The quality of a website is decided long before anyone designs a page. It is decided in the brief. Give a designer a clear, outcome-led brief and you get a site built to perform. Give them "make it modern and clean, here are some sites I like" and you get a guess, because that is all you have given them to work with. This is one of the most overlooked levers in any web project, and it is entirely in your control. A good brief is a small systems improvement in itself: it removes ambiguity, prevents expensive rounds of revisions, and aligns everyone on what the site is actually for. This guide walks through exactly what to include, what most people leave out, and ends with a one-page brief template you can copy and use today.
Why does a good brief matter so much?
Because the website you get is only ever as good as the thinking behind it. A strong brief saves time, avoids costly back-and-forth, and gets you a site built around results rather than guesswork. A weak brief leads to a nice-looking site that does not convert, which is the most common and most expensive mistake in web projects.
The cost of a poor brief is hidden but real. It shows up as revision rounds that drift over budget, a launch that slips, and a finished site that everyone is mildly disappointed by because no one agreed what "good" meant at the start. Clarity upfront is far cheaper than correction later.
What should a web design brief include?
A good brief covers six essentials. Notice that five of the six are about your business and your customer, not about the design. That is deliberate: your job is to define the problem clearly, and the designer's job is to solve it.
| Section | What to give the designer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Goal | What the site must achieve: more enquiries, sales, bookings | Everything is designed towards this one outcome |
| 2. Audience | Who your customers are and what they care about | The site must speak to them, not to you |
| 3. Primary action | The single most important thing a visitor should do | Focuses every page on one clear conversion |
| 4. Positioning & message | Your point of difference and key messages | The site can express why you, not just what you do |
| 5. Must-haves | Essential pages, features or integrations | Avoids surprises and scope gaps later |
| 6. Examples | A few sites you like, and specifically why | Shows taste and intent without dictating design |
The detail that makes the difference is the "why" in your examples. "I like this site" tells a designer nothing. "I like how this one makes the offer obvious in the first screen" tells them exactly what to aim for. Your positioning belongs here too: if you are clear on why customers choose you, the designer can build the whole site around that.
What do clients most often forget?
Three things, and they are the three that matter most.
The goal. Many briefs describe what the site should contain but never state what it is for. Before anything else, finish this sentence: "This website will be a success if it ___." More enquiries? More online bookings? More qualified sales calls? Name it.
The audience. It is easy to brief a site for yourself, in your own language, around what you find impressive. The site is not for you. Define who it is actually for and what they are worried about, and brief for them.
The call to action. If you do not decide the one thing you want a visitor to do, the site will ask them to do everything, and they will do nothing. Pick the primary action and make it the spine of the brief.
Nail these three and the whole project runs more smoothly, because every later decision has a clear reference point.
How do you judge the result?
Not on whether you personally love every pixel, but on whether the site serves your customer and drives the action you defined. This is the hardest discipline for most business owners, because it is natural to react to a design based on personal taste. The right question is always: does this help the customer take the action we agreed?
A good designer will sometimes push back on your preferences where they conflict with conversion. That tension is healthy, not a problem. You are paying for expertise, not just execution. The goal is a site that performs, which is exactly what our website design work is built around. Agree upfront that conversion wins over personal preference, and you will both make better decisions.
A copy-and-use one-page brief
Fill this in and you will brief better than most businesses ever do. Keep it to a single page.
WEBSITE BRIEF 1. Goal. This website is a success if it ____________________. 2. Primary action. The one thing I want a visitor to do is ____________________. 3. Audience. My main customer is ____________________, and they care most about ____________________. 4. Positioning. Customers should choose us over alternatives because ____________________. 5. Key messages. The three things the site must communicate: 1) ____ 2) ____ 3) ____. 6. Must-have pages/features: ____________________. 7. Integrations needed (booking, payments, CRM, etc.): ____________________. 8. Examples I like, and why: 1) ____ because ____ 2) ____ because ____. 9. What I do NOT want: ____________________. 10. Practical: deadline ____, budget/package ____, who signs off ____.
If you cannot complete sections 1 to 4 with confidence, that is the real work to do first, and a good agency will help you do it. The best web projects often start with a short discovery process precisely to draw this clarity out before any design begins.
Key takeaways
- •The website you get is only as good as the brief behind it; clarity upfront is cheaper than correction later.
- •Five of the six brief essentials are about your business and customer, not the design. Define the problem, let the designer solve it.
- •The three most-forgotten items are the goal, the audience and the single primary action. Nail these first.
- •Judge the result on whether it serves the customer and drives the agreed action, not on personal taste.
- •Use the one-page brief template; if you cannot complete the goal and positioning sections, do that thinking first.
Frequently asked questions
What should I include in a website brief?
Your goal, target audience, the single key action you want visitors to take, your positioning and messaging, must-have pages or features, and a few examples you like with reasons. Focus on outcomes and customers rather than dictating the design.
How detailed should a web design brief be?
Detailed on goals, audience and the desired action; lighter on prescribing layout, so the designer can solve for conversion. Clarity on what success looks like matters far more than telling the designer where to put things.
Who should write the website brief?
Usually the business owner or marketing lead, often with the agency's help. A good agency runs a short discovery process to draw the brief out of you, especially the goal and positioning, before any design work starts.
What is the most important part of a website brief?
The goal and the single primary action. If you define what success looks like and the one thing you want visitors to do, every other decision has a clear reference point and the whole project runs more smoothly.
Can an agency help me write the brief?
Yes, and the good ones expect to. Discovery is where an agency helps you get clear on your goal, audience and positioning. If a provider just asks for a list of pages and a colour preference, that is a warning sign.
Founder & CEO, Roddy Digital
Rhodri is the founder and CEO of Roddy Digital. He writes on brand, websites, demand and AI.