With all the work that goes into a website redesign, it's important that you ask the right questions before the project begins so that you can plan for success. What should you know before you redesign your company website?
Before you get in touch a website agency, get clear on why you're redesigning, what the new website needs to accomplish, how you'll measure success, what budget and timeline are realistic, and who will make decisions. In our experience, the most important question is often who will serve on the project team and as the main point of contact. When that ownership is unclear, extra meetings and repeated decisions add time and cost for both the company and the agency.
Before you redesign the company website, you should answer the following types of questions. We've also organized all 47 questions into a handy PDF for download, so you can download them here.
| Decision to make | What to clarify before the project |
|---|---|
| Reason for the redesign | The problems with the current website and the business or customer problem the new website should solve |
| Definition of success | The business goals and the website, search, and conversion measures you'll use |
| Project ownership | The project team, main point of contact, content owner, and final decision-maker |
| Project scope | Content, CMS, integrations, SEO and AEO, accessibility, launch testing, training, and support |
| Practical constraints | The budget, timeline, internal availability, and approval process |
We've said before that you need to think of your website as a profit center. What are the reasons that you're redesigning the website? Make a list. Hopefully, there are some defined financial reasons on that list, and some that you can assign measures to so you can see if you were successful after the website redesign launches.
We've found it helpful to go through an analysis before the website redesign, starting with sales and revenue goals, and backing into how many leads and visitors you'll need from your new website to meet those goals. If you're not sure how to do this, I would suggest setting up an assessment so we can calculate these numbers and identify gaps between your current situation and your desired situation.
Your team should be ready to discuss:
Decide who will be on the project team, who will be the agency's main point of contact, and who has final approval over scope, content, and design. You also need to know which subject-matter experts will contribute and how feedback will be collected.
Failing to define the project team and point of contact is one of the most common sources of website delays and budget problems we see. The more people an agency has to meet with, and the more often your team has to revisit a decision, the more time everyone spends on the project. Clear roles make collaboration easier and allow the agency to keep the work moving.
If your internal team cannot cover every part of the project, decide what should stay in-house and where outside help is needed. These questions can also help you determine whether to outsource your website design.
Formally defining and documenting who your ideal customers are can be easy to skip. Many companies loosely define customers in a hypothetical way, but you need to document it. It's hard to stay focused on your customer through a website redesign if you don't define specifics. Creating customer personas before you redesign is a great way to keep your customer at the forefront of the redesign.
Consider what different customers are trying to accomplish, which questions they need answered, what may keep them from contacting you, and which people take part in the purchase. Those answers should influence the navigation, page content, calls to action, and other decisions that will be made when designing and developing the new website.
New people will be finding your website and need to know who you are and what you do succinctly and clearly. So what do you want your company to be known for and why?
You also need to consider who your competitors are, why, and what your competitive advantages are. I also think you need to be honest and document your company's weaknesses, which you may be able to pull from customer feedback or even reviews of your company on social media or directory websites.
Content is one of the most overlooked aspects of a website redesign. You can't just copy and paste content and pages from your old website to your new website and expect different results.
Define the information that you want on your website, startings with a simple outline. Once you have an outline, you have to think through what your customer is going to want to see and expect on each page, and write accordingly. A website content development plan can help your team decide what should be kept, revised, consolidated, or created.
Decide who is going to write the content, who will provide the subject-matter expertise, and who can approve it. Discuss the advantages and limitations of using your internal team, the agency, or a shared approach. This decision affects the proposal, the schedule, and the time your team will need to contribute.
You should also think about how you or your marketing firm are going to keep content up to date, and whether you'll need a content management system to do so.
Web design is where many companies spend a majority of their effort. They research websites that they like, review their competitors' websites, and write down subjective qualities that they'd like to see on the new website.
You probably have this one covered, but you need to think about color, types of photography, and whether your company has documented brand standards or color palettes that need to be followed. Also decide how designs will be reviewed, whose feedback is advisory, and who gives final approval.
Most clients have not thought through every question before they contact us. They shouldn't have to. A website agency should assess the current situation, ask the questions the client may not know to ask, explain the tradeoffs, and use those answers to build an accurate proposal.
Before you compare proposals, make sure your company and the agency has addressed:
A proposal that leaves those responsibilities undefined is a red flag. The agency may not have discussed them with you, or it may assume you will handle work that has not been planned. Clarifying these items before kickoff helps shape an accurate scope and reduces surprises later.
If you're using your website properly, it needs to be the hub of all of your digital marketing activity, and sometimes offline marketing as well. Chances are, you're sending people to your website from advertising and printed collateral, and those links still need to work once you've redesigned.
This is also where you put steps into place to measure progress toward the goals you set. Consider web analytics, search analytics, conversion tracking, how leads will be processed and routed, and whether you'll be using call tracking. Document active campaign URLs and important landing pages so they are tested before launch.
Before kickoff, decide who will own the website after launch and who will review its performance. Capture a baseline from tools such as Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, your CRM, and your conversion tracking so you know how the current website performs.
Many of our clients have someone on their team who can monitor website, SEO, and conversion analytics. If you don't, ask the agency what level of reporting and support it can provide. Several months after launch, that person or agency should review the data against the baseline and the goals set at the beginning of the project. This helps you understand how the website is contributing to the business and evaluate the return on the investment.
If you can answer these website redesign questions before starting your project or publishing an RFP, you'll be on the right track. You may not know every answer, and a good agency should help you work through the areas where you need guidance. If that's the case, let us know if we can help.
Last updated: August 2026