When discussing the creation of a new website, it’s not enough just to talk about its appearance. It’s important for us as developers to have accurate knowledge of your business profile, goals, and target audience. This way, you’ll not only get a professionally designed site, but it will also meet expectations functionally.
To make this getting-to-know-you phase as smooth as possible, we’ve collected 9 questions that are worth expanding on when you request a quote.
1. Who are you? Write a few introductory lines about your business
Let’s say, for example, a bakery contacts us because they want a website. Nothing could be simpler, as their activity and target audience are obvious. But if we settle for this and don’t dig deeper to find out what makes this bakery different from all the others, the result will just be a generic website.
That’s why it’s important that we know the essence – what you, as the client, see as the core of your business – so we can present it on the site in a way that makes it immediately obvious to visitors.
2. Do you currently have a website? If so, what works and what would you change?
Unless we’re starting from a completely clean slate, your existing website can be an excellent starting point for us to see what you like and what you don’t. If you also have a Google Analytics report, don’t hide it from us, because we can learn a lot about your target audience from it.
3. What is your goal with the new / redesigned site?
We often hear from our clients that “I just want a refresh” – because it’s no longer trendy, the competition has a nicer one, etc. That’s when we put on our psychologist hat and draw out from the client what they actually want to achieve with the redesigned site. More activity on the forum page? More newsletter subscriptions or more followers? More visitors and thus more orders? Perhaps strengthening brand awareness? Or maybe outpacing a competitor? By clarifying the desired goals, we have a much better chance of building an effectively functioning website.
4. Who is the target audience?
This is a key question. It can determine the entire style of the website – in terms of visual appearance, layout, navigation, and of course content. It’s worth looking into your audience’s demographics, purchasing habits, slang language, and lifestyle.
5. What features should the site have?
A tremendous amount of time and thus money can be saved if we know from the beginning what features the new site needs to have. Whether it’s a built-in blog or chat interface, social media integration, photo/video gallery, contact form, etc.
This is also the point where you should mention if there are mandatory branding elements that the site needs to be built around.
6. What is definitely not your style?
Let’s also talk about what gives you the chills. If you send us a few example sites whose style, layout, or appearance is very far from what you want, that also provides us with useful information.
7. Who are your main competitors?
It’s worth finding out as much as possible about your competitors. What works well on their site, what could be improved. Obviously, we don’t need to copy them, but it’s a good starting point for figuring out how to stand out among them.
8. What sets you apart from your competitors?
In the overcrowded, competitive online world, a business truly needs to be remarkable to succeed. It’s important to stand out from the crowd, and it’s important that this uniqueness captures the visitor’s attention from the very first moment.
You don’t need to think big – it’s enough to offer, for example, a free consultation or price calculation. For an online store, it could be above-average fast delivery or free shipping. For a manufacturing company, it could be emphasizing exceptionally high quality, etc.
9. What are the constraints we need to work within?
Finally, let’s not forget about the practical details. It’s important for us to know how much time is available to complete the site and what budget you’d like to allocate to this project.
