Website design client questionnaire: what to ask before a build

What goes in a website design client questionnaire?

A website design client questionnaire holds the plain facts a client can answer alone, grouped into short sections. Leave the open, talk-it-through questions for a call.

Sections that work well on a written form:

1. Contact details. The main contact, and the best way to reach them.
2. The business. What it sells, where it serves, and the words it uses to describe itself.
3. Page list. The page names from the signed scope, with a line from the client on what each one is for. What each page must do gets worked out later, on a call. For the discovery session after the yes, see website discovery questions.
4. Content status. For each page, whether the words and photos are ready, in progress or still to be made.
5. Brand files. Upload links for the logo, colors and fonts the client already has.
6. Access. Who holds the domain, the host and any connected tools, and how to reach that person.

Questions about fit, price and the look of the site belong on the first call. For questions for the first call, before a quote, see questions to ask before you quote.

How long should a web design project questionnaire be?

A web design project questionnaire should be short enough for a client to finish in one sitting. Cut every question you won't use before kickoff.

Ways to keep it short:

• Ask each thing once, in the section where it fits.
• Use checkboxes and short answers where you can.
• Mark which questions are required and which are optional.
• Move anything that needs a back-and-forth to the kickoff call.
• Read the form as a client would, and cut any question that makes you stop and think twice.

Give the client a date to return the form. For where the form fits in onboarding, see the client onboarding steps.

A form is one way to start. DeskTeam360, as one build partner, opens each white label build with a call where the agency explains what its client wants, and the agency then sends over the content and files unless the team makes them. For how those stages connect, see the website development process.

What belongs in a web design questionnaire template?

A web design questionnaire template holds the sections you reuse for every client, with clear instructions and room to answer. Set it up once, then copy it for each new project.

Put these in the template:

• a short note at the top on why you're asking and when it's due
• the same sections in the same order every time
• an example answer under any question that might confuse a client
• a place to upload files, or a link to a shared folder
• a line asking the client to share logins through a password manager or a user invite, and never typed into the form
• a final question that asks for anything else the client wants you to know

Review the template after each project. Remove questions nobody answered, and add the ones you ended up asking by email.

Should a web design client questionnaire be a PDF or an online form?

An online form is quick for a client to fill in and easy for you to read back, while a PDF suits a client who prefers to print and write. Pick one main format, and offer the other on request.

Points to weigh:

• An online form can make questions required, collect uploads and send answers to one place.
• A PDF works offline and is easy to attach to an email, but answers can come back in mixed formats.
• Either way, keep passwords out of it, and save the answers with the project files.