How to write a website brief that gets you accurate quotes

If you've ever received wildly different quotes from web agencies, one says $8k, another says $45k, it's probably not because one of them is ripping you off. It's because your brief left too much room for interpretation.

A vague brief forces agencies to guess. And when they guess, they either lowball (and you end up paying for the gaps later) or pad heavily (and you overpay for risk they're pricing in because they don't know what you actually need).

A clear brief fixes both problems. It gives agencies enough information to quote accurately, and it gives you a real basis for comparing their proposals. Here's how to write one.

Start with the problem, not the solution

Most briefs start with "we need a new website" or "we want to redesign our site." That's a solution. What agencies actually need to understand is the problem behind it.

Why do you need a new website? What isn't working about the current one? Are you losing leads? Is the site too slow? Can't your team update it? Has the business changed since the site was built?

Starting with the problem gives the agency context to recommend the right solution — which might be different from what you originally had in mind. A good agency will challenge your assumptions. A great one will do it constructively and back it up with reasoning.

Define What Success Looks Like

"A modern, professional website" isn't a success metric. It's an aesthetic preference.

Think about what the website needs to achieve in business terms. More enquiries? Higher conversion rates? Reduced reliance on paid ads? The ability for your team to publish content without calling a developer?

If you can define success in measurable terms, even roughly, you give the agency something to design toward. "We want 30% of website visitors to submit an enquiry form" is a brief that leads to strategic decisions about layout, content, and user flow. "We want it to look clean and modern" doesn't.