Website and mobile application brief
If you are thinking of creating your own website or mobile application and you don't want to do it on your own and prefer to outsource it, you will probably be asked to fill in a simple (or in the case of more complex projects - extended) form. We call such a form a brief and it is a great tool that saves both your and your company's time. How?
Imagine you walk into a car dealership (It could be a furniture shop as well, but at WebMakers we love cars!) And you say, I want to buy a car. The seller immediately knows which model you want, what functionalities you are interested in and what your budget is. After a few minutes, you leave the showroom in a new car and head towards the setting sun. In a perfect world, of course. It is not so perfect in ours.
What exactly is a brief and what is it for? It is a collection of your expectations and ideas related to the implementation of a website or mobile application. Thanks to this, your needs are clearly defined and the contractor should be able to interpret and implement them, as well as give you advice in case of doubts. Below we have collected standard questions that you can find in the brief.
Basic data
In addition to basic data, such as the name of the contact person, company’s address, e-mail address, you can expect questions regarding your activities or the target group. This will help the contractor to pre-determine what you will need.
What the project is about
The type of website
This is one of the basic features of your project, therefore the question is very important. We will approach the project completely differently, depending if you need a simple business card or you want to build an online store or a data processing system.
Purpose of the page
Do you want to offer products on the website (i.e. set up an online store), or maybe only write a blog? You can also offer to sell your knowledge in the form of e-books or online courses. Different purposes require a different approach, so determining the purpose is important to us.
Language
If you already know what type of website you want to build, you should think about the language which will be used in your website. Perhaps it is worth spending a bit more time preparing a foreign language version as well? If in the future you decide to expand to foreign markets, then it might be necessary to create content, for example, in English or German.
Design and content
You can approach a website design project in two ways - using a ready-made graphic template or creating a design completely from scratch. Then you can be sure that your website will be unique and exceptional.
It is worth adding here that, as a rule, design is also based on the logo and the brand book, so the question about having these two elements may be included in the brief.
Thanks to the content posted on it, your website can not only be a valuable source of information about the company or products sold, but also a well-built offer. Therefore, think about who will be responsible for providing content and graphics, which are some of the most important elements of your project. Remember that popularity in the Google search engine is based on a well-structured SEO, so if you do not have the appropriate experience, you can commission an external agency to write your texts.
Functionalities
Consider features for your website that, using the terminology used when buying a car, are not standard. These are, among others:
- searching
- contact form
- newsletter
- blog
- the ability to register users
- the possibility of commenting
Menu and subpages
This information, provided in the brief, will be important as it will allow you to initially develop the project outline, and the contractors (if they are responsible for it), the design. It will also be important whether your website will be a landing page (then all texts and graphics will be on one page) or a website where the tabs will function as separate subpages. The title of the subpage will not tell the potential contractor much, so it is worth giving even the shortest description.
Organization of work
Since we have already discussed the issues related to the content, tabs, graphics and the general purpose of the website, it is time for the most important aspects from the contractor's point of view and planning work on the project.
Launch of the project
Rome and a website was not built in a day. It takes time. Therefore, it is difficult to expect the contractor to start working on your project immediately after your e-mail or a conversation. More complicated issues need to be refined and discussed, so expecting the website to be created within 2 days is not realistic. At WebMakers, we are able to create the simplest website within two weeks, provided we have the appropriate resources.
Payment models
At WebMakers, we prefer two approaches to payment: Time & Material and Fixed Price.
In short - in the Time & Material model, you pay for man-hours, while in the Fixed Price model, the team performs work in accordance with the predetermined schedule and specification.
Budget
Do not be afraid that when you have a budget of PLN 5 000 or PLN10,000, the company or freelancer will wipe your account to zero. We know that its estimate will rather be based on a range of cost rather than a specific amount. Providing even an estimated budget will allow the contractor to perform a preliminary analysis of the possibilities. In general, the rule is simple - the larger the project budget, the higher the quality of the implementation.
Technical matters
It's time for a few technical questions, but don't worry - they won't be difficult.:)
- do you have your own server (i.e. the place where your website will be hosted)?
- do you have your domain (e.g. page-name.pl)?
- who will maintain and take care of the website updates (you personally or an external company)?
Mobile application brief
In the title of the article, we also wrote about mobile applications. In fact, the questions in the brief will not differ in terms of content. The specificity of building a mobile application is slightly different, though.
The environment of an application
Mobile applications are built on the basis of two environments - Android and iOS. In addition, there is also an option to build a hybrid application, i.e. one application available for both Google and Apple devices. Such a question will surely be asked in the brief, so think about who your mobile application is intended for.
Availability in stores
Unless you are building an application intended for internal use, it is likely that it will be in one of the stores - Google Play and the App Store. Placing them in stores is not a simple matter, so I advise you to outsource this process to an external company, but of course you are also able to do it yourself. However, remember that to do it yourself, you need to have an account in both stores, which involves costs.
Budget
The cost of building a mobile application depends on many factors, but it is worth noting that it is usually higher than building a website. Among the factors affecting the cost of implementing the application, we can mention the following:
- platforms on which the application is to run
- number of screens
- contractor type - freelancer / company
- the need to connect to the server
- the ability to register users
- implementation of micropayments
- use of external services such as GPS
- integration with Google maps
- push notifications
- the ability to log in via social networks
As you can see - the cost of building a mobile application is influenced by many factors, and we have listed only the most important ones. Therefore, in this case, we advise you to carefully choose a contractor, and certainly the one that has extensive experience and a good reputation.
Brief of an internet store
Are you thinking about creating an online store? A good choice! According to Visual Capitalist, we spend $ 1 million (!) on the Internet every 60 seconds. Therefore, if you plan to expand your brick-and-mortar business to e-commerce, it will be a great move, especially now, when online shopping is enjoying great popularity and the market value is growing.
Functionalities of an online store
In the online store brief, you will list items that detail your expectations and are a clear signal for the contractor regarding what he will work with and what your vision is. The following questions about functionalities of the store might appear in the brief:
- what the store should be based on (ready-made platform, dedicated solution)
- what payment systems do you envisage?
- will invoices be issued in the internal system or do you want to use an external one?
- should the store be connected to the CRM base?
- is the store to be connected to a warehouse system?
- zwhich delivery service (e.g. DHL, TNT, GLS) do you want to use?
- how many products do you expect in the store?
- will the products have variants?
- are you planning to implement additional functionalities, such as a discount system, newsletter, product evaluation
As you can see, the more details the contractor knows, the easier it will be for him to evaluate your project and plan the work. Remember that you don't have to build a store with all possible functionalities right away, but expand it gradually. Your future customers will surely appreciate it.
Summary
You already know everything about the brief. We hope that this post has dispelled your doubts and that you can put your vision on paper. Remember, however, that filling in the brief is just the beginning, but very important - without a systematized vision and your expectations, the contractor will not really know what your project should look like..
