How to Write a Digital Brief That Gets Results

Most digital projects that go over budget or over time started with a brief that was too vague to build from. Not because the client was careless, but because nobody told them what a useful brief actually contains. This is a plain account of what we look for when a brief lands in our inbox, and why each element matters.

Start with the problem, not the solution ¶

The most common mistake in a digital brief is leading with the deliverable rather than the problem. 'We need a new website' tells an agency almost nothing. 'Our current site generates around four enquiries a month from organic traffic, and we think the information architecture is the main barrier' gives us something to work with.

The distinction matters because the solution to your problem might not be a full rebuild. It might be a restructured navigation, a new landing page, or a contact form that actually works. If you lead with the deliverable, you are likely to get exactly what you asked for, whether or not it solves the problem.

Define what success looks like ¶

Before you write a word of the brief, agree internally on one or two metrics that will tell you the project worked. Enquiry volume, time on page, bounce rate on a specific landing page, conversion rate from a paid campaign. The metric does not have to be sophisticated. It has to be measurable and agreed.

Agencies that ask about success metrics in the first call are agencies that intend to be accountable for the outcome. Agencies that do not ask are agencies that will define success as 'the site launched on time', which is a much lower bar.

Be specific about constraints ¶

Budget, timeline, and technical constraints are not negotiating chips. They are design parameters. A project with a £4,000 budget and a six-week deadline is a different project from one with £12,000 and twelve weeks, even if the brief is otherwise identical.

If you have an existing CMS you need to keep, a hosting provider you are locked into, or a third-party system the site needs to integrate with, put it in the brief. Finding out about a legacy CRM integration in week four of a ten-week project is one of the most reliable ways to blow a timeline.

• State your budget as a range, not a single number
• Include any hard deadlines and the reason for them
• List every third-party system the site needs to connect to
• Name the person on your side who will approve design decisions

What to include about your audience ¶

You do not need a formal persona document. You do need to be able to describe, in plain language, who uses your site and what they are trying to do when they arrive. 'Our clients are mostly HR managers at mid-size companies who are comparing three or four providers before making a decision' is useful. 'Our audience is professionals aged 25 to 55' is not.

A brief that takes an hour to write properly will save three weeks of back-and-forth during scoping. If you are not sure where to start, the questions we hear most page has a brief template we share on request.