A useful website brief gives the project a direction without trying to design every screen in advance. It explains what the business needs, what customers are trying to do and which practical constraints the team must work within. You do not need to arrive with all the answers.
Start with the reason for the project
Explain what has changed. Perhaps the business has a new offer, the catalogue has grown or the current site creates too much manual follow-up. “We need a modern website” describes an appearance preference. “Customers cannot find the right product range” describes a problem the project can address.
Choose a few outcomes and put them in order. Better enquiries, clearer product discovery and easier content maintenance are different goals. A priority order helps the team make sensible decisions when scope, timing and budget compete.
Describe the people and their tasks
Name the main audience groups and the actions each should complete. Include what they already know, what they need to understand and what might stop them. A returning trade customer and a first-time retail buyer may need different routes through the same store.
- What brings each audience to the site?
- Which questions influence their decision?
- What is the primary next step?
- Which languages, regions or accessibility needs matter?
- What should happen after an enquiry or order?
Inventory content and connections
List existing pages, portfolio assets, product information and brand files. Mark what can be reused, what needs rewriting and who can approve it. Content ownership is easy to overlook and difficult to recover from late in a project.
Identify systems the website must connect to: enquiry inboxes, CRM, booking, payments, stock or reporting. Explain the intended workflow rather than simply naming a tool. “Send each enquiry to the correct team with its chosen service” is a useful requirement.
Make constraints and references useful
Share timing, budget range, platform requirements and known dependencies. For visual references, explain the detail you like: headline scale, spacing, color, navigation or a particular interaction. A reference is more useful when its role is clear.
Finish with an approval owner and an agreed definition of ready: responsive layouts reviewed, content approved, enquiry paths tested and any migration work completed. This makes the handover concrete.
If the project replaces an existing site, include a redesign and SEO migration plan. If follow-up is the main problem, review CRM and email automation before assuming the website alone can solve it.