How to write a client brief: the 11 questions to ask
A client brief settles, before the quote, what the client wants to achieve, for whom, on what budget and by what date. Eleven questions are enough to avoid most project misunderstandings.
What a brief is for, and when to send it
A brief earns its keep three times. Before the quote, it tells you what to price. During the project, it settles arguments when a request comes in: if it isn’t in the brief, it’s extra work. At delivery, it reminds everyone of the original goal, and you check together that it was met.
The right moment is after the first call and before the quote. There are two ways to fill it in. On a kickoff call, you ask the questions and take notes: that’s easiest with a small business that has never written a spec. By email, you send the questions and the client answers in their own time: that suits a company where several people need to weigh in.
The free brief generator uses the 11 questions from this guide. Fill it in during the call, or email the questions with one click, then download a MarkdownA plain-text format: a # makes a heading, asterisks make text bold. Any text editor opens these files, with or without Obsidian.markdownguide.org note for ObsidianA free note-taking app for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android. Your notes stay as Markdown files on your own computer. Brievora is a vault, a folder of notes and views that you open in Obsidian.obsidian.md or a PDF to share. The answers stay in your browser.
The 11 questions, one by one
Here they are in the order that works best, from the broad to the concrete. Under each question, what the answer tells you for the rest of the project.
- The project in one sentence. What are we making, and why now?
The “why now” often reveals the real deadline: a store opening, a trade show, a funding round. - Goals. What should this project change for your business? How will you know it worked?
Without a success criterion, nobody can say at delivery whether the project hit its goal, and feedback drags on. - Audience. Who is it for? What do they come to find or do?
The answer sets the priorities: mobile or desktop, short or detailed copy, booking or a simple showcase. - Scope and deliverables. Which pages, screens, features or assets do you expect?
This list becomes the lines of your quote. Anything not on it is out of scope. - Content. Who provides the text, photos and videos, and when will they be ready?
Late content often pushes a whole project back. A date here protects your schedule. - Brand. Do you have a logo, colors, fonts or brand guidelines? Please attach them.
A logo that only exists as a low-resolution JPG means a vectorization line in the quote. - References. Three sites or products you like, and what you like about each. Three you dislike, and why.
The “why” matters more than the links: it gives you criteria, not just tastes. - Technical constraints. Current platform, hosting, domain, integrations, languages.
Each extra language multiplies content and proofreading. Each integration (payments, calendar, CRM) needs its own testing. - Budget. What range have you set aside for this project?
A range is enough. It keeps you from pricing a version the client can’t pay for. - Timeline. Ideal launch date, and any fixed deadline behind it.
A preferred date can be negotiated; a fixed deadline (a trade show, a season) is planned backwards. - Decision makers. Who gives feedback, and who gives the final approval?
If the person who approves never attends the meetings, expect a last feedback round that reopens everything.
All these questions are in the brief generator, with an answer field under each one.
A filled-in example, with comments
Oak Street Bakery has two shops and an aging website. The owner wants to take cake orders online before the holidays. Here are her answers, as she gave them on the call, and what each one changes in your quote.
| Question | Client’s answer | What it changes in the quote |
|---|---|---|
| The project in one sentence | “Rebuild the site so we can take cake orders online before Christmas.” | An ordering feature is in scope. Christmas sets the deadline. |
| Goals | “Fewer phone calls during the rush, and about thirty online orders a month by March.” | A number lets you offer an order form with in-store pickup rather than a full online store. |
| Audience | “People from the neighborhood, often on their phones. And companies ordering catering platters.” | Mobile-first mockups. A separate catering page for companies. |
| Scope and deliverables | “Home, our shops, cakes, catering, order, contact.” | Six pages, each one a line in the quote. |
| Content | “We’ll write the text ourselves. We don’t have any good photos.” | A photo shoot priced as an option, and a content deadline written into the quote. |
| Brand | “We have the logo as a JPG, that’s it.” | Logo vectorization as an option. No guidelines: plan a palette and two fonts. |
| References | “I like sites with big product photos. I don’t like it when there’s too much text.” | A clear visual direction from the start, so fewer rounds on the mockups. |
| Technical constraints | “The current site is on WordPress, my partner’s nephew looks after it. The domain, I don’t remember where it is.” | Time to recover access, and a condition in the quote: access must be provided before work starts. |
| Budget | “Between $5,000 and $7,000.” | Online payment is out of scope; the order form with payment in store is in. |
| Timeline | “Live on November 20, for the Christmas orders.” | A fixed deadline. The schedule runs backwards from November 20: content due by October 25 at the latest. |
| Decision makers | “I approve. My partner will give his opinion on the photos.” | Two people: feedback is gathered and sent by the owner, once per round. |
In this brief, two answers weigh more than the rest. First the fixed date of November 20, which sets the whole schedule. Then the access question: as long as nobody knows where the domain is, the launch is uncertain.
Answers that should worry you
Some answers come up often and signal trouble ahead. None of them is a reason to turn the project down. Each one calls for one more question, or one more line in the quote.
| Client’s answer | What it may hide | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “We don’t really have a budget.” | The client is waiting for your price to decide, or the budget is very low. | Offer two or three ranges, with what each one includes. |
| “Like our competitor’s site, but better.” | No clear idea of what matters to them. | Ask for three specific things to keep from that competitor, and one to avoid. |
| “We’ll sort out the text at the end.” | Mockups full of placeholder text and a launch that keeps slipping. | Put a content deadline in the quote, and what happens if it slips. |
| “It’s urgent.” | Pressure without a real deadline. | Ask for the event behind the date (question 10). |
| “The whole team will give feedback.” | Conflicting feedback and rounds that never end. | Ask for one person who gathers the feedback before sending it to you. |
| “I don’t know who has the logins.” | Days lost at launch time. | Make recovering access a condition for starting. |
| “Something modern.” | A taste the client hasn’t put into words yet. | Go back to the references (question 7) and their “why”. |
A simple decision rule: a vague answer gets cleared up on the phone. If the answers on budget, timeline and decision makers all stay vague, offer a short paid discovery phase first, then the project quote.
From brief to quote
A completed brief turns into a quote in six steps:
- Reread the answer to question 4 and turn it into quote lines, one per page, screen or deliverable.
- Write down what is excluded. Anything the client mentioned that you are not pricing (online payment, the photo shoot) appears in black and white as “not included”.
- Carry the content deadline (question 5) and the launch date (question 10) into the schedule in your quote.
- Set the number of feedback rounds included, taking the number of decision makers into account (question 11). The guide on revision rounds gives benchmarks.
- Refer to the brief in the quote: “This quote is based on the brief dated October 8, 2026.”
- Send the brief with the quote and ask the client to confirm their answers are correct.
When a request falls outside the scope mid-project, this approved brief is what you reread with the client. The guide on scope creep explains how to answer at that point.
Questions
What’s the difference between a brief and a specification?
A brief describes the client’s need in a few pages, before the quote. A specification details functional and technical requirements, usually for larger projects, and can be written after the brief.
Who writes the brief, the client or the freelancer?
The client answers, you write. Turn their answers into clear sentences, then send the brief back so they can confirm it.
What if the client won’t share a budget?
Offer two or three ranges with what each one includes. The client picks one, and you know what to price.
Should I charge for the brief?
For a small project, the brief is part of your sales work. For a complex project where answers need workshops, a paid discovery phase is common practice.