Bernskiold Media

New Project? Ask, Ask, Ask

All the time as a creative professional, clients expect you to straight off know what they want and many continue to do so through the whole process. Between you and me, I know we cannot read minds and therefore we have a great tool that can help us gather as much information as possible before committing to a new project. Questions.

Client Questionnaire

I’ve got a standard questionnaire written down, with questions that I usually ask before I start a project. Having a set of questions like this can usually tell a lot about the project as a whole and get you the information that you need, instead of just asking them to provide as much information as they can (which is a hard task).

Below you can see some of the questions that I can ask a new client:

• What is your website’s nature? (pick only one)
  • Business to Business
  • Business to Consumer
  • Combination
  • Branding
• What is the purpose of your website?
• What are the goals with the website?
• What are the target demographic?
• Do you have a business logo?
• Are you looking for us to brand your website (new logo for example)?
• Font Style Choice (multiple picks allowed)
  • Arial
  • Times
  • Courier
  • Georgia
  • Verdana
  • Geneva
• Do you have a colour scheme you would like to use?
• List a few websites you find compelling and note why.
• Will this site use existing content?
• Are there any elements you wish to have on every page? Which?
• What are your short-term marketing goals?
• How will the site help to meet them?
• Do you have a marketing strategy for the site?
• Who will do the updating of the website?
• Do you want to be able to update the website through an online control panel (using a Word-like interface)?
• Are you interested in our hosting services?
• Target date for the website to be finished (if applicable)?
• Do you have a special budget set?
• Other

Save the Information

When you get questions back, don’t forget to save them in a good place. I prefer a database where I keep all client information as well as project statuses.