Website brief template: what to include, with a checklist

A website brief template gives you a simple structure for telling a designer or agency what your website must do, who it is for, and what limits they have to work within. You do not need to be technical to fill one in. You need to explain your business, your goal, your customers and your practical constraints clearly. This guide covers what to include in a website brief, section by section, gives you a copy-and-paste template, and ends with a checklist to run through before you send it.

What is a website brief, and why does it matter?

A website brief is a short document, often one to three pages, that you send to agencies before they quote. It becomes the reference point for the whole project: when a question comes up later about what was agreed, the brief is where everyone looks first.

It matters for three practical reasons:

• Quotes you can compare. If three agencies read a vague brief three different ways, you get three quotes for three different projects. A clear brief means every quote describes the same work.
• Fewer surprises. Most arguments in web projects start with something nobody wrote down: "we assumed the blog was included", "we thought you were writing the text".
• A better website. A brief that explains your customers and goal helps designers make small decisions the way you would.

A good brief describes problems and outcomes, not solutions. "Customers keep calling to ask our prices and delivery areas" is more useful than "we need a pop-up".

What to include in a website brief

These ten sections cover almost every small and mid-sized business website, from a CA practice in Borivali to a D2C brand shipping across India.

1. About your business

Two or three paragraphs on what you do, who you do it for and what makes you different from the competitor down the road.

2. Why now

What is prompting the project? An outdated site you are embarrassed to share, a rebrand, a new product line, a site you cannot update yourself, or enquiries drying up. The trigger tells the agency what the new website has to fix.

3. The goal, and how you will judge it

Be specific. "Look more professional" is a start. "Get more qualified enquiries for our modular kitchen service from Andheri, Juhu and Versova" is far better, because it shapes the pages, the calls to action and the local SEO. Pick one main goal and two or three secondary ones.

4. Your customers

Who are your best customers? What do they need to know before they contact you? What doubts do they usually raise: price, delivery, trust, whether you serve their area? Write down the questions your sales team or front desk answers every week. Those questions are your future page content.

5. Pages and features

List the pages you think you need and any features: a blog, online payments through a gateway such as Razorpay, appointment booking, a WhatsApp chat button, multiple languages, customer logins, or a link to your CRM, billing or shipping provider. Mark each one must-have or nice-to-have. This single step makes quotes far easier to compare, and it gives the agency room to suggest a sensible first version.

If you are selling online, add your product count, how you handle GST invoices, whether you offer COD, and who ships orders. These details change an online store build more than the design does.

6. Content

Who is writing the text, and who is providing photos and videos? Content is the most common cause of delay in website projects, so be honest. It is fine to say "we have nothing usable and need help". Also say whether old pages and blog posts must move to the new site.

7. Look and feel

Share three to five websites you admire and say what you like about each: the feel, the navigation, the way they explain a complicated service. Sites you dislike are just as useful. Attach your logo, brand colours and fonts if you have them.

8. Technical practicalities

• Do you own your domain? Which registrar is it with, and who has the login?
• Where is the current site hosted, and which email accounts run on the same domain?
• Which pages on the old site get the most visits or enquiries? Those URLs need redirects so you do not lose search traffic. Google explains this in its guide to moving a site with URL changes.
• Any accessibility needs? The W3C's WCAG guidelines are the usual reference point.

9. Budget range and key dates

Sharing a budget range is not giving away your negotiating position. It lets the agency recommend the right approach instead of guessing between a template site and a fully custom build. Mention any fixed dates, such as a store opening, an exhibition or a festive-season campaign, and say whether each one is fixed or flexible.

10. Decisions and life after launch

Who approves the work? One clear decision-maker speeds things up more than any tool. Also say who will update the site after launch, whether they are comfortable editing pages themselves, and whether you want ongoing hosting and maintenance.

A website brief template you can copy

Copy these prompts into a document and answer each one in a few lines. Short answers are fine.

1. Business: What do we do, for whom, and why do customers choose us?
2. Why now: What is wrong with the current situation?
3. Main goal: What should the website get people to do? How will we know it is working?
4. Customers: Who are they, and what do they ask before buying?
5. Pages: Our list of pages, each marked must-have or nice-to-have.
6. Features and connections: Payments, booking, WhatsApp, logins, languages, CRM, shipping, billing.
7. Content: What we already have, what we will write, and what we need help with.
8. Look and feel: Sites we like and dislike, and why. Brand files attached.
9. Technical: Domain, hosting, email, current site URL and its most important pages.
10. Budget and dates: Our range, and any fixed launch dates.
11. People: Who decides, who gives feedback, who runs the site afterwards.
12. Out of scope: Work we are not asking for in this project.

What should you leave out of a brief?

A brief is not a design. Some things are better left to the agency, or decided together later:

• Detailed layouts. Sketching every page locks in ideas before anyone has looked at your customers' needs. Describe the problem and let the designer propose.
• A technology choice you are not sure about. If you must use WordPress or Shopify, say so. If you only heard it is popular, mark it as a preference, not a rule.
• Every possible feature. A wish list of thirty items makes quotes inflate. Keep the nice-to-haves for a second phase.

Common mistakes that lead to poor quotes

These come up again and again when business owners send briefs:

• No goal. "A modern website" can mean anything, so each agency quotes its own idea of modern.
• Hiding the budget. You end up with one quote far above what you can spend and one far below what you need.
• Assuming content will "just come". Writing ten good pages takes real time from the people who know the business. Plan for it.
• Forgetting the old site. Pages that bring in enquiries today can disappear from Google if they are not redirected properly.

If you want to see what happens after the brief, our guide to the website development process walks through each stage and what you will be asked for along the way.

Checklist: before you send your brief

• Business summary and what makes you different
• One clear main goal and how you will judge it
• Your ideal customer and the questions they ask
• Pages and features, marked must-have or nice-to-have
• Content status: who writes, who provides photos
• Websites you like and dislike, with reasons
• Domain, hosting, email and current site details
• Budget range and any fixed dates
• One named decision-maker
• A short list of what is out of scope

Do not worry about getting it perfect. A one-page brief that covers these points is far more useful than a long document that skips them.

FAQs

How long should a website brief be?

For most small and mid-sized business websites, one to three pages is enough. Coverage matters more than length: a short brief that states the goal, customers, must-have features, content situation, budget range and decision-maker gets better quotes than a long one that skips those practical questions.

Should I include my budget in a website brief?

Yes, as a range. Without it, agencies have to guess whether you want a simple template site or a custom build with integrations, and their quotes will reflect very different guesses. A range lets them suggest what is realistic, what to keep for a later phase, and where your money will make the most difference. It does not weaken your negotiating position.

What if I do not know which features I need?

Describe what you want customers to be able to do instead: book a site visit, pay a deposit, track an order, download a catalogue. A good agency will translate that into features and tell you which are essential for launch. Marking items as must-have or nice-to-have, even roughly, still helps keep the first version focused.

Is a website brief the same as a scope of work?

No. The brief is what you write before you hire anyone; it describes your needs and limits. The scope of work is written by the agency after discovery, and lists exactly what they will deliver, page by page and feature by feature. A clear brief makes the scope of work quicker to agree and easier to check.

If you would rather talk it through than write it all down, that is exactly what our discovery call is for. See how we approach website design and development, or send us your brief, even a rough one, and we will come back with questions and a fixed written quote.