Brief for a website — how to draw it up correctly

Brief vs. technical task: what's the difference

A brief should be drawn up and filled out for a potential client at the very beginning of interaction — since based on the results, a decision can be made on how exactly to approach the project.

The result is a clear, but rather general description of the project to be worked on. Properly formulated questions, as a rule, enable the parties to identify the key points related to a specific project and agree on most of the tasks at the initial stage — to determine the deadlines and cost, the competencies required for the project, to highlight the specifics of the customer's work and their goals. In other words, with the help of a brief, the customer explains what and why they want to get, and the contractor can understand what resources they need to complete the task. If the brief is superficial, everyone suffers: the customer receives a million additional questions, the contractor wastes extra time, which can result in growing bills, and dissatisfaction with each other grows exponentially.

A brief should not be confused with a technical task: unlike the technical task, it is more general. For example, the client fills out or draws up a brief for the development of the site, it is important to describe their goals and objectives, indicate the basic necessary functionality of the site, explain what its value is for the company's development. However, there will be no technical details related to design elements or the development of specific solutions for the site's structure in the brief.

If the brief is filled out by the customer, and in large companies it is also drawn up by the customer, then the technical task is usually drawn up by a technical specialist, that is, someone who is familiar with the details of such work. Most often, a working group is engaged in writing a competent technical task. It is the technical task that contains the most detailed details on the project, which are transferred for execution to specific specialists — from copywriters to programmers.

Simply put, a brief is what you want to get, and a technical task is a detailed instruction on how to achieve it.

Brief for a website: what's important to include

If it is up to you to create and fill out the brief, there are several key points that should be carefully outlined in any project brief for website development. If you have chosen to create the brief yourself — in our case, the website brief — make sure to include the following key points:

Why do you need a website?

Explain what specific business task you plan to solve. A corporate portal or a direct sales tool, such as an online store, will have completely different functionality and require different amount and nature of work.

Describe your business

In addition to the company name and contact information, the contractor should understand the nature of your activity and the portrait of your target audience — who and for what purpose should visit the website and what actions to take. It is desirable that these goals be clear and measurable — this will make it easier to understand how well the website performs its tasks.

Name your competitors

Give examples of companies you consider your main competitors and try to note the specifics of your activities compared to theirs and highlight the competitive advantages that are important to reflect.

Provide references

It is better to give specific examples of websites you like. These can be websites of companies from any field — the main thing is that they contain the functionality you need or the desired design elements. It will be much easier for you to explain what kind of result you need in each area using specific examples.

Specify technical requirements

If you need a specific platform, hosting, the ability to integrate services (CRM or others), it is better to report this in advance. Do not forget about adaptability for different devices — the loading speed and navigation convenience can be a key factor for the user. You should also indicate what content you plan to post on the site, how often and how you plan to update it.

Project timeline

A key element of the project that will help you understand whether the customer and the contractor are a good match. Timing issues are also important because the project can be implemented in stages — for example, when it comes to developing a website, you can release the main functionality first and postpone more specific tasks.

Contact details

Provide all the necessary contact details and communication options for working on the project — communication should be transparent and accessible.

Five mistakes when drawing up a brief

If the brief is drawn up incorrectly, instead of becoming a key instruction in the project, it can become a source of problems. Let's look at typical mistakes when drawing up a brief.

Too vague requirements

It is true that the brief should not go into the smallest details of your project. However, the questions answered by the customer should give the contractor an understanding of his main tasks. The questions should be clear and not confuse the customer — then the contractor will have a clearer understanding of the expected result.

Lack of business questions

In addition to a correctly and fully structured set of questions, it is desirable that the brief contains individually tailored questions for the client, taking into account their field and nature of activity. You must gain an understanding of the client's business to get a general idea of the project. Without this general understanding, going into more specific questions is pointless.

General brief for any task

The structure of the brief should be tailored to a specific type of task: questions for projects on website development or shooting an advertising video will differ, and using one template for all projects will not give a correct idea of the client's task and will lead to mutual irritation.

Too detailed brief

Do not confuse a brief with a technical task and ask redundant questions or ask the same thing in different words. An overloaded brief will give the impression that you want to draw up a technical task with the client's hands. Filling out a multi-page document will certainly be tedious for the customer, especially if they are not a marketer accustomed to such work. Moreover, much of the information is likely to be superfluous. It is better to work out questions for a specific customer in advance — this way you show respect for the client and maintain their loyalty.