Planning a Website Redesign? What to Include in Your Brief

Your website feels dated, staff avoid sending clients to it, and the services no longer reflect what you offer. A redesign could help, but “make it modern” is not enough information for a useful proposal.

A clear brief helps you compare the work being offered as well as the price.

Start with your customers and services

Who should the website help? What do they need to understand before contacting you? Choose the services that need the clearest explanation and the evidence you can share publicly.

Review the questions your team answers repeatedly. They often reveal missing content, unclear service boundaries or information visitors struggle to find.

Map the enquiry journey

Decide what someone should do after reading a service page: call, submit a brief, request an appointment or buy. Keep the next step clear on mobile as well as desktop.

Specify who receives forms and how your team checks them. A visually finished website with an untested enquiry route is not ready for business use.

Include the work behind the pages

Ask who writes and approves content, supplies images, moves existing material and checks links. List any bookings, payments, customer areas or third-party connections.

Existing page addresses also need review. Ask for a plan for pages that will move or disappear so useful links are not abandoned without consideration.

Compare proposals on the same scope

Check included pages, content responsibilities, review stages, testing, account access and post-launch support. Make exclusions visible before choosing a provider.

Do we need a redesign or a smaller improvement?

Separate the problems before commissioning work. A slow page may need performance investigation; an unclear offer may need content changes; a broken form may need repair. A full redesign becomes more relevant when navigation, presentation and the customer journey all need coordinated changes.

Ask for those findings to be stated independently. Our website speed guide explains what to investigate before assuming a rebuild is necessary.

What should be included in a redesign quote?

Use this list when comparing proposals:

• Pages and reusable templates included, with content-writing and approval responsibilities.
• Mobile behaviour, editing tools and any required accessibility work.
• Forms, lead destinations and checks that an enquiry reaches the right team.
• Existing addresses to retain and redirects needed for pages that move.
• Image rights, account access, deployment, training and handover.
• Hosting, SSL, maintenance and third-party fees, with exclusions made clear.

Ask how you will review the work. A page count alone does not establish whether enquiry handling, content migration or ongoing care is included.

Can we see an example of the wider scope?

The Yukt Law case study shows a redesign engagement that also involved mobile performance work, hosting, SSL and continuing support. Its evidence section includes the original mobile test screenshots and the conditions shown.

Use the example to discuss the responsibilities your own project needs. It is not a promise that every redesign includes the same services or achieves the same score.

Explore our website redesign service when you are ready to turn the brief into a defined project.