A good website brief is short, specific about outcomes and vague about implementation. Most briefs are the opposite, which is why businesses receive three quotes that cannot be compared.
Here is what to include, in the order it is worth writing.
The eight things that matter
1. What the business is trying to achieve
Not "we need a new website" — that is the proposed solution. What changes if the project succeeds? More enquiries from a particular type of customer. Fewer phone calls asking questions the site should answer. The ability to take bookings without staff involvement.
Stating the outcome lets a supplier propose something better than what you asked for. Stating only the solution guarantees you get exactly what you asked for, which may not help.
2. Who the site is for
Be specific. "Small businesses" is not an audience. "Facilities managers at schools and care homes who need a quote within a day" is. It changes the tone, the structure and what has to be on the homepage.
If you have more than one audience, rank them. Sites that treat three audiences equally serve none of them well.
3. What you want a visitor to do
One primary action per site, and ideally per page. Call, enquire, book, buy, apply, download. If you cannot name it, the site will not be designed to produce it.
4. What must be on the site
A rough page list is enough. Services, about, case studies, contact, blog. Note anything unusual: a downloadable price list, a staff directory, a members area, a map of coverage.
Also note what should not come across from the old site. Most rebuilds carry dead weight nobody questioned.
5. Functionality beyond pages
This is the section that most changes a quote. Anything the site has to do:
- Take payments or deposits
- Show live availability or stock
- Give customers a login
- Send data into your CRM or accounting system
- Support more than one language
- Let staff publish without developer help
Each of these is a project inside the project. Naming them upfront prevents the mid-build scope change that pushes launch dates.
6. Who is producing the content
The single most common cause of overdue website projects. State plainly whether you are writing the copy, whether you have photography, and whether either needs commissioning. If it does, that belongs in the budget and the schedule.
7. Budget range and deadline
Give a range. A supplier who knows you have eight to twelve thousand pounds will propose something that fits. A supplier who is guessing will either overspecify and lose, or underspecify and disappoint.
Do the same with dates. If there is a trade show in October, say so — scope can be shaped around a fixed date, but only if it is known at the start.
8. Existing systems and constraints
Current hosting and who controls it. Who holds the domain. Any system the site must talk to. Whether you are tied to a contract. Whether the brand has guidelines. These are unglamorous and they determine what is possible.
What to leave out
The technology. Unless you have a genuine constraint, do not name the platform. Specifying it before the requirements are understood removes the supplier's ability to recommend anything better, and often locks you into a decision made for the wrong reasons.
Detailed page-by-page wireframes. If you have already designed the site, you are buying production rather than expertise, and you should be clear that is what you want. Most businesses would be better served by describing the problem.
Long competitor lists. Two or three sites you admire, with a sentence each on why, is more useful than fifteen links. The "why" is what a designer can act on. "I like this one" is not.
The strongest briefs describe the business clearly and the website loosely. The weakest describe the website in detail and the business not at all.
A structure that works
Two to four pages, in this order: the business and what it sells; the goal of the project; the audience; the action you want; page list; functionality; content ownership; technical constraints; budget range; timeline; how and when you will decide.
That last point is worth stating. Suppliers put real effort into proposals, and telling them the decision date and who is making it gets you better responses.
Why this gets you better quotes
Three proposals against a vague brief are three different projects at three different scales, and comparing them is guesswork. Three proposals against a clear brief differ in approach and price for the same problem, which is a decision you can actually make.
It also surfaces the suppliers worth talking to. Anyone who quotes a fixed price against a two-page brief without asking a question has not read it.
If you would rather work through it with someone first, our consultancy team helps UK businesses scope website and system projects before they go out to quote — including projects we are not bidding on. Start a conversation, or read what a business website should cost for the numbers behind the ranges.
