Landing a new design client is just the tip of the iceberg. As much as happy it makes you or your design agency feel, you need to swiftly move ahead to win and align a strategy.
Kickstarting a new web design project is absolutely exciting for all the involved stakeholders. However, you need to balance your creative flow with the actual design process.
You need to start a new web design project by letting all our creative juices flow. Yet, at the same time, you also need to have a sharp business sense. If you do not know your client's vision, long term goals and purpose for creating a website then your hard work could go down the drain.
That's why before starting any web design project, make sure to jot down a solid brief by asking some important questions.
Here's summing up a few of the important questions the design team at our parent company Brucira asks our clients:
1. What's your core business - service or product?
Early on, ask your client about their offerings. If your client has a service-based business then web design will have a different approach compared to when they have a product to talk about.
To make this question all the more insightful, ask them to describe their business. While they are doing so, you would get many valuable insights to draw upon for your web design project.
2. Do you have a website? or Why do you wish to redesign your website?
This is an incredibly important question that you must ask without a miss. If your clients already have a website then you can build upon it by exploring all the existing information. You will also have access to their existing CMS and other reports in that case.
If they want you to make a website from scratch then you will have to put in more effort in researching and then proceed with the rest of the process. This clarity is therefore helpful.
3. What do you want to achieve from this web design project?
To make a really effective website, you need to ask this question without any confusion to your clients. Unless you do know their final objective to be achieved from the website you cannot really help them out.
So, invest some time in this step and understand all the pain points of your clients. There are different results like activation of a blog, increasing visitors, streamlining one’s brand and more that your client would want to yield after the web design completion.
It’s better to know it all early on, right?
4. Which features do you want to include on the website?
Make sure to reach a common point about all the technical functionalities your clients need on their website. Clarifying this requirement will give you a clear understanding of the timelines and quotes that you need to propose to them. Also, knowing their technical needs like social media integration, mobile and web responsiveness will declutter your project planning.
5. Who is your target audience?
Target audience is the holy grail of web designing. As design and content are pretty relative, if you do not know your client’s target audience then the final website design could turn out less effective.
The Internet is getting increasingly competitive and to make a mark, you would need to appeal to your client’s target audience - so, know them thoroughly before you start web designing.
6. What should we be mindful of during the web design process?
Predict failures or delays and communicate them with your client. At the same time, ask them about their pet peeves and dislikes during the course of the project. That way, you will save time on revisions and back to back changes.
Ask them to share some of the worst websites that they have come across, this exercise will help you understand what they do not want to achieve from the current web design project.
7. Who are your key competitors?
Knowing the main competitors of your clients is very important. Their competitors’ websites can potentially help you in getting more information for your web design. You can check them to know what’s working well for them and what you could improve for your client’s website. You may even ask your client to list down what they like and dislike about their competitors’ websites to get more insights.
8. What makes you stand out from your competitors?
You would need to know the unique selling points of your clients to leverage while creating their websites. To make their website more remarkable and outstanding, discuss this question with them and you would be on your way to delivering a website that stands out from their competitors.
9. What would be the scope of this web design project?
Last but not least, define the scope of your web design project. A few clients might randomly ask you to add more features or nudge you to deliver before the agreed-upon deadline. You can avoid all that stress by communicating the major milestones, budget and expectations beforehand.
With these essential questions, you could read your clients’ expectations and meet them without any hassles. Put them to use then and see how streamlined your web design projects get!
