Website Redesign Brief Template: Get Accurate Quotes

A website redesign brief template helps agencies understand what your business needs, what the new site must do and what work is included. The clearer you are about goals, page types, content, integrations and approvals, the more useful and comparable your quotes will be. Start by connecting design decisions to business results, then talk to DesignFIT about your redesign when you are ready to scope it.

A good brief is not a design specification written before the designer arrives. It is a decision document: it explains the problem, the people the site serves, the outcomes that matter and the constraints the project has to respect. It gives agencies enough information to recommend a solution without forcing them to guess what you mean by “modern”, “easy to use” or “good for SEO”.

This guide walks you through the decisions to make, the questions agencies use to build an estimate and a fill-in template you can adapt for your own project. The emphasis is on design that performs. Layout, content hierarchy, navigation, typography, forms and imagery are not finishing touches. They affect whether visitors understand your offer, trust your business and take the next step. If you want to see how that thinking applies to delivery, review DesignFIT’s website design service.

Why do website redesign quotes differ?

Two agencies can read the same one-line request and imagine very different projects. One may assume you will provide final copy, photography and a complete page list. Another may assume it is responsible for content strategy, new page layouts, migration planning and connections to your CRM. Both can send a quote, but they are not pricing the same work.

An unclear brief creates uncertainty around effort and risk. Agencies may make different assumptions about:

• How many distinct layouts need to be designed and built.
• Whether your current content will be kept, edited, rewritten or replaced.
• Who supplies photography, illustrations and other media.
• Whether the site needs new functionality or just a new visual design.
• Which systems need to connect to the site.
• How much research, testing and search migration work is required.
• Who approves the work and how many feedback rounds are included.

The Project Management Institute’s discussion of scope creep explains why changes and unclear requirements can affect project delivery. Similar research on website redesign budget overruns highlights how unstated assumptions quickly inflate costs. The practical lesson for a redesign is simple: surface decisions and unknowns before agencies price the work, rather than leaving them to emerge after kickoff.

A quote is only comparable with another quote if both agencies are estimating substantially the same scope. If one proposal includes content and migration work while another leaves them out, comparing the totals alone will mislead you. Your brief should make assumptions visible so you can ask each agency to confirm them.

Before you write: gather the information agencies need

You do not need to have every answer finalised before you approach an agency. You do need to know what is settled, what is a preference and what needs the agency’s advice. Gather what you can, label what is uncertain and avoid turning guesses into requirements.

Collect these materials first

• The current website address. Include any separate campaign, booking or customer portal sites that are part of the project.
• Business context. Summarise what you sell, who buys it, how customers choose and what has changed since the current site was built.
• Existing evidence. Bring analytics, search performance information, customer feedback, sales questions and findings from previous usability or conversion work, if available.
• Brand assets. Gather logos, brand guidelines, fonts, photography and design files. Note which assets are current and which you are open to replacing.
• Content inventory. List the site’s key pages, resource library, forms, downloads and any content that must be retained.
• Technical details. Identify your content management system (CMS), meaning the software your team uses to update the site, plus hosting, analytics, CRM, booking and payment tools.
• Project constraints. Record a launch event, contract dates, legal reviews, security requirements or internal approval steps that may affect the schedule.

You can begin with a rough list. A spreadsheet with current URL, page purpose, owner and keep/update/remove status is more useful than a polished document that hides uncertainty. If you need a place to find practical scoping material, see DesignFIT’s resources.

Separate evidence from opinions

“Visitors cannot find the right service” is a useful issue to investigate. “The navigation needs to be a dropdown” is already a proposed solution. Keep both if they matter, but label them differently. The first describes a problem; the second is a hypothesis about how to solve it.

Look for evidence that can help an agency understand the problem. For example, sales staff may report that leads repeatedly ask the same question. Your analytics may show visitors leaving a service page before reaching its enquiry link. Search data may show demand for a service that the site barely explains. A designer can use those signals to propose a clearer hierarchy, better page structure or a more direct user journey.

Do not treat one data point as a complete diagnosis. Analytics can show where visitors leave, but often not why. Pair quantitative evidence with customer conversations, support questions and staff observations. State how confident you are in a finding, and let the agency recommend further research if the answer will change the design.

Step 1: Define the business problem and why now

Start the brief with the reason the redesign is happening. Avoid opening with the desired look or platform. A statement such as “we want a cleaner website” does not tell an agency what is failing or what a successful redesign should change.

Use a short, specific description:

Our current website makes it difficult for [audience] to [important task]. We are redesigning it because [business reason or evidence]. The new site should help [audience] understand [offer or difference] and take [priority action].

Possible reasons include a changed offer, a brand repositioning, poor mobile usability, an unmanageable publishing process, weak lead quality, a new market or an upcoming launch. You may have several reasons. Rank them rather than presenting them as equally urgent.

Explain what happens if the business does nothing. This helps an agency distinguish a high-impact requirement from a nice-to-have. If a launch date is fixed, say why. “Before our annual conference” is more informative than a date with no context. Also note whether the date is genuinely immovable or simply preferred.

Connect the problem to a measurable outcome

Choose outcomes you can observe. The right measures depend on the business and the purpose of the site. They might include qualified enquiry volume, completed bookings, sales, visits to priority service pages, form completion, organic traffic to selected pages or the time it takes your team to publish a new page.

For each measure, record:

• The current position, if you know it.
• The result you want and the period you will use to assess it.
• Where the data comes from.
• Who owns reporting after launch.

Avoid promising that a redesign will automatically increase revenue or rankings. Many factors influence those outcomes, including traffic quality, pricing, sales follow-up and market demand. The brief should set a direction and establish how you will learn whether the new experience is working.

A useful goal might be: “Make the three priority service options easier to compare, and increase completed enquiry forms from visitors to those pages.” This points towards design questions about comparison, information order, calls to action and form friction without dictating the final solution.

Step 2: Describe the audiences and their decisions

An agency needs to understand who the website is for, what each audience arrives to do and what they need to know before acting. “Everyone” is not a useful primary audience. List the most important visitor groups and rank them.

For each group, answer:

1. Who are they, in terms that affect the decision? Include role, location, business type or situation where relevant.
2. What has brought them to the site now?
3. What question or concern might stop them from taking the next step?
4. What evidence would help them trust your offer?
5. What is the next useful action for them?

Keep audience descriptions grounded in what you know. A short interview with sales, customer service or existing customers can be more valuable than inventing elaborate personas from assumptions. If different groups need different information, explain the difference. A prospective client, an existing customer and a job applicant may all use the site, but they do not need equal prominence in the main navigation.

Map the important journeys

Describe the routes visitors commonly take, not just a list of pages. For example: a visitor searches for a particular service, lands on its detail page, checks proof or process information, then submits an enquiry. Or a returning customer visits a support section and signs in to a separate portal.

Identify the key steps and any known friction. The designer can then consider how page order, navigation labels, links and calls to action support the journey. Keep the brief focused on what visitors need to accomplish. Do not prescribe that every route must use a particular menu pattern or animation unless there is a clear reason.

Step 3: Rank goals, actions and success measures

A site can have several objectives, but each page cannot give every action equal weight. Rank the main actions so designers can build a clear visual hierarchy. If a visitor should book a consultation first and download a guide second, state that order.

For each priority action, include:

• The audience most likely to take it.
• The page or journey where it should happen.
• What the visitor needs to know before acting.
• What happens after the action, such as a confirmation page, email or sales follow-up.
• How you will track completion.

This helps prevent a common design problem: multiple competing buttons with no obvious next step. A strong primary call to action, supported by useful evidence and a secondary option, can make the page easier to scan. The exact layout should follow the content and visitor needs rather than a fashionable pattern.

Use the same discipline for measures. Pick a small set of indicators related to the goals, and say what baseline you have. Do not specify a target simply because it sounds ambitious. If you do not yet know the baseline, write “to establish during discovery” and ask the agency how it would measure it.

Step 4: Define the design direction without dictating the design

Words such as “modern”, “premium”, “clean” and “bold” mean different things to different people. Translate them into characteristics the agency can discuss: clear page hierarchy, confident typography, distinctive product imagery, restrained colour, useful motion or a more direct route to booking.

Share two or three websites you admire, but explain exactly what you like about each. It might be the way the site explains a complicated service, how product options are compared, how photography supports the brand or how easily you can find contact details. Also describe what you do not want and why. A link on its own invites an agency to guess what you noticed.

Explain which parts of your identity are fixed and which are open for review. If the logo, colour palette or brand voice must stay, say so. If the current brand is part of the problem, include that in the scope rather than expecting the website design to quietly solve a wider brand issue.

Specify the design decisions that affect performance

Use your business problem to guide the design discussion. For example:

Design area	What to clarify in the brief	Why it matters
Page hierarchy	Which message and action should be most prominent?	Helps visitors understand the offer and see what to do next.
Navigation	Which sections matter most to each audience?	Makes important information easier to locate and reduces dead ends.
Typography	What reading conditions, content length and brand character should it support?	Affects legibility, scanability and the perceived confidence of the brand.
Imagery	What should visitors see, and what assets are available?	Photography can make an offer more concrete and distinguish the business from competitors.
Forms	What information is genuinely needed to respond?	Each extra request adds effort and can discourage completion.
Mobile layouts	Which tasks are most important on a phone?	Ensures layout and actions work for visitors using smaller screens.

The Baymard Institute’s UX research provides a useful evidence base for thinking about usability and the effect of interface decisions. Use research to raise better questions, not to copy a universal rule into your brief. A short form may be right for a straightforward enquiry, while a regulated or high-value service may need more context before a team can respond.

Step 5: Count templates, not just pages

Page count matters, but it does not describe the design and build effort by itself. A website with many articles may use one reusable article layout. A smaller website might have several very different page types, each needing unique content structure and functionality.

Ask your team to group current and planned pages by template. Common examples include:

• Homepage.
• Service or product detail.
• Industry or audience page.
• Case study or testimonial detail.
• About and team.
• Resource listing and article detail.
• Contact, booking or campaign landing page.

For each group, note how many pages use it and whether the content or functionality differs. A template is a reusable layout and content structure. A page is one instance of that structure with its own copy, imagery and information. Explain exceptions, such as a service page that needs a calculator or a campaign page with a different form.

Also clarify whether the project includes page-by-page content entry, migration of old articles, redirects, new landing pages or removal of outdated content. Agencies should confirm exactly what they have counted. A useful quote explains what is included in the design and build of each template and what is treated as additional work.

Step 6: Set content and asset responsibilities

Content is a major scope decision. For each content type, say whether your team will provide final material, supply a draft for editing, commission new copy or expects the agency to recommend an approach. State who approves it and when it will be ready.

Be precise about what “client supplies copy” means. Does your team provide final, proofread text in an agreed format? Are headings and calls to action included? Will the agency help structure the content within a page, or merely place supplied text into a design? If important pages need rewriting, identify them rather than assuming they will be covered by general design work.

Do the same for photography, illustration, video and product imagery. List assets you already own and any production you may need. If imagery requires permissions, releases or product photography, name that responsibility. Missing assets can hold up design decisions because image proportions and subject matter affect layout.

Plan for content approval. A new design cannot compensate for unfinished copy, and placeholder text can hide problems with page length or hierarchy. Agree who supplies content, who checks accuracy and how the agency will handle late or incomplete material. If the team does not yet know what content each template needs, ask for that to be resolved during discovery.

Step 7: List technical requirements and integrations

Do not choose technology just because a colleague prefers it or another business uses it. Give the agency your current setup and requirements, then ask for a recommendation that considers how the site will be used, maintained and expanded.

List the CMS and any systems the new site must connect to, such as:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) software and lead forms.
• Booking, appointment or event platforms.
• Email marketing and automation tools.
• E-commerce, payment or subscription services.
• Customer portals, membership systems or single sign-on.
• Analytics and advertising tracking.
• Search, filtering or product data tools.

For each connection, explain the task it supports and what should happen when it works. “Integrate CRM” is not enough. Does a form create a contact, assign an owner, apply a campaign label or trigger a specific follow-up? Identify the system owner and whether you can provide test access or technical documentation.

Separate required functionality from preferences. Say what must be available at launch and what can come later. If a system is old, customised or managed by another supplier, disclose that early. Agencies may need to investigate whether it can connect safely and reliably before they can estimate the work.

Include requirements for accessibility, performance, privacy, security and search where they matter to your organisation. Be clear whether you have a policy or technical standard that must be met. If you do not know what standard is appropriate, ask the agency to propose one and explain how it will be checked. A vague request such as “make it fast and accessible” is a useful goal, but not a testable acceptance requirement until the expected work and evidence are agreed.

Step 8: Explain search migration and measurement

A redesign can change page URLs, content, navigation and internal links. If the site receives organic traffic, include search migration in the brief. Ask the agency to assess existing URLs, identify valuable pages, plan any redirects and check the site after launch. The HubSpot overview of website redesign costs is a reminder that redesign scope can include work beyond visual design. Ask each agency to state whether search migration and related testing are included, excluded or dependent on discovery.

Provide available information from analytics and search tools, including the pages that attract useful visitors, high-value search queries and any known technical issues. Flag pages that must retain their URL or content where possible. Do not assume every old page should remain, but do not delete pages without assessing what they contribute and where their visitors should go instead.

Agree what will be measured before and after launch. Confirm who manages analytics setup, event tracking, consent settings and any advertising pixels. Specify the key actions that need tracking, such as a form submission or completed booking, and how the team will verify the tracking works. A redesign can only be evaluated sensibly if the measurement plan is clear and the old and new data are comparable where needed.

Step 9: Set the budget, timeline and approval process

A budget range helps an agency recommend an appropriate scope. It does not mean you must accept the first proposal at the top of that range. It gives the agency a boundary to work within and helps it distinguish essential work from optional enhancements. If you cannot share a firm figure, state the investment range you are considering or explain that you want priced options.

For context, the Clutch web design pricing guide can help you see how agency pricing is presented, but any market guide is only a starting point. A project’s price depends on the actual work, team, market and responsibilities. Ask agencies to explain assumptions and exclusions rather than relying on a single headline estimate. For typical budget benchmarks, see our small business website redesign cost guide or review transparent pricing options.

Include your preferred launch date and the reason for it. Ask the agency to propose a realistic timeline based on scope, dependencies and your team’s availability. Identify fixed dates separately from preferences. Content readiness, access to systems and stakeholder approvals can all affect the sequence of work.

Name one day-to-day contact who can gather feedback and make routine decisions. List other stakeholders and what they approve, such as brand, legal, technical or executive sign-off. Decide how feedback will be consolidated. If different reviewers send conflicting comments, the agency needs to know who resolves them.

Ask each agency to explain the review process, the number of feedback rounds included, how changes are handled and what happens when a decision or asset is late. A defined approval process gives your team a better chance of keeping work moving and gives agencies a fair basis for estimating.

Step 10: Compare proposals on scope, not just price

When proposals arrive, check that each one responds to the same brief. Compare the assumptions behind the total, not only the total itself. The lowest quote may omit content, strategy or migration work you expected. A higher proposal may include discovery or deliverables that another agency has left out. To understand how different delivery models affect project scope, see our comparison of DesignFIT vs agencies.

Use a comparison table like this:

Compare	Questions to ask
Strategy and discovery	What research, workshops or audits are included?
Design scope	Which templates, key journeys and responsive states will be designed?
Content	Is writing, editing, migration or content entry included?
Build	Which CMS and components are included? What is explicitly excluded?
Integrations	Which systems are connected, and what behaviour is covered?
Search and analytics	Are redirects, tracking setup and launch checks included?
Approvals	How many review rounds are included, and who provides feedback?
Handover	What training, documentation or support is provided?
Change control	How are requests outside the agreed scope priced and approved?

Ask agencies to call out risks and unanswered questions. A thoughtful proposal should explain the reasoning behind its recommendation, identify assumptions and show how the design will support the goals you set. Look for a clear account of how it will address hierarchy, content, key journeys and usability, not only a portfolio of attractive pages.

If proposals are difficult to compare, ask each agency to price the same core scope and list optional items separately. You can also invite each to recommend one change that would make the project more effective without expanding the budget. That discussion shows how the team thinks about trade-offs.

Questions agencies ask before quoting

Expect good agencies to ask questions beyond the brief. Their purpose is to understand what they are taking responsibility for and what could change the estimate.

Are you asking us to design pages or reusable templates?

The agency will want to know how many unique layouts and interactions are involved, not just how many URLs exist. Share your page inventory and identify exceptions. Ask the agency to state its assumptions about templates, content entry and any bespoke layouts.

Who is responsible for copy, imagery and content entry?

Clarify whether the agency is writing, editing, structuring or simply placing your supplied content. Confirm who is supplying images and whether the scope includes sourcing or producing new assets. If this is still being decided, ask for separate options so you can compare the cost and schedule impact.

What systems need to connect, and what should each connection do?

Agencies need to know more than the name of a CRM or booking tool. Explain the expected data flow, required actions, system owner and any known restrictions. A connection that sends a basic form submission may be quite different from one that routes leads, updates records and triggers workflows.

What happens to existing URLs and search traffic?

An agency may ask which pages bring valuable visitors and whether URLs or content can change. Provide any available analytics and search information, and ask who will make the redirect plan and test it. Confirm whether the proposal includes this work or assumes another supplier will handle it.

Who gives feedback and makes the final decision?

Tell the agency how many people are involved, who has approval authority and whether legal, product or executive review is required. Agreeing on a feedback owner helps avoid conflicting instructions. If several stakeholders must approve, include that process in the timeline assumptions.

What budget range and launch date are realistic?

These details help agencies propose a scope that fits your constraints. If you have a fixed event date, explain it and ask what decisions or materials must be ready to meet it. If budget is flexible, ask for a core proposal and clearly separated options.

Fill-in website redesign brief template

Copy this template into a document and replace the prompts. Mark unknowns as “to confirm” rather than leaving them blank. Add supporting documents separately and link them from the brief.

1. Project overview

• Organisation: [Company name]
• Current website: [URL]
• Project contact: [Name, role and email]
• Final decision-maker: [Name and role]
• What we do: [One or two sentences about the offer and customer]
• Why we are redesigning now: [Business reason, evidence or event]
• Preferred launch date: [Date and whether it is fixed or preferred]

2. Problem and desired outcomes

• What is not working on the current site? [Describe the problem, not just the visual symptom]
• Evidence we have: [Analytics, feedback, sales questions, search information or other evidence]
• Primary business outcome: [What should the site help the business achieve?]
• Priority measures: [Metric, current position if known, desired direction, data source]
• What must not get worse? [Important pages, functionality, search visibility or other needs]

3. Audiences and priority journeys

• Primary audience: [Who they are, what brings them and what they need to decide]
• Other important audiences: [List and rank]
• Top questions or concerns: [What must the site answer?]
• Priority journey one: [Starting point, pages or information needed, final action]
• Priority journey two: [Starting point, pages or information needed, final action]
• Primary action: [Most important visitor action]
• Secondary actions: [Other useful actions, in priority order]

4. Design and brand direction

• Brand elements that must stay: [Logo, colours, fonts, voice or other rules]
• Elements open to change: [Identity, imagery, layout, content or other areas]
• Reference site one: [URL and the specific detail you admire]
• Reference site two: [URL and the specific detail you admire]
• What to avoid: [Pattern or example, and why]
• Design challenges to solve: [Hierarchy, navigation, readability, trust, forms, mobile or other concerns]

5. Pages, templates and content

• Estimated number of current pages: [Number or approximate range]
• Known page types/templates: [List each unique layout and how many pages use it]
• New pages or journeys needed: [List]
• Pages to keep, update, combine or remove: [Link to inventory]
• Copy responsibility: [Client final copy, agency editing, agency writing or undecided]
• Imagery and media responsibility: [Existing assets, new production, sourcing or undecided]
• Content entry and migration: [Who moves content and what is included]

6. Platform, integrations and requirements

• Current CMS and hosting arrangement: [Details or to confirm]
• Preferred platform: [Name, open to recommendation or reason for preference]
• Required integrations: [System, purpose, expected behaviour, system owner]
• Analytics and tracking: [Tools, events and reporting needs]
• Accessibility, privacy or security requirements: [Policies or standards to follow]
• Performance and search requirements: [What must be protected, tested or improved]
• Other technical constraints: [Known limitations, dependencies or access needs]

7. Budget, timing and selection

• Budget range: [Range, or request options]
• Fixed dates and reasons: [Event, contract or launch dependency]
• Who reviews and approves: [Names or roles and responsibilities]
• How feedback will be consolidated: [One contact, review process and expected turnaround]
• Proposal due date: [Date]
• Decision date: [Date]
• What matters most when choosing an agency: [Rank strategy, design, technical approach, relevant experience, timing, cost or other criteria]
• Questions for the agency: [Add your own questions]

Mistakes to avoid in your redesign brief

Describing a look instead of a problem

“Make it more modern” leaves the agency to guess what the design should achieve. Explain what visitors struggle with and what the business needs to change. Then share visual references as clues, not as a substitute for a goal.

Giving a page count without a page inventory

A raw total does not show how many distinct layouts, content types or interactions are needed. Group pages into templates and flag unusual cases. This makes estimates easier to understand and keeps later additions from feeling like surprises.

Assuming copy and assets are included

If the proposal does not explicitly say who writes, edits, sources and uploads content, do not assume. Ask for responsibilities to be written down. Content is part of the designed experience, not a final task to squeeze in after the layouts are approved.

Treating the preferred platform as the whole solution

A platform choice does not define page scope, publishing needs, integrations or design quality. State why you prefer it and what your team needs to do after launch. Invite the agency to explain the trade-offs if it recommends a different approach.

Ignoring search and measurement during launch planning

A new look is not enough if important pages disappear, redirects are missed or key actions are no longer tracked. Include migration and analytics responsibilities in the scope. Agree who checks them and when.

Asking for a fixed price while leaving major decisions open

A fixed price is only meaningful when the work and assumptions are sufficiently clear. If key decisions are unresolved, ask the agency to identify the unknowns, price a discovery phase or provide clearly labelled options. Do not mistake a confident total for a complete scope.

Sending a brief and disappearing

Agencies often need a short conversation to test assumptions and clarify constraints. Make the relevant people available for questions, share materials promptly and answer consistently across suppliers. If the brief changes, send the same update to every agency still preparing a proposal.

Final checklist before you send the brief

• The business problem and reason for redesign are clear.
• Goals are linked to observable outcomes, with baselines noted where available.
• Priority audiences, actions and journeys are ranked.
• Design references explain what you like and why.
• Pages are grouped into templates, with exceptions identified.
• Copy, images, migration and content entry have named owners.
• Integrations describe the required behaviour, not just tool names.
• Search, accessibility, performance and measurement needs are stated.
• Budget, timeline, approval roles and feedback process are included.
• Agencies are asked to list assumptions, exclusions and optional work.

Wrap-up: a useful brief makes better design possible

A website redesign brief template is most useful when it gives agencies a clear view of the problem, the people the site serves, the work involved and how success will be judged. It does not need to prescribe every screen or settle every technical question. It should make decisions, responsibilities and unknowns visible, so an agency can recommend a design that fits the business rather than price a guess.

Keep the focus on what design must change: help visitors find the right information, understand why your business is a good choice and take the next step. Then compare proposals by their assumptions, method and included work, not by the headline price alone. When you are ready to turn the brief into a scoped project, start a conversation with DesignFIT.