Website briefing: what the agency really needs from you

The five details no quote is accurate without

The goal. Not a new website, but what should change afterwards. More inquiries? Better inquiries? Less explaining in sales? Job applications? Every goal leads to a different site.

The audience. Who makes the decision, who does the research, who has a say. In B2B, these are rarely the same people, and they need different information.

The scope. How many pages, which features. A contact form is something different from a configurator, a blog something different from a customer area.

The content. Who writes the copy, who provides images, what already exists, what is missing. This is the point where most projects get stuck.

The deadline. And whether it is really fixed. A trade fair date is a different kind of pressure than as soon as possible.

If you answer these five, you get comparable quotes instead of five numbers that have nothing to do with each other.

The question that saves the most

Answered honestly: Who writes the copy and who supplies the images? Most projects get stuck on content. Clarify this up front and you avoid delays and get quotes that are truly comparable.

What is almost always missing

Three details are missing from almost every briefing and end up costing the most later.

The budget. The worry is that the agency will max it out. But without a frame, you get quotes for three different projects. A range is enough: between ten and fifteen is a usable figure.

The internal decision structure. Who signs off? If the managing director looks at it for the first time after the third round, the project starts over. That belongs in the briefing, not in the course of the project.

What must not be changed. Logo, brand color, a specific claim, existing software. Every agency plans around limits if it knows them, and over them if it doesn't.

A fourth point that is rarely included: What didn't work last time? The answer usually prevents a repeat.

The content question that delays projects

The most common delay in web projects is: the copy doesn't arrive.

This doesn't happen out of unwillingness, but because writing copy alongside day-to-day business is a task that can always be postponed. The design is done, everything is waiting for twelve pages of content, and months go by.

That is why the briefing needs a clear decision: Do you write it yourselves, does the agency write it, or do you write rough drafts that the agency revises? All three paths work. The fourth ("we'll see") doesn't.

The same goes for images. Existing material, a photo shoot or stock material are three different budgets and three different schedules.

If you know you don't have time for copy: write it down. An agency will factor it in. What it can't do is wait for something it assumed was coming.

How to phrase technical requirements properly

Technology belongs in the briefing, but as a requirement, not as a solution.

Good: Editors need to be able to change content without a developer. The site needs to be multilingual, German and English. Inquiries should land in the CRM automatically. We need a way to offer PDFs in exchange for an email address.

Less good: We want WordPress. That way you define the solution before the problem is described, and you rule out paths that would be cheaper or more durable.

The exception: if there is already in-house expertise for a specific system, that is a real argument and should be mentioned.

This also includes details about what already exists: Where is the domain? Who manages the email addresses? Which tools are already running? A switch without this information is always more expensive than one with it.

The scope that is enough

A website briefing doesn't need thirty pages. Two to four are enough if they contain the right things.

An outline that has proven itself:

The company: what you do, for whom, since when, how many people.

The reason: why a new website now.

The goal: how you will measure in a year whether it worked.

The target groups and what each of them wants to know.

The scope: pages, features, languages.

Content: who delivers what by when.

Technology and existing setup: what stays, what goes.

Framework: budget, deadline, decision-makers.

Examples: two to three websites you like, with one sentence on why. The sentence is more important than the links.

That is all it takes. A good agency will ask about anything missing anyway.

How to recognize a quote that is based on the briefing

A briefing only pays off if you read the quotes properly afterwards.

A good quote states assumptions. We are calculating with twelve pages, copy comes from you, a photo shoot is not included. That makes it comparable and open to renegotiation.

It has phases with deliverables, not just a total. Concept, design, build, testing, launch, each with what will be delivered at the end.

It says what is not included. Maintenance, hosting, later changes, translations.

It asks follow-up questions. An agency that sends a quote in response to a briefing without a single question has either not read it or is delivering a template.

A quote that only contains a number and a list of services is not a basis, neither for a decision nor for a project.