(We asked ChatGPT, then answered honestly)
Reading time: about 8 minutes, or 3 if you skim the lists (we won’t tell).
We have a confession. The other day, we asked ChatGPT a slightly awkward question: “What should I ask my agency?”
It gave us a rather good answer. Annoyingly good. Here’s the advice, boiled down: if you’re talking to a new web design agency, don’t spend too long on “Can you make it look nice?” Spend time on whether they can build a website that achieves it goals, supports your brand and makes commercial sense.
We agree. So, rather than just nodding along like a toy dog on the parcel shelf, we thought we’d do something more useful. Take the questions AI says you should be asking, and answer them as honestly as we can, from the agency side of the table.
Think of this as a peek behind the curtain (don’t worry, there’s no weird old man, just a lot of spreadsheets and much coffee)!
Who this one is for?
This one’s for you if you are:
- A small or medium-sized business owner thinking about a new website
- A marketer who’s been handed “the website project” (congratulations… probably 😉)
- Someone comparing agencies and wondering what on earth to ask beyond “how much?”
- Someone who is responsible for a website and would simply like to review whether it is still relevant and fit for purpose
Why “can you make it pop?” is the wrong question (at least at first)
Let’s be clear: We’re a creative agency. We love a good-looking website. But looking good is the entry fee, not the prize. Plenty of beautiful websites quietly generate no enquiries at all, and plenty of unglamorous ones keep the phone ringing.
The better question is: how will this website help my business grow? And the best way to find out is to ask your agency a handful of smart questions before anyone touches a single pixel.
The five questions at a glance
ChatGPT grouped its advice under one heading: Here’s the list:
- How would you approach understanding our business and target audience before designing anything?
- What do you think makes a website commercially successful in our industry?
- Who do you think our primary website audience should be?
- How would you structure the site around the customer journey?
- What would you recommend we not put on the website?
We’ll take them one at a time. Grab a brew. ☕️
Question 1: How would you approach understanding our business and target audience before designing anything?
This is the big one. If an agency can’t answer it?… Well, the other four might not matter that much. 😉
Here’s how a good web design agency will approach this, based on our experience and also how we start every project.
Start with your business goals
Before anything else, we want to talk about you and your business. What are you trying to achieve? What truly excites you? What does success look like? Where are you now, and where would you like to be?
Products and services
Not all websites exist to sell products and services, but once we understand the business goals, we will get under the hood of your offering. What are people visiting you for? What is the users’ pain and what are they set to gain by engaging with you?
Your customers and your priorities
We’ll want to understand:
- Who your customers are right now and who do want to appeal to, now and in the future?
- Whether you’re targeting the same markets with your new website or whether you are venturing into new ones
- Whether you’re selling the same products and services or launching something different
- Which products and services are your priorities (not every page is created equal)
Personas and the problems you solve
Personas might feel like a bit of a buzzword but done well they’re super useful for your agency. They’re simply a shared picture of who you’re talking to. More important than the persona itself is the problem underneath: what are your customers struggling with, and how do you fix it?
What’s worked, and what hasn’t
You’ve been in business a while. You’ve tried things. Some of them worked. Some of them (whisper it) didn’t. We’d much rather learn from that than repeat it.
What data do you have?
This is where we get geeky and this is the exciting bit (yea, we know). Existing data tells us what’s working and what needs attention. Useful sources include:
- Customer surveys and feedback
- Speaking to customer facing staff
- Talking to staff across all business functions is useful – we might find out that Susan in accounts is struggling with something we could automate
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Form-fills and enquiry numbers
It also gives us a sense of what’s realistic and gives us a benchmark to measure against later. No benchmark, no proof the new site did better.
Outcomes, not “things and functions”
When you are in the early-stage discussions with an agency, try to frame your conversations around the outcome you want, not the list of features you think you need. There’s often more than one way to solve a problem, and the first idea isn’t always the best one. We’ve written about this before: Needs, not Solutions: how to write a better brief.
Beware of any agency that immediately promises the moon or simply agrees to your entire wish list without interrogating your ideas! A good agency will challenge your brief based on their experience – they’re the experts, and it’s the experience and expertise you are buying.
Question 2: What makes a website commercially successful in our industry?
Honest answer? It depends (and we’d need to do some digging before we commit). Any agency that answers instantly, without having looked at your market, is guessing. Here’s how we’d sleuth for the truth. 🕵🏼♂️ 🔎
Look at your competitors
We’ll ask who you see as your competitors and take a proper look at what they’re doing. We’re looking for:
- How they’re solving the same problems you are
- Content gaps you could exploit
- Things we could implement (but obviously make a million times better)!
What actions do you want visitors to take
Now, this isn’t necessarily sector specific – it can be applied to any website with a job to do (arguably every website on the planet has a goal of some kind).
Does the website need to make customers call you? Fill in a form? Download something? Start a free trial? Make a purchase? Your website should have a clear job, and every page should nudge people towards a defined action.
A good agency can guide this with a clear understanding of your sales process. Getting to grips with how leads are handled gives insight into how we engineer the calls to action.
Talk to the right audience
A great deal of what we do at Herd is help our customers with honing their messaging and brand. We believe it is all about the right message, in the right place, at the right time. Any good marketing or web development agency should help you with this.
Question 3: Who should our primary website audience be?
This sounds simple. Most of the time it really is!
If you’re in B2B, you’re talking to a committee
Buying decisions in B2B are rarely made by one person. There’s often a whole committee, and each member has different professional goals. The end user might not be the buyer. The buyer might be the CEO, or someone in finance, and they’ll all be asking different questions.
So, a good website has content that answers questions from each corner of the business.
Find the person who starts the research
Here’s something we always encourage clients to think about: who originates the research? It could well be a junior team member who’s been told, “Can you find us a few options?” Never neglect to appeal to the intern – they are much more important than people give them credit for.
Then map the rest of the journey:
- Who starts the research?
- Who’s involved in shortlisting?
- Who will actually use your product or service?
- Who signs off the spend?
- What other stakeholders are involved in the process?
If your website has content that speaks to all of them, you’re in a much stronger position.
Your marketing plan and sales process
We’ll discuss your current marketing plan (if you have one, and no judgement if you don’t).
Question 4: How would you structure the site around the customer journey?
People don’t always arrive at your website ready to buy (wouldn’t that be nice)? They usually arrive with questions, and those questions change as they get closer to a decision.
We shape content around three stages: research, consideration and conversion.
Stage 1: Research
This stage is broad. It’s about your product or service category, and why someone might need it in the first place. Think:
- Industry information
- Articles
- Videos
- Reports
- Product category explainers
Stage 2: Consideration
Now they’re asking, “Why you?” This is the competitive bit, where you show why your brand is the right choice. Think:
- Case studies, before & after
- Testimonials
- Comparison tables
- Tech specs or data sheets
- How-tos and video demos
- Opinion pieces and thought leadership
- Process and approach
- Brand personality
Stage 3: Conversion
Time to make it easy to say yes. Think:
- Lead capture
- Book demo
- Free trials
- Sign up
- Purchase
Why this matters
A site that only has conversion content is like a shop with just a check out. A site that only has research content is a very informative waiting room with no way to transact. You need all three, in the right places, with clear routes between them.
Question 5: What would you recommend we not put on the website?
We love this question, because it’s the one almost nobody asks. And any agency worth hiring should have an opinion.
Lead with benefits, not feature lists
Our main piece of advice: lead with how your offering makes your customers’ lives better and put the heavy feature data somewhere else (it still deserves a home, just not the front door).
People don’t want extra-thick bin bags. They just don’t want bin juice on their slippers in the morning. 🤢 Your job is to sell the dry slippers. Tell your customers how you make their life better. This is the up-front message.
Clear actions on each page – ‘less’ really is, sometimes more
There is sometimes a temptation to include too much on one page or (dare we say it) “above the fold”. Each page needs one main job. Really. Strip out the visual clutter – decision fatigue is real. Your visitor should not have to think about what to do next or be overwhelmed. This is key to good website design.
🔥 The quick win design agency checklist
Print it, screenshot it, stick it on your fridge (yea okay maybe not):
- Do they ask about your business before talking about design?
- Do they want to see inside your business processes, not just your brand guidelines?
- Will they discuss your competitors and your marketplace?
- Do they think about everyone involved in the buying decision?
- Will they structure the site around research, consideration and conversion?
- Are they willing to tell you what to leave out?
Good signs and red flags, in one place
✅ Good signs
- They ask lots of questions
- They talk about outcomes, not features
- They’re happy to challenge your brief
❌ Red flags
- They jump straight to colours, fonts and animations
- They promise results without looking at your market
- They say yes to everything on your wish list straight away
What next?
This is our overview of what to ask. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring this topic in more detail so keep an eye out or sign up for newsletter here.
In the meantime, if you’re thinking about a new website or branding and want to talk it through (no pitch), just give us a shout.
And if you’ve got a question we’ve missed, we’d love to hear it.
