Your first agency discussion becomes more useful when you can explain what visitors should accomplish on the website. “Visitors should find a suitable course and enquire about a place” gives you a flow to discuss. “Modern and premium” describes an impression but does not tell the agency what the site needs to do.

A working outline

You can use the following questions as a working outline without already knowing every answer. Visible gaps help the agency understand what it needs to clarify with you.

  • Reason for the project: What triggered the work? Describe an observed difficulty or a planned business change.
  • People and task: Who visits the website, in what situation and with what goal?
  • Offer: Which services need explaining? What prerequisites or limitations must visitors understand?
  • Next action: Should someone compare options, make contact, request a date or complete a booking?
  • Existing material: Which text, images, brand documents and systems are already available?
  • Decisions: Who answers questions about the service, consolidates feedback and approves the work?

Explain any reference links: what helps people choose, and which information appears in the right place? That gives the designer something more usable than a taste preference.

Customer tasks before feature requests

The GOV.UK guidance on user needs separates a user’s problem from a solution chosen in advance. Apply that distinction to your brief. “Customers need to find the right contact” leaves room to consider search, clear responsibility labels or a contact page.

It matters to the agency whether your statement comes from repeated questions, support notes or the team’s judgement. That basis shows what is already known and what still needs checking. Anonymised questions are enough; personal customer details do not belong in a general project document.

An open question can appear directly in the brief: “We offer maintenance and repairs. We do not know whether visitors understand the difference.” The agency can then investigate the choice before designing a new contact flow.

Describe the first version

To keep the first version manageable, you can separate essential launch content from later additions and connect each item to a task. A team profile might explain responsibilities, while a download might help customers prepare. Without that connection, it remains unclear what the requested content contributes to the first version.

Your existing system, available photographs and dates also affect the plan. A preferred launch can be weighed differently from an event already advertised in print. Knowing that distinction lets the agency prioritise the scope around the actual deadline.

Your own contribution needs a place in the plan. Who writes the missing service descriptions, and when will they be ready? A design using invented content can make decisions seem settled, only for the real wording to reopen them.

Use the brief in the discussion

In the discussion, the open questions help establish which information is still needed for an estimate. The proposed scope should then show the outcomes and the version of your brief it is based on, so later changes can be traced to a specific agreement.

If content and designs already exist, identify the website implementation work still needed. If both need creating, include content and design decisions in the web design commission.