24 questions that actually help, and the one step most questionnaires skip.
A good questionnaire gets you the facts before the first call: goals, audience, pages, content, timeline and who decides. A bad one asks clients to describe their taste, and gets back "clean but bold, modern but timeless."
This is the questionnaire we'd send. It's free, it takes most clients 10 to 15 minutes, and every question earns its place: if you won't act on the answer, it's not on the list. Copy it into Google Forms, Typeform, a Notion page or an email.
Notice what's missing above: there's no question asking the client to describe the look they want. That's deliberate.
Clients can tell you their goals, their audience and their deadline. What they can't do is put taste into words before they've seen it. Ask, and you get adjectives that cancel each other out. Every word is true; together they describe nothing. That gap is where most revision rounds come from.
Don't ask clients to describe their style. Show them options and let them choose.
How to do it by hand: pick 8 to 10 pairs of real websites that differ in one clear way (quiet vs loud, editorial vs product-led, warm vs cool). Send them with one instruction: "For each pair, which feels more like you? Pick fast, don't overthink." The pattern in their picks is your direction. Then ask which two or three sites they'd be happy to have theirs compared to.
How to do it in five minutes: this is exactly what we built Tandem for. You send your client a link, they react to real website sections (Like, Nope, Super Like), their favourites go head to head, and you get a brief built from what they chose. If you want a quick version for free, try the website brief generator.
Send it before the discovery call. The factual answers come in written, which frees the call for priorities and direction.
Say how long it takes. "About 10 minutes, and you can come back to it" gets more complete answers than a form with no context.
Ask for files, not descriptions. "Please share your logo files" beats "describe your brand".
Read every answer before the call, and open the call with what you learned. Clients notice.
Once the answers are in, they go into the brief. Use our website brief template, and for the call itself, the discovery call questions.
FAQ
Enough to cover goals, audience, pages, brand, content and practical details, and no more. The 24 questions here take most clients 10 to 15 minutes. Long questionnaires get rushed answers, so cut anything you won't act on.
Before. Answers to the factual questions (pages, timeline, budget, who decides) free up the call for the things that need conversation: goals, priorities and direction.
Don't ask them to describe it. Show them options and ask them to choose. Pairs of real websites work well: clients who can't name their taste can almost always pick between two examples in seconds.
Yes. Copy the full questionnaire on this page with the copy button, and paste it into Google Forms, Typeform, a Notion page or an email.
Try the missing step
The Taste Test takes sixty seconds: swipe through real websites and see the direction your choices point at. Then imagine your client doing it.
