Questions that we should ask before building any web or app

There is always a great deal of variants and details we should always consider. Making the best experience for our customers should always be our top priority. So here goes a few questions to land expectations before even starting the project. And I'm certain that this will 10x your customers experience and will minimize the time you spend on each project.


1. What are we building? I know its broad and I know it's a general overview. But when we understand what we are building we can do a better job of it. Example: "We are building a website to showcase web design work for a web agency".

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2. What's the goal? Storytelling is such a powerful tool, and not only in public speaking or filmmaking, if you want to gather leads, you need a story compelling enough for people to sign up and ask for more info. If its a product you should tell the story of the product through the website to get users to have a emotional connection and then a logical reason to buy the product.

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3. Who's the target audience? The story we tell is very different in case we tell it to kids, where decision makers are probably their parents. Where we should get the kids to picture themselves with the toy, or the summer camp, and have a logical reason why it's a good idea for the parents to give them the toy. The story would be different if we target corporate businesses to buy a software that will make their lives easier....

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4. What's the desired look & feel of the site? But a great deal of websites do not reflect the brand/company. A great example of this is amazon. Their website couldn't be uglier. When I think about amazon, it's mind blowing what they have achieved. They are a innovative, robust, trustworthy company. However when I go to the website even though it does feel robust, it does not feel innovative

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5. Any specific functionality? Will the website send emails when people sign up, do you want to have 3D designs, do you want to have authentication, etc.. this creates a lot of interesting variables that you should take into account before starting to build. for example, will these features have additional fees. The moment to chat about that is in the very start. Nothing is worse than having hidden fees being charged after half the project you already budgeted for. And if they want to have other features along the way, it will open the floor for charging that extra fee way easier.

Isn't it nice to have such a high level overview of a project before even starting. Asking these questions before even starting is not only going to make your life easier, the project shorter and the clients happier. It will totally make you look like the professional you are!