honest. If you know you will need a case studies section, say so. If you are unsure about a blog, say that too. Scope that appears mid-project is the most common source of cost disputes and missed deadlines.

Include anything you know about your customers' behaviour. If most of your enquiries come from mobile, that matters. If your customers are typically over sixty, that affects font sizes, contrast, and the complexity of your contact forms. If they are mostly referred rather than searching, that changes what the homepage needs to prioritise.

Finally, practical constraints. Your budget range, your deadline if there is one, and any technical requirements you are already aware of. Whether you have existing hosting, a domain, a logo, or photography. Whether you will need to update the site yourself or whether someone else will handle it. These are not embarrassing questions — they are the information that allows an agency to quote accurately rather than optimistically.