How to write a website brief (with a free fill-in template)

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

A website brief is the starting document for a website project. It explains your business, your customers and what the website must do, so a designer or agency can plan, price and build the right thing.

A brief matters for three reasons:

• Accurate quotes. When three agencies quote on the same brief, you can compare them fairly. Without one, each agency guesses a different scope and the prices mean little.
• Fewer surprises. Features you forgot to mention, such as booking or a Thai version, are the most common reason projects grow in cost and time.
• A better website. The clearer you are about your customers and goals, the more the design and copy can be shaped around them.

You do not need to know anything about design or code to write a good brief. You need to know your business, which you already do.

A brief is also useful inside your own team. Writing it forces the owners, managers and marketing staff to agree on what the website is for before money is spent. Many disagreements that would otherwise surface halfway through the design stage, such as which services to lead with or whether to show prices, get settled in an hour around a table instead.

What should a website brief include?

A complete website brief has ten parts. Short answers are fine; missing answers are the problem.

1. About your business. What you do, where you operate, how long you have been running and what makes you different.
2. Goals. The main job of the website, such as more bookings, more quote requests or more credibility with larger clients. Say how you will judge success.
3. Audience. Who your customers are, what they worry about, what they search for, and which languages they use.
4. Pages. A rough list of the pages you expect, such as home, services, about, prices, contact and articles.
5. Features. Online booking, payments, forms, a class schedule, a LINE or WhatsApp button, a blog, two languages, an AI agent.
6. Content. Who will write the copy and supply photos and video, and what already exists.
7. Brand. Your logo, colours and fonts if you have them, and the feeling the site should give.
8. Examples. Two or three websites you like and one you dislike, with a sentence on why for each.
9. Technical details. Your current website and domain, who has the logins, and any systems the site must connect to.
10. Budget and deadline. A realistic budget range and any fixed date, such as an opening or a campaign.

If you only have time for three of these, make them goals, audience and features. They shape everything else.

Is there a website brief template I can fill in?

Yes. Copy this template into a document, fill in each line in plain language and send it to the agencies you are considering.

• Business name and current website: …
• What we do, in one or two sentences: …
• Where we operate (city, country, online): …
• What makes us different from competitors: …
• The main goal of the new website: e.g. more consultation bookings
• How we will measure success: e.g. enquiries per month, bookings, calls
• Our ideal customers: who they are, what they need, what worries them
• Languages the site needs: e.g. English and Thai
• Pages we think we need: …
• Features we need at launch: e.g. booking, contact form, LINE button
• Features that can wait until later: …
• Content we already have: copy, photos, video, logo, reviews
• Content we need help with: …
• Websites we like, and why: …
• A website we dislike, and why: …
• Systems to connect: booking software, CRM, email tool, payments
• Who holds the domain and hosting logins: …
• Budget range: …
• Ideal launch date, and whether it is fixed: …
• Who will make final decisions: name and role

Keep it to two or three pages. A short, clear brief is far more useful than a long one nobody reads closely.

How detailed should a website brief be?

Detailed enough for an agency to understand the job and give an accurate quote, but not so detailed that you are designing the site yourself. Describe the problem to be solved and leave the solution open where you can.

For example, “we lose bookings because people cannot see our prices on a phone” is more useful than “we want a pop-up price list in the top-right corner”. The first lets a designer find the best answer; the second locks in one idea that may not be the best.

Be specific about anything fixed: a deadline you cannot move, a booking system you must keep, legal wording you must show, or a requirement to follow Thailand’s PDPA when collecting personal data. Be flexible about layout, colour and structure unless they truly matter to you.

Whatever you write, add real detail about your customers. “Busy professionals aged 30 to 50 who want a discreet clinic near Thonglor and usually book in the evening” gives a designer far more to work with than “everyone”. The same goes for goals: “ten consultation requests a month from the website” is a target everyone can design towards and measure afterwards.

What are the most common website brief mistakes?

Most briefs go wrong in the same few ways:

• No budget. Agencies then guess, and you receive quotes for very different scopes. A range is enough.
• Every feature at once. Listing everything you might want one day makes the first version slower and more expensive. Separate “launch” from “later”.
• Forgetting the second language. Adding Thai or English late in the project costs more than planning for it from the start.
• Assuming content will appear. Someone has to write every word on the site. Say who.
• Only describing the look. “Modern and clean” tells a designer little. Who is it for, and what should they do?
• Too many decision-makers. Name one person who signs off, or feedback will slow everything down.

Avoiding these makes projects calmer and faster. See how long it takes to build a website for how much time a clear brief can save.

What happens after I send a website brief?

A good agency reads your brief, asks follow-up questions and suggests a short call before quoting. The questions they ask tell you a lot: are they curious about your customers and goals, or only about page counts?

After the call you should receive a written proposal with the scope, the price, what is included, what is not, and a timeline. Use our guide to choosing a web design agency to compare proposals, and how much a website costs to check the numbers make sense.

At PJW Partners we reply to every enquiry within one business day. Custom websites start from $1,500 USD and most launch in 3 to 6 weeks. You can see the kind of work a good brief leads to on our work page. When your brief is ready, or even half ready, send it to us here and we will help you fill the gaps.

Questions