Web Design Prospect Questionnaire

1. Why do you want to have a new website, or have your current site redesigned? Uncover the client’s motivation for needing you.

2. What will happen if you do not have a new website, or do not have your current site redesigned? Starts getting at the client’s pain. His current site may not be functional in current browsers. Or it could be that they’ve decided to sell online, and the current site doesn’t enable selling.

3. Please describe your organization in a few sentences. This answer will be something like an elevator speech, it could be used in the homepage copy.

4. What is there about you and your background that sets you apart for a special (niche) group of potential customers? This is a question that gets the prospective client thinking and you may have to help with the answer. It might be that the client’s been in business twice as long as any competitors. Or that customers stay for an average of 10 years.

5. What problems do your customers have that your business solves? This is an opportunity for the client to brag.

6. Why do you believe site visitors should do business with you rather than with a competitor? It’s cliche but true that on the internet the competition is only a click away. Which means that the client’s site will probably be compared to a lot of other sites. So, it’s up to you and the client to make the site memorable.

7. Do you have a slogan or tagline that clearly describes what you offer in terms of benefits or features? While many prospects may be eager to trot out their company’s slogan, others will be absolutely mystified. Why? Because they don’t have a slogan. And that’s not a mortal sin. It’s okay not to have a slogan, or have one so simple that it sounds dumb.

8. Please describe your potential customers. Pay special attention to their income, interests, gender, age, even type of computer they use, e.g., old with dialup or newer with broadband. If your website is a business-to-business site, what sort of companies are you hoping to attract? This is the Demographic Question, and you may be surprised at the level of detail that your prospects include in their answers.

9. What is your budget for this project? Don’t be surprised if this question is left blank. Some people have no idea of what to budget for a website project or maybe they’re being cagey. Whatever the reason, it’s time for you to take the initiative and give a fee range. Your range may turn out to be too high for the prospect, and that’s okay. Your job is to find those who have the desire to work with you – and the ability to pay what you charge.

10. Who are the decision makers on this project? What is the turnaround time for making a decision? Ideally, you’ll want to deal with someone who’s in charge, rather than someone who works for someone who reports to the assistant to the person who actually makes the decisions. The latter scenario tends to lead to weeks-long waits while decisions are being made.

11. What staff will be involved? What are their roles? Is there a webmaster on your staff? Often you’ll be dealing with a website committee. And this should be where the client tells you so. Make it clear that there’s nothing wrong with having more than one voice involved in the website process, but ask your client to appoint a contact person to deal with you. This helps avoid the problem of “conflicting inputs from multiple people”.

12. What is your deadline for completing the site? You may be dealing a prospect who want a 10,000-page e-commerce site done by day after tomorrow. Then again, you might not. This question, if handled carefully, can provide you with an opportunity to educate prospects on how long good design takes.

13. Please list the names of five other sites that you like. Why are they attractive to you? In general, I’ve found this to be one of the easiest questions for prospects to answer. And don’t be surprised if they offer more than five links, plus a detailed explanation of why they like each one.

14. Have you researched your online competition so you have an idea of what you do and don’t want on your site? It’s important for your prospect to decide on the right balance between openness and secrecy.

15. What do you NOT want on your site in terms of text, content, etc.? There are some things that just don’t belong on a website. Everyone has a different answer to this question. For example, some splash employee pictures all over their sites and others are like the FBI and show no employee photos.

16. Where is the website content coming from? Who’s responsible for updating it? Is it ready for use on your website? Content is one of those things that takes forever to arrive from the client. If you have copywriting skills – or can team up with someone who does – you can turbocharge the content production process, and finish the project faster.

17. Do you have a logo? Got logo design skills? You may be able to make an additional sale if the prospect doesn’t have a logo or doesn’t like his current one.

18. Are you planning to do online sales? If so, what is the product, and how many items do you want to sell online? A few years ago, the word “e-commerce” took the world by storm. Many companies found out that e-commerce has a lot of moving parts – online order-taking that makes people feel comfortable sharing their credit card information, fulfillment, shipment tracking, customer service, et al.

19. If you’re planning to sell online, are you set up to accept credit cards? Believe it or not, there are some people who still think that online buyers will send them a check. Sorry, but accepting credit cards is mandatory in the online business world. Getting set up to accept credit cards can take time so the sooner begun, the sooner done.

20. How much time will you be able to spend online, responding to inquiries that come in via your website? Once a day? Several hours a day? Ever gone to a big company’s site to ask a question? You filled out the contact form, then waited, waited, and waited for an answer that never came. This is how you don’t want your cliens to act. Timely responses to visitor questions work better – and cost a lot less – than elaborate PR programs.

21. If you were using a search engine, what words or phrases would you use to find your site? Which of these words or phrases is most important? Second? Third? This is one of those questions that gets the search engine obsessives going. They’re the people who come up with an impossibly long list of search terms that they expect top rankings on. Encourage them to come up with a reasonable list – say, three to five terms. Refer them to a good search engine rankings specialist.

22. Other than what search engines will produce, what methods do you have in mind to spread the word about your website? Ralph Wilson’s Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy is a good starting point for answering this question.

23. Once your website is completed, how long do you think it will be before you begin bringing in significant business from the website? Once your client’s new website is up, it will take time for the promotional plan to show results. The answer to this question will reveal whether you have a patient prospect or one who expects everything to happen yesterday.

24. How do you plan to encourage repeat visitors and referrals? Even clients with solid website plans often don’t have a clue about keeping the site fresh after launch. Websites are like bread and can go stale very quickly. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to keep web content fresh – blogs come to mind.